DOVER, Del. – Justin Allgaier has endured an abundance of bad luck this season, but he put all that behind him with a dominant victory in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Drydene 200 at Dover Int’l Speedway.
Allgaier controlled most of Saturday’s race. He won the second stage and led a race-high 120 laps en route to the 12th Xfinity Series victory of his career and his first of the season aboard the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
“Today’s win was huge,” said Allgaier, who despite leading 418 laps this year entering Saturday’s race had failed to find victory lane. “Even as successful as we’ve been, it’s been tough. Mentally, physically, emotionally.”
The 34-year-old veteran was in his own league for most of the event. He took the lead for the final time during the restart to begin the final stage on lap 97.
Allgaier restarted second on the outside behind Brandon Brown and Ryan Sieg, both of whom didn’t pit during the stage break. Allgaier stuck to the outside in turns one and two, drive around both Brown and Sieg to take the lead by the time the field got halfway down the backstretch.
A caution period on lap 149 allowed teams to make their final pit stops, with Allgaier holding serve off pit road. The race resumed on lap 155 as Austin Cindric, who had won five of the last six races entering Saturday’s race, gave chase.
With 40 laps left Cindric was all over Allgaier and managed to get to the inside of the No. 7 out of turn two. They raced side-by-side into turn three, but Allgaier used the momentum on the top to maintain the lead.
A few laps later the final caution flag of the race waved when Brandon Jones did a half-spin in turn four. The race would resume with 33 laps left and Allgaier again held serve at the front of the field, pulling clear as the field raced through turns one and two.
Once out front Allgaier would lead the rest of the way unchallenged, beating Cindric to the checkered flag by nearly two seconds.
“We didn’t do anything crazy today. We were solid on pit road. Jason (Burdett, crew chief) and everybody on this No. 7 team did a great job of making adjustments. We didn’t get excited, even when we lost some track position,” Allgaier said. “We didn’t get excited. We just rolled with it and ultimately the outcome is what it is. It’s been a good day.”
Saturday’s victory comes one week after a frustrated Allgaier confronted A.J. Allmendinger on pit road following late-race contact on the Daytona Int’l Speedway road course. He said that moment was the culmination of months of frustration.
“Last week was more about the frustrations of a whole. The stuff that has been frustrating for the last 18 to 24 months,” Allgaier explained. “It just kind of finally came to a head and that’s what the blowing point was.
“Last week for me was uncommon I would say compared to what you guys have seen from me in the past. But it was great in the fact that when I left Daytona, other than social media haters, I had such a better outlook on where I was at and why I love this sport and why I got to the race track week in and week out.”
Cindric’s runner-up result continued a hot streak for the championship leader, who has finished either first or second in the last six races.
“Obviously Justin was really hungry, that was going to be a hard pass to make if it wasn’t on pit road,” Cindric said. “Congrats to him and we’ll try and be one spot better tomorrow.”
Ross Chastain finished third, followed by Noah Gragson and Harrison Burton.
Saturday’s race was the first of a doubleheader for the Xfinity Series at Dover Int’l Speedway this weekend. The series will be back on track Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET for the second race, with the top-15 finishers from Saturday’s race inverted to set the starting lineup for Sunday’s race.
As a result of the invert, Brett Moffitt and Brown are tentatively scheduled to lead the field to the green flag.
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