LEXINGTON, Ohio – A penalty at the end of stage two during Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course had A.J. Allmendinger fuming.
When the checkered flag waved at the conclusion of the B&L Transport 170, Allmendinger’s frustration had turned to jubilation as he earned his second victory of the season for Kaulig Racing.
“I was for sure mad, I thought we’d given it away,” Allmendinger said. “At the same point, we all make mistakes and that’s what I love about Matt Kaulig (team owner) and Chris Rice (Kaulig Racing General Manager) on an everyday basis. It’s a family, we’re not pointing fingers.”
RESULTS: NASCAR Xfinity Series B&L Transport 170
Allmendinger had been at or near the front of the field for most of Saturday’s race, but a strategic pit call near the end of stage two nearly ended his chances of victory.
With Saturday’s race being a standalone event, NASCAR instituted a different series of pit rules that included a minimum amount of time – 50 seconds – that teams had to spend on pit road during green flag pit stops.
Near the end of stage two Allmendinger made a green flag stop to try and cycle himself back towards the front of the field for the start of stage three. However, his team made a mistake and let him leave too soon, meaning he failed to reach the minimum pit road time.
As a result he was penalized and sent to the tail of the lead lap for the start of the final stage while Austin Cindric cycled into the race lead with just more than 20 laps left around the 2.25-mile road course.
“The worst thing I could do was start banzaiing passes and tearing up the car and never give ourselves a shot at it if the yellow did come out,” Allmendinger said. ”
Cindric built a massive lead of more than 10 seconds during the final stage while Allmendinger, who restarted 19th, stormed back through the field. Allmendinger made it to third behind Cindric and Ty Gibbs with roughly 10 laps left, but without a caution he had no chance of catching Cindric.
The caution Allmendinger needed came with seven laps left when Jeb Burton got stuck in a gravel trap in turn four. That eliminated Cindric’s huge lead and gave Allmendinger a shot to capitalize during the ensuing restart.
“I knew without no yellows we weren’t going to win just because the 22 (Cindric) was so far out there,” Allmendinger said. “I was going to get to second. Once that restart was happening I made a decision coming to green I was either going to win or I was going to crash.”
Capitalize is exactly what Allmendinger did when racing resumed with four laps left. Cindric opted to restart on the outside with Gibbs to his inside. Allmendinger restart on the inside behind the leaders and quickly jumped to the inside of Gibbs and Cindric as they entered turn one.
The move paid dividends as Allmendinger emerged with the race lead while Cindric made contact with multiple cars before spinning into the grass prior to turn two. Another caution for a multi-car crash that left Kris Wright stranded on the course led to an overtime restart with Allmendinger now in front of Gibbs and Justin Haley.
Allmendinger held his ground on the final restart as Haley battled Gibbs for second. Haley, with major left-front damage from contact on the previous restart, was able to get by Gibbs and hold him off while Allmendinger drove to victory.
The triumph was Allmendinger’s fifth on a road course in Xfinity Series competition, matching the all-time record previously owned by Marcos Ambrose.
The victory was particularly special for Allmendinger because his team owner, Matt Kaulig, is from Ohio and his business LeafFilter is also based in Ohio.
“We don’t make any bones about the fact that it’s a big race for us,” Kaulig said. “We had 450 people I think in the pavilion right across from the start/finish line and pit road and victory lane. So it was cool to be able to celebrate with them and see A.J. do burnouts.”
Haley’s runner-up finish gave Kaulig Racing a sweep of the top-two positions.
Gibbs settled for third after running at the front of the field most of the day. Brandon Jones finished fourth, with road course expert Andy Lally matching his career-best finish in fifth.