CONCORD, N.C. – A.J. Allmendinger loves the ROVAL and the ROVAL loves him.
For the third-straight season Allmendinger drove to victory in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, surviving an overtime restart to earn his fifth victory of the season in Xfinity Series competition during the Drive for the Cure 250 Saturday afternoon.
The victory was his sixth in Xfinity Series competition on road courses, which moved him to the top of the Xfinity Series road course victory list.
RESULTS: NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250
Saturday’s race served as the first elimination race of the Xfinity Series playoffs, with Jeb Burton, Myatt Snider, Jeremy Clements and Riley Herbst all eliminated from championship contention.
“Today I was nervous. We had a good points gap, but as Talladega showed anything can happen,” said Allmendinger, who was taken out of the most recent Xfinity Series race at Talladega in a crash. “Once we got in the lead there the Hyperice Chevy was so fast. I was just trying to pace myself.”
Allmendinger started 14th and found his way to the front during the third and final stage. Opting to pit prior to the end of the second stage in order to cycle to the front of the field, Allmendinger restarted seventh at the start of the final stage while Ty Gibbs held the lead.
Gibbs pulled out to a solid lead when the race resumed while ALlmendinger quickly moved up to third. He spent several laps trapped behind rookie Sam Mayer, who was running second, before eventually dispatching him on lap 46.
That left just Gibbs in front of him and he quickly began to run him down. Two laps later Gibbs wheel hopped as he attempted to turn into the backstretch chicane, allowing Allmendinger to take the lead as Gibbs was forced to stop when he missed the chicane.
Allmendinger proceeded to gap the field, at one point holding a nine-second lead over the battle for second. That lead evaporated with four laps left when Tommy Joe Martins slammed the wall in oval turns three and four to bring out the caution flag.
“I was just trying to pace myself,” Allmendinger said. “I could see the gap we were pulling. I was trying to save tires every lap knowing there was probably going to be a yellow. I was praying there wasn’t going to be one, but we know how these races are.”
Several cars, headlined by sixth running Daniel Hemric, decided to pit during the caution period prior to the overtime restart. Allmendinger stayed on track and restarted in the lead with Austin Cindric, Mayer, Justin Haley and Gibbs next in line.
Allmendinger held the lead on the restart while Cindric struggled to get going in the outside lane. Mayer, who lined up behind Allmendinger, gave bumper of the No. 16 Chevrolet a big shot going into the first corner. Allmendinger held serve and fended off the advances of Mayer.
By the time Allmendinger got through the infield section of the course he had stretched his lead to several car lengths on Mayer, who soon found himself fighting Gibbs for position. The two would make contact in the infield section of the course, with Gibbs doing a half spin before recovering and continuing.
All that happened well behind Allmendinger, who crossed the line more than three seconds clear to pick up the victory.
“Just pumped up to get another win,” Allmendinger said. “I had to be aggressive at times to get to the front and then be cautious at other times. Really proud that once we got into the lead … we put a lot of work into this setup to try and keep evolving it and try to make it better. In traffic it wasn’t perfect, but once we got in the lead the thing had a lot of speed.”
Behind Allmendinger chaos ensued on the run to the finish line. Mayer missed the backstretch chicane and was forced to come to a stop, handing the runner-up spot to Cindric. Then as the field came out of the frontstretch chicane several cars crashed, which shuffled up the finishing order.
Hemric, who restarted 19th, marched all the way up to third at the checkered flag. Haley crossed the line in fourth and Brandon Jones finished fifth. Noah Gragson, Preston Pardus, Snider, Justin Allgaier and Mayer completed the top-10.