LAS VEGAS — It was the first NASCAR Xfinity Series trophy of the season for AJ Allmendinger but the timing was on point, his Playoff win in Saturday‘s Ambetter Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway punching his ticket into next month‘s season-finale championship race.
The 42-year-old Californian held off a hard-charging Ryan Sieg by a mere 0.156 seconds to claim his 18th career win — leading a race-best 102 of the 201 laps in his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Allmendinger had to outrun and out-negotiate Sieg in the closing laps, ultimately getting the best of the field on a final restart at the 1.5-miler with two laps remaining.
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An exuberant Allmendinger — who is moving to the NASCAR Cup Series next year — climbed out of his Chevrolet, raising his arms to urge the crowd to cheer and shouting congratulations to his crew and his team owner Matt Kaulig, whose birthday was Saturday.
“I absolutely love these guys and girls at Kaulig Racing, it‘s been such up-and-down but what I love about them is we stick together, we keep fighting,‘‘ Allmendinger said before turning toward his team and shouting, “Happy birthday, Matt Kaulig. The boss‘s birthday. I told you I was getting you a trophy. I love you.‘‘
“What a way to get to Phoenix after the year we‘ve had. Let‘s go win a championship. LET‘S GOOOOOO!”
For Sieg — who is still looking for his first win in 364 Xfinity Series starts — Saturday‘s near-miss marked the fifth runner-up showing of his career and second in just the last three races. He challenged Allmendinger mightily in the final 30 laps — passing him with nine laps to go, only to get passed right back the next lap.
“We had the best car on the longer run and I needed a long run and we were getting there,‘‘ the RSS Racing driver Sieg said afterward. “I just overdrove [turn] one and lost some of our track position, but I was able to gain it back. Just sucks to finish second again with a great car. One of these days it‘s going to go our way.‘‘
Allmendinger‘s fellow playoff drivers, JR Motorsports‘ Justin Allgaier and Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Chandler Smith finished third and fourth. Parker Kligerman, who was eliminated from the playoffs just last week, finished fifth.
Allgaier had a strong No. 7 Chevrolet, winning Stage 2 and leading 42 laps — second-best to Allmendinger. His work didn‘t get him the automatic Championship 4 berth but does put him atop the series standings, 32 points to the good with races at Homestead-Miami Speedway next week and then at the half-mile Martinsville, Va., track to formally decide which four drivers move to the Nov. 9 season finale to compete for the season trophy.
“He did a great job and hats off to those guys to get a Chevrolet in Victory Lane,‘‘ Allgaier said of Allmendinger. “Ryan [Sieg] did a great job, too. Really proud of this team. Yesterday in practice we weren‘t as good as we wanted to be but they went to work and made good adjustments all day to put us in a good position.‘‘
“At the end there, just not able to get into dirty air like I wanted to,‘‘ he said, adding, “great start to the next round and obviously got some good stage points so we‘ll move on to next week.‘‘
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Richard Childress Racing rookie driver Jesse Love — a playoff contender – was sixth, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Riley Herbst and playoff driver Cole Custer. JGR‘s Sheldon Creed — also eliminated from playoff contention last week — was 10th.
Playoff contenders RCR‘s Austin Hill and JR Motorsports‘ Sam Mayer were 13th and 14th, respectively, with JR Motorsports‘ Sammy Smith getting involved in an early race accident and finishing 32nd — last among the playoff eight.
Reigning series champion Custer sits just behind Allgaier in the points standings — 16 points to the good with Chandler Smith in that fourth position, eight points above the provisional elimination line.
Hill (-8) is fifth followed by Love (-13), Mayer (-23) and Sammy Smith (-53).
The series moves to the Homestead-Miami Speedway 1.5-miler for next Saturday‘s Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300 (4 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Mayer is the defending race winner.
Note: Inspection in the Xfinity Series garage was completed without major issue, confirming Allmendinger as the race winner. Three cars were found with one unsecured lug nut each in a post-race check, which should result in a monetary penalty for each crew chief next week. Teams with lug-nut infractions: the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, the No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet, the No. 38 RSS Racing Ford.
Contributing: Staff reports
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