Justin Allgaier gets to ‘seal the deal’ in Richmond Xfinity win

Justin Allgaier is running his best this season when it counts the most.





Allgaier ran down Justin Haley with 29 of 250 laps remaining and easily held on for the victory in Friday night’s Go Bowling 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, picking up his second win of the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

Both of Allgaier’s wins have come in the last five races as the series is about to kick off its 2020 playoffs. It’s also the 13th win of his career.

“Tonight was definitely a push to the end,” Allgaier said. “I feel like we’ve had so many get away here and we’ve just not been able to seal the deal. It’s been frustrating.

“I can’t be more be more excited about tomorrow. I got damage early (in the race) and I feel bad and I had to make up for the damage early.

“The win tonight was all about these guys. We’re going to celebrate quickly so we can turn it around and be ready for tomorrow.”

The victory in Friday night’s first race of the weekend doubleheader race means Allgaier will start 15th in Saturday afternoon’s race. Tommy Joe Martins will start on the pole.

Kyle Busch finished third and uncharacteristically never led a lap – the first time that’s occurred in an Xfinity race since 2018. Austin Cindric was fourth and Ross Chastain rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 were Brett Moffitt, Michael Annett, Noah Gragson, Kaz Grala and Riley Herbst.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Allgaier the first off pit road. He led the way on the restart on Lap 158.

On Lap 168, Haley got around Cindric to move into the runner-up spot, less than a second behind Allgaier.

On Lap 174, Haley cleared Allgaier off Turn 2 to reclaim the lead in the race.

With 50 laps remaining in the race, Haley had expanded his lead over Allgaier to 2 seconds with Busch in third.

On Lap 221, Allgaier was able to run down and catch Haley and got around him to reclaim the lead. Busch remained in third, more than 2.5 seconds behind the leader.

With 20 laps to go, Haley remained close behind Allgaier with Busch third, Cindric fourth and Chastain in fifth.

Allgaier had expanded his lead to almost a second over Haley with 10 laps remaining.

Stage 2

Allgaier easily held off Chastain for the Stage 2 victory, his ninth stage victory of the 2020 season.

Haley finished third, Busch fourth and Grala rounded out the top-five.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, all the lead-lap cars elected to pit with Cindric the first off pit road.

On the restart on Lap 84, Cindric was followed by Chase Briscoe and Chastain.

Allgaier got around Chastain on Lap 94 to move into the runner-up position behind Cindric.

With 50 laps to go in Stage 2, Cindric held a 1.2-second lead over Allgaier while Busch had moved to third.

Allgaier had closed to within half-a-second of Cindric with 30 laps remaining in the second stage. Busch remained closed behind in third.

On Lap 124, Allgaier was finally able to clear Cindric to take the lead for the first time in the race. Chastain had gotten around Busch and moved back into third.

Chastain moved into the runner-up spot on Lap 129 as Cindric dropped back to fourth in the running order.

With 10 laps to go in the stage, Allgaier had expanded his lead over Chastain to 1.7 seconds as Busch remained in third.

Stage 1

Cindric ran down fellow Ford driver Briscoe to grab the lead and held on to take the Stage 1 victory, his 10th stage win of the 2020 season.

Chastain was third, Haley fourth and Allgaier rounded out the top-five.

Chastain, who started on the pole, took early command of the race, leading the first 38 laps.

On Lap 15, Colby Howard stalled his car against the wall in Turn 4 to bring out the first caution of the race. On the restart on Lap 24, Chastain continued to lead the way followed by Burton.

Cindric got around Harrison Burton for the second spot shortly after the restart.

On Lap 33, Haley powered around Cindric to move into the runner-up spot behind Chastain.

On Lap 39, Haley grabbed the lead, going to the inside of Chastain off Turn 2.

NASCAR displayed a competition caution on Lap 41 to allow teams to check tire wear. Some teams elected to pit but Burton stayed out and inherited the lead. On the restart on Lap 46, Burton was followed by Jones.

Myatt Snider spun and wrecked on the backstretch after the restart as drivers went four-wide. Chastain also suffered some rear-end damage when Haley got into the back of him.

The race returned to green on Lap 53 with Burton still out front and Brandon Jones in second.

Busch moved into second on the restart only to see Briscoe clear both Busch and Burton to take the lead on Lap 54.

On Lap 59, Cindric went to the inside of Briscoe and cleared him to take the lead for the first time in the race.

With less than 10 laps remaining in the stage, Cindric had built nearly a one-second lead over Briscoe with Chastain in third.

Cla#Driver ManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalLaps Led
17 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet2502:02’58.951  78
211 Justin Haley Chevrolet2502:02’59.5550.6040.60451
354 Kyle Busch Toyota2502:03’01.5012.5501.946 
422 Austin Cindric Ford2502:03’06.7247.7735.22364
510 Ross Chastain Chevrolet2502:03’07.3438.3920.61939
602 Brett Moffitt Chevrolet2502:03’09.87110.9202.528 
71 Michael Annett Chevrolet2502:03’11.06712.1161.196 
89 Noah Gragson Chevrolet2502:03’11.33012.3790.263 
921 Kaz Grala Chevrolet2502:03’14.67615.7253.346 
1018Riley Herbst Toyota2492:03’02.6871 Lap1 Lap 
1198 Chase Briscoe Ford2492:03’03.3471 Lap0.6607
1239 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet2492:03’04.1101 Lap0.763 
135 Matt Mills Chevrolet2492:03’04.2801 Lap0.170 
1419 Brandon Jones Toyota2492:03’05.0301 Lap0.750 
1544 Tommy Joe Martins Chevrolet2492:03’09.2171 Lap4.187 
1620 Harrison Burton Toyota2492:03’10.2961 Lap1.07911
1751 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet2482:03’00.7902 Laps1 Lap 
1868 Brandon Brown Chevrolet2482:03’13.6422 Laps12.852 
1908Joe Jr. Chevrolet2482:03’20.1862 Laps6.544 
2007 Joey Gase Chevrolet2482:03’20.4572 Laps0.271 
2174 Bayley Currey Chevrolet2482:03’20.7362 Laps0.279 
2292 Josh Williams Chevrolet2472:02’59.2083 Laps1 Lap 
2336 Alex Labbé Chevrolet2472:03’00.5693 Laps1.361 
240 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet2472:03’08.5183 Laps7.949 
254 Jesse Little Chevrolet2472:03’21.7173 Laps13.199 
2647 Kyle Weatherman Chevrolet2472:03’24.9433 Laps3.226 
2761 Chad Finchum Toyota2462:03’02.3804 Laps1 Lap 
2878Mason Massey Chevrolet2462:03’03.1634 Laps0.783 
2952Kody Vanderwal Chevrolet2462:03’07.5594 Laps4.396 
306 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet2452:03’06.4675 Laps1 Lap 
3199 Vinnie Miller Toyota2422:03’08.2898 Laps3 Laps 
3290Dexter Bean Chevrolet2412:03’23.9049 Laps1 Lap 
338 Jeb Burton Chevrolet2332:03’08.10217 Laps8 Laps 
3415Colby Howard Chevrolet2202:03’17.42930 Laps13 Laps 
3513 Stephen Leicht Toyota881:26’55.374162 Laps132 Laps 
3693 Myatt Snider Chevrolet4626’13.484204 Laps42 Laps 
3766 Timmy Hill Toyota41’44.733246 Laps42 Laps 

Related video


Source: Read Full Article