In a two-lap shootout, Justin Allgaier won Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Darlington Raceway, beating teammate Noah Gragson to the checkered flag.
Allgaier’s win, his first in a year, came after he had to start from the back of the pack following a last-minute battery change before the race.
Driving an old Xfinity Series scheme belonging to Dale Earnhardt on his No. 7 Chevrolet, the 35-year-old Allgaier led a race-high 76 of 147 laps to capture his first win in 34 races. His last victory came in last year’s spring race at Darlington.
“Got the job done,” Allgaier told Fox Sports 1. “I could see everybody (in the grandstands) standing those last few laps. It’s a sight for sore eyes as rough as it’s been. This team right here, pit stops were killing it. They were awesome. This Hellmann’s Camaro was so fast. … Absolutely incredible.”
Added Allgaier: “Noah and I ran a charity bike ride this morning and he told me he was going to run the top and I told him I was going to run the bottom. He said there was no way that was going to work. And it worked.”
Allgaier experienced a little bit of “panic” at the end.
When the field crossed the line for one lap to go, the flag man failed to display the white flag.
“Listen, you go 34 races without winning, the last 20 laps, like the wheels were falling off in my mind,” Allgaier said. “You heard every (sound) from the parts hitting the car. I’m expecting everybody to crash. Like there are all these scenarios going on in my head. The white flag (not) coming out did not help that at all. So, I was in a little bit of panic mode.
“But once we come off of Turn 4 and I saw that checkered flag, that was all gone, then you hit that wave of emotion of that ‘We just did it’ … that was special.”
Behind Gragson in second, the top five was completed by Riley Herbst, John Hunter Nemechek and Sam Mayer.
Rounding out the top 10: Landon Cassill, Brandon Jones, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Hill and Daniel Hemric.
Allmendinger has now finished in the top 10 in the first 11 races of the season.
Click here for race results.
Allgaier’s win is the third in a row for JR Motorsports after Gragson won at Talladega and Josh Berry did at Dover. It’s the second straight race JRM has outright dominated, as Gragson led 45 laps and won the first two stages Saturday.
“We were fast yesterday in practice, but just didn’t really have the feel that I wanted yesterday, so that made me a little nervous,” Gragson told Fox Sports 1. “Just kept persevering. The Hendrick engines were awesome today. 1-2 finish for JR Motorsports. … I thought we were going to have the top rolling on (Allgaier), just came up a little bit short.”
For Herbst, it was his fifth consecutive top-10 finish and his best finish of the season.
“I thought it was fairly good from spring last year when we finished probably a lap down in 19th, so to come here and finish third and to honestly have a top-five car is just a testament to Stewart-Haas Racing,” Herbst said. “This wasn’t one of my favorite racetracks, and I still think we need about a tenth a lap to try and win these races here in Darlington, but we’re getting closer and it’s good.”
The final sequence of the race was setup by a caution with 12 laps to go. Joe Graf Jr. wrecked into the inside wall on the backstretch after he was turned by Anthony Alfredo.
With less than 10 to go, many of the leaders elected to pit for fresh tires. Seven cars stayed out, including Reddick, Allmendinger, Clements and Hemric.
Allmendinger took the lead on the restart with seven laps to go. With five to go, Reddick got into the wall in Turn 2 and quickly cut down a tire. With Reddick off the pace, the caution came back out. Allmendinger led over Allgaier, Gragson and Clements.
Reddick wound up with a 26th-place finish.
First Stage
The first caution of the day came on Lap 10 when Timmy Hill spun exiting Turn 4 from contact from behind with Bayley Currey.
Ten laps later, Jeb Burton cut a tire down. He missed the entrance to pit rod and spun on the apron to bring the caution out. NASCAR penalized Burton a lap for intentionally spinning.
On the ensuing restart, Gibbs spun his tires and fell back to third as Gragson took the lead. Meanwhile, after having to start from the rear for a last minute battery change, Justin Allgaier was in 12th as the race restarted with 21 laps left in the stage. Within two laps he was in 10th.
With 16 to go Allgaier was eighth. Five laps later, Allgaier was in fourth.
Gragson would go on to win the first stage over Gibbs, Berry, Allgaier and Riley Herbst.
Allgaier’s rally was completed on pit road, as he went from fourth to first, getting out ahead of Gragson, Gibbs, Herbst and Berry.
Stage 2 officially went green on Lap 52.
Second Stage
Stage 2 would go caution free until 16 laps left, when Myatt Snider was eliminated in a wreck in Turn 3 after getting turned from behind by Currey.
At the time of the caution, Allgaier led over Gragson, Gibbs, Berry and Herbst. The top 10 was filled out by Nemechek, Reddick, Truex, Mayer and Allmendinger.
On the restart with 11 to go, Gragson took the lead from Allgaier after it appeared the No. 7 car spun its tires.
Allgaier then lost second to Gibbs two laps later. Meanwhile, Reddick moved into fifth to enter the top five for the first time.
With four laps to go, Allmendinger got loose in Turn 3 and smacked the outside wall, allowing Mayer to take seventh from him.
Two laps later, the caution came out for Brandon Brown stalled on the frontstretch.
The stage ended under caution as Gragson completed the stage sweep.
Once again, Allgaier’s pit crew got him off pit road first ahead of Gragson. The race resumed with 53 laps left.
Final Stage
The third stage went caution free until there was 26 laps to go.
A debris caution slowed the race down this time after a slide job gone bad by Alexx Labbe resulted in Joe Graf Jr. getting into the back of his car. That caused Labbe’s rear bumper to be almost completely ripped off.
Before pit stops, all four JR Motorsports cars were in the top six, led by Allgaier in first.
Allgaier was first to exit pit road, ahead of Berry, Mayer and Nemechek. Gragson dropped to fifth.
The green flag returned with 22 laps to go, as Berry was called for a restart violation for clearly jumping ahead of Allgaier before the start-finish line.
“I saw how much movement (Berry) had,” Allgaier said. “At that point, there’s another 50 feet or so to go in the zone. So I just waited until I possibly couldn’t go anymore and I fired.”