First Win Of Season Comes At Perfect Time For Allmendinger

Prior to Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the season had been a major struggle for A.J. Allmendinger and Kaulig Racing.

From a statistical standpoint, it’s been Allmendinger’s worst season as a full-time Xfinity Series driver. With an average finish of 13.2 and zero wins through 29 races, Allmendinger and his No. 16 team’s performance wasn’t up to their standard.

However, Allmendinger’s team kept grinding as he dominated the Ambetter Health 302 en route to his first victory of the season — one that locked the 42-year-old into the Championship 4.

“What an up and down year, what a crazy year,” Allmendinger began. “This is a race track that we felt like if we could get to the Round of 8, we’d been historically good at. Really, the first stage, the car was good, but I was really loose. Once the sun started going down, that kinda woke the car up.

“I knew when we had that big lead it wasn’t gonna last for the whole race.”

Allmendinger was right as a restart with two laps to go allowed the field to bunch back up to his No. 16 Chevrolet. With a hungry Ryan Sieg hounding him, the Kaulig Racing driver credited his spotter Coleman Pressley for helping him navigate the final laps. 

“Ryan was really good getting into the corners and I started just getting a little bit free there kinda late in the race,” Allmendinger recalled. “I knew that was his strength. But, my spotter, Coleman Pressley, dude is phenomenal. By far the best spotter that’s out there. Just the info that he gives me every lap, every corner of what’s happening behind me, where they’re strong, where they’re weak, it just makes my job a lot easier. 

“First of all, pit crew did phenomenal. To get the lead on those last couple of pit stops kinda made the big difference so we could set the pace there. That late-race restart, I just knew that I had to hit the bottom the best I could.”

Allmendinger was already behind the 8-ball as he began the Round of 8 in seventh on the playoff grid, 18 markers below the cutline.

However, it didn’t matter as Allmendinger had perhaps his best race of the season, leading a race-high 102 laps.

It’ll be Allmendinger’s second Championship 4 appearance with his last coming in 2021.