AUSTIN, Texas — A.J. Allmendinger cruised during the final six laps on his way to winning Saturday’s Pit Boss 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Circuit of The Americas.
The win capped off a race where the 40-year-old Allmendinger led a race-high 27 of 46 laps on the way to his first win of 2022. It’s his 11th career Xfinity victory.
The 20-turn COTA represents the sixth different road course the Kaulig Racing driver has won at overall in NASCAR.
“We’ve had a good start to the year when you look at the finishes and things, but I feel like if you take out Daytona, we really haven’t contended for wins,” said Allmendinger, who finished second at Daytona. “We knew this race track last year, we weren’t as good but we finished second, but Kyle (Busch) beat us down pretty good. … It’s a tough race. It’s a long race. Track gets slick. As we saw with the truck race, late race restarts, anything can happen.”
With Saturday’s win, Allmendinger has won at COTA, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen International, Road America, the Charlotte Roval and the Indianapolis road course.
Where does the more than 3-mile Texas course rank among them?
“COTA’s leading right now in this moment,” Allmendinger said. “This is a race track that last year I felt actually turned our road-course program in a great direction. … This track is tough, you carry speed down through the esses (Turns 3 to 6), but it’s so slick in certain areas so really easy to overstep the car, especially in a Xfinity car where there’s not a lot of grip.”
(HHP/Harold Hinson)
Allmendinger won over Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill. It’s Hill’s third top five of the season and his second straight runner-up finish.
“Man, (Allmendinger) was really good at firing off really fast,” Hill said.” We weren’t able to do that. I don’t know if that was a little but of the car, a little bit me, him knowing that on a restart he could drive a little bit deeper in the corners or what the deal was. I’m going to go back and watch some film I think he had an in-car cam, so I’m probably going to go back watch his in-car cam and just see things he might have been doing different.”
The top three was rounded out by Cole Custer, who rebounded from a mid-race speeding penalty.
Custer has placed in the top three in both of his Xfinity starts this year, including his win at Auto Club Speedway.
“It was good to get out there and get those laps,” Custer said. “I think I overdrove the car a lot of the day, so it was good to get in a rhythm. The track gets really hot and slick in the afternoon, so it is good to know that for the Cup car. I am pretty frustrated. I think we would have had a really good shot to win that race and I just made a stupid mistake and sped on pit road.”
Custer will start third in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at COTA (3:30 p.m. ET on Fox).
The top five was completed by JR Motorsports’ Noah Gragson and Sam Mayer.
Gragson’s top five, his fifth through six races, came after he experienced nausea throughout the race.Â
“Still a little sick or nauseous, but starting to feel a little bit better,” Gragson told SPEED SPORT.
Mayer’s top five is his first of the season and comes after three consecutive finishes below 20th. He earned it despite experiencing problems with his transmission all day
“I ended up having to use the clutch to shift … from first to second (gear),” Mayer said.
Ross Chastain, who had led 14 laps, was spun from behind by Landon Cassill on a restart with six laps to go as the field went through Turn 1. Chastain wound up finishing 17th.
Within the final five laps both Jeremy Clements and Jeb Burton were penalized by NASCAR for cutting the course in the esses while they were running in the top five.
First Stage
Ty Gibbs started from the pole, but Cup driver Chastain had the lead in DGM Racing’s No. 92 car by the time the field made it to the esses.
The race’s opening laps weren’t great for JR Motorsports.
Josh Berry had to pit on Lap 3 to repair damage to his hood. Shortly after, Justin Allgaier spun on his own in Turn 11.
Gibbs retook the lead from Chastain on Lap 4, but Chastain came back in Turn 11 to race side-by-side with him. This allowed Allmendinger to get close and he took the lead in Turn 13 when Gibbs and Chastain went wide.
Allmendinger held the point until Lap 8, when Gibbs began pressuring him. Gibbs attempted a pass in Turn 12, but he overdid it and Allmendinger swept back underneath him to keep the lead.
By the mid-point of the 15-lap stage, Bubba Wallace was in sixth after starting 15th in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota.
He passed Alex Labbe with four laps to go in the stage and then pit with three laps to go. This started a round of strategic pit stops.
Allmendinger, along with Labbe, didn’t pit.Â
This delivered Allmendinger the stage win. He finished 12.5 seconds ahead of Labbe.
The top 10 after 15 laps: Allmendinger, Labbe, Daniel Hemric, Parker Kligerman, Allgaier, Preston Pardus, Jade Buford, Parker Chase, Jeremy Clements and Gibbs.
Second Stage
The race restarted on Lap 18 as Chastain passed Gibbs to retake the lead.
 Mayer moved into second and Wallace took third as Gibbs fell to fourth. Wallace would take second by the time they got to Turn 15. As the field exited the final turn, Mayer appeared to miss a shift. That caused him to drop a few spots before he recovered to fourth.
Over the course of the next lap Gibbs began dropping through the field for what was diagnosed as a right-front tire going down. Gibbs pit on Lap 20 from 10th place.
With 10 laps left in the stage, Chastain had built a 3-second lead over Wallace while Custer ran close behind in third. Custer got around Wallace one lap later. Wallace would get the position back four laps later.
Allmendinger, after pitting at the stage break, was in fifth with six laps left in the second stage and would take fourth before that lap was over.
With four laps to go, Gragson pit from sixth for a potential engine issue. All of the leaders except for Chastain, Custer and Mayer pit with four laps left in the stage. Chastain and Custer pit the next time by, ceding the lead to Mayer.
Unfortunately for Custer, he was penalized for speeding. Late in the stage Wallace began experiencing an issue with second gear in his transmission. That caused him to fall to 22nd. He finished 28th.
Mayer went on to win the stage.
The top 10 after 30 laps: Mayer, Jade Buford, Allgaier, Berry, Riley Herbst, Custer, Sage Karam, Chastain, Allmendinger and Gragson.
Following pit stops, Chastain assumed the lead again with Allmendinger second and Gragson third.
Final Stage
The green flag waved on the final stage with 14 laps to go as Allmendinger took the initial lead.
Chastain gave a good challenge through the last section of the track before Allmendinger began building a gap. The field was in the 20th and final turn when the caution came out for debris.
The race resumed with 11 laps to go, only to be slowed a lap later for a cautions for debris off Brandon Jones’ No. 19 car.
When the green flag returned, Allmendinger was scored as the leader over Chastain, Austin Hill, Landon Cassill and Gragson.
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