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Race report
NASCAR XFINITY Indianapolis

Ty Gibbs takes Indy RC Xfinity win over Mayer and Allmendinger

Ty Gibbs dominated the final stage at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and cruised to his first NASCAR Xfinity win of the 2023 season.

Gibbs and A.J. Allmendinger were the class of the field from the start of Saturday’s race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile course.

With Allmendinger out front, both he and Gibbs make their final green flag pit stop on lap 43 of 62 with Gibbs beating Allmendinger off pit road.

A lap later, a caution was displayed for a stalled car. Gibbs led the way on the restart with 16 laps remaining and was never seriously threatened. He cleared Sam Mayer by 7.959 seconds to take the victory – his first in seven starts this year.

It’s the 12th career win for the reigning series champion, who now competes fulltime in the Cup Series.

 

“It’s really cool to get one here at The Brickyard,” Gibbs, 20, said. “I grew up racing go-karts in New Castle right down the street so it’s very special to me. Awesome car – great car. Thank you, (crew chief) Jason Ratcliff. He’s the man right here.

“This is just so special to me.”

Allmendinger faded to third at the end, Austin Hill was fourth and Justin Allgaier fifth.

Completing the top-10 were Cole Custer, Parker Kligerman, Sheldon Creed, Kaz Grala and Brett Moffitt.

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Stage 1

With the completion of lap 20, Allmendinger claimed the Stage 1 win over Mayer by 5.999 seconds. Daniel Hemric was third, Kligerman fourth and Allgaier was fifth.

Only seven laps were completed before NASCAR was forced to display a caution for rain. The race was then red flagged for nearly 44 minutes for lightning in the area.

After teams changed to wet weather tires, the race returned to green on lap 12 with Gibbs still out front. Within two laps, teams began to hit pit road to change back to slick tires.

Stage 2

With the completion of lap 40, Allmendinger scored the Stage 2 win as he led Gibbs by 3.121 seconds. Mayer was third, Creed fourth and Riley Herbst rounded out the top five.

About midway through the stage, Brad Perez’s No. 53 stalled on the track which forced NASCAR to put the race under caution. Several cars used the opportunity to pit.

 

Hemric and John Hunter Nemechek got into each other entering Turn 1 late in the stage which left Nemechek with a serious tire rub.

Stage 3

Allmendinger remained in the lead as the final stage got under way on lap 41.

Several teams hit pit road under green with 20 laps remaining to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race. Nemechek was flagged for speeding on pit road and had to serve a pass-through penalty.

Allmendinger and Gibbs were among the last to pit before a caution was displayed on lap 45 for the stalled car of Andre Castro. Gibbs led the way on the restart with 16 laps to go.

With 10 laps to go, Gibbs had built a more than 3-second lead over Allmendinger with Mayer close behind him in third.

Blaine Perkins got knocked off course with seven laps to go and developed a flat tire but was able to make it back to pit road without the need of a caution.

Mayer cleared Allmendinger for the runner-up finish in the final two laps.

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