Allmendinger rebounds from wreck to win Nashville Xfinity race
A.J. Allmendinger survived an early-race accident and hung on the lead through two overtimes to win Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity race at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
Allmendinger suffered some damage to his No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet in a four-car wreck on lap 53 of 196 that also knocked out the race leader at the time, Ty Gibbs.
With repairs completed, Allmendinger was able to drive back up through the field and took the lead for the first time with 55 laps remaining.
After maintaining his lead through a round of green-flag pit stops, Allmendinger had to fend off Chandler Smith in one overtime and then Riley Herbst by 1.323 seconds in the second to claim the victory.
The win is the second this season in three series starts for Allmendinger and 17th of his career. In three races this season, he’s finished first, second and first.
“Car was real good. Got caught up in that one wreck on that restart and thought our chance of winning was over but the guys did such a great job of fixing it,” Allmendinger said.
“This is one of those iconic trophies (a guitar) you want to win. What a cool way to do it.”
Sam Mayer finished third, Austin Hill fourth and Josh Berry fifth.
Completing the top-10 were John Hunter Nemechek, Zane Smith, Daniel Hemric, Cole Custer and Parker Retzlaff.
Stage 1
Gibbs got by Custer on a restart on lap 22 of 45 and cruised to the Stage 1 win by 1.749 seconds. Allmendinger was third, Carson Hocevar fourth and Sammy Smith fifth.
A multi-car wreck erupted on the first lap that did significant damage to the cars of Stefan Parsons and Justin Allgaier. Parsons was forced to retire from the race.
Stage 2
Chandler Smith grabbed the lead on a late restart and easily held off Custer to claim the Stage 2 win. Hemric was third, Mayer fourth and Herbst completed the top five.
A multi-car wreck at the start of the stage knocked Gibbs and Hocevar out of the race early and left the No. 10 of Allmendinger with damage.
Another wreck on lap 69 collected Shelton Creed and Brandon Jones and knocked Sammy Smith out of the race.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Chandler Smith first off pit road. He led the way on the restart on lap 98.
Nemechek was forced to pit on lap 127 under green with a bad vibration (loose right-front wheel) but within the window to get new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.
With 50 laps remaining, Chandler Smith, Custer and Allmendinger were involved in a wild three-car battle for the lead, with Smith holding a small advantage.
Allmendinger finally got around Smith and Custer on lap 142 to take the lead for the first time in the race.
Chandler Smith was among the first lead-lap cars to hit pit road on lap 145 to kick off a final round of green-flag pit stops to get new tires and fuel.
Once the cycle was completed on lap 177, Allmendinger returned to the lead followed by Custer and Chandler Smith.
Chad Chastain spun around on lap 183 to bring out the caution and send the race into a two-lap overtime. A handful of lead-lap cars pit, including Custer, for old but colder tires. Allmendinger remained out front on the restart followed by Chandler Smith and Hill.
Chandler Smith spun on the restart to place the race back under caution and set up a second overtime with Allmendinger still out front.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Laps Led | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 196 | 2:40'20.252 | 25 | |||
2 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Ford | 196 | 2:40'21.575 | 1.323 | 1.323 | ||
3 | 1 | Sam Mayer | Chevrolet | 196 | 2:40'21.857 | 1.605 | 0.282 | 6 | |
4 | 21 | Austin Hill | Chevrolet | 196 | 2:40'22.065 | 1.813 | 0.208 | 3 | |
5 | 8 | Josh Berry | Chevrolet | 196 | 2:40'22.348 | 2.096 | 0.283 | 1 | |
6 | 20 | John Hunter Nemechek | Toyota | 196 | 2:40'22.487 | 2.235 | 0.139 | ||
7 | 28 | Zane Smith | Ford | 196 | 2:40'22.691 | 2.439 | 0.204 | ||
8 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 196 | 2:40'22.727 | 2.475 | 0.036 | 1 | |
9 | 00 | Cole Custer | Ford | 196 | 2:40'22.878 | 2.626 | 0.151 | 32 | |
10 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff | Chevrolet | 196 | 2:40'23.146 | 2.894 | 0.268 | 3 | |
11 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Chevrolet | 196 | 2:40'23.613 | 3.361 | 0.467 | 22 | |
12 | 16 | Chandler Smith | Chevrolet | 196 | 2:40'24.430 | 4.178 | 0.817 | 74 | |
13 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Chevrolet | 196 | 2:40'25.081 | 4.829 | 0.651 | ||
14 | 25 | Brett Moffitt | Ford | 196 | 2:40'25.270 | 5.018 | 0.189 | ||
15 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 196 | 2:40'25.348 | 5.096 | 0.078 | ||
16 | 26 | Kaz Grala | Toyota | 196 | 2:40'30.871 | 10.619 | 5.523 | ||
17 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Chevrolet | 195 | 2:40'23.518 | 1 Lap | 1 Lap | ||
18 | 4 | Kyle Weatherman | Chevrolet | 195 | 2:40'24.216 | 1 Lap | 0.698 | ||
19 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Ford | 195 | 2:40'24.289 | 1 Lap | 0.073 | ||
20 | 6 | Brennan Poole | Chevrolet | 195 | 2:40'25.266 | 1 Lap | 0.977 | ||
21 | 38 | Joe Jr. | Ford | 195 | 2:40'25.484 | 1 Lap | 0.218 | ||
22 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Chevrolet | 195 | 2:40'25.644 | 1 Lap | 0.160 | ||
23 | 78 | Anthony Alfredo | Chevrolet | 195 | 2:40'27.074 | 1 Lap | 1.430 | ||
24 | 9 | Brandon Jones | Chevrolet | 195 | 2:40'27.898 | 1 Lap | 0.824 | ||
25 | 29 | Kyle Sieg | Ford | 195 | 2:40'30.872 | 1 Lap | 2.974 | ||
26 | 02 | Blaine Perkins | Chevrolet | 194 | 2:40'26.576 | 2 Laps | 1 Lap | ||
27 | 45 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevrolet | 194 | 2:40'31.331 | 2 Laps | 4.755 | ||
28 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Chevrolet | 194 | 2:40'32.422 | 2 Laps | 1.091 | ||
29 | 91 | Chad Chastain | Chevrolet | 194 | 2:40'34.065 | 2 Laps | 1.643 | ||
30 | 35 | David Starr | Chevrolet | 193 | 2:40'32.278 | 3 Laps | 1 Lap | ||
31 | 53 | Joey Gase | Toyota | 193 | 2:40'36.002 | 3 Laps | 3.724 | ||
32 | 08 | Mason Massey | Ford | 186 | 2:40'39.676 | 10 Laps | 7 Laps | ||
33 | 92 | Josh Williams | Chevrolet | 111 | 1:54'55.058 | 85 Laps | 75 Laps | ||
34 | 18 | Sammy Smith | Toyota | 68 | 1:05'17.731 | 128 Laps | 43 Laps | 1 | |
35 | 24 | Connor Mosack | Toyota | 61 | 59'13.444 | 135 Laps | 7 Laps | ||
36 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Chevrolet | 53 | 48'24.282 | 143 Laps | 8 Laps | ||
37 | 19 | Ty Gibbs | Toyota | 53 | 49'09.363 | 143 Laps | 45.081 | 28 | |
38 | 07 | Stefan Parsons | Chevrolet | 0 | 1.299 | 196 Laps | 53 Laps |
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