Justin Allgaier dominates in NASCAR Xfinity win at Darlington

NASCAR

Justin Allgaier dominates in NASCAR Xfinity win at Darlington

sportsnewsnetwork

May 11, 2024

Justin Allgaier dominates in NASCAR Xfinity win at Darlington

Allgaier took both stage victories and in the final stage the pit crew on his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet team got him first off pit road during two critical stops.

A late-race caution sent all the cars down pit road and after Allgaier beat his teammate Sam Mayer off pit road, he easily cleared for the lead on the restart and cruised to a 3.407-second win over Austin Hill.

The victory is the first this season for Allgaier and 24th of his career. Allgaier, 37, is now tied with his team co-owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., for 10th all-time in series wins.

“We’ve had a such a heck of a year. We’ve led a ton of laps and just haven’t been able to do it,” said Allgaier, who led 119 of 147 laps Saturday, including the final 95. “It’s a true testament to (my crew) and everybody back at JR Motorsports.

“Having a little gray hair today helped me out though especially those long green flag runs.”

Allgaier’s previous best finish this season was third at Texas. He and Mayer have now both qualified for the series playoffs with victories this year.

Cole Custer rebounded from having to pit twice midrace to fix loose lug nuts and ended up third, Mayer was fourth and Aric Almirola rounded out the top five.

Completing the top 10 were Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst, Jesse Love, Sheldon Creed and Brandon Jones.

Stage 1

Allgaier grabbed the lead on a restart with 20 of 45 laps to go and held off Hill to take the Stage 1 win. Mayer was third, A.J. Allmendinger fourth and Kligerman rounded out the top five.

Stage 2

Allgaier led every green flag lap and beat Hill by 0.728 seconds to complete a sweep of both stage victories. Kligerman was third, Mayer fourth and Almirola ended up fifth.

Stage 3

During the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all elected to pit with Allgaier first off pit road. He led Hill, Almirola and Mayer when the race returned to green with 49 laps remaining.

Hailie Deegan had a left-rear tire come apart and spun in Turn 1 on lap 102 which brought out a caution and sent all the lead-lap cars down pit road for new tires.

Only a handful of cars hit pit road for new tires and Allgaier remained on the track and in the lead when the race resumed with 39 laps to go.

Kyle Sieg spun off Turn 2 to bring out another caution on lap 123 and the entire field decided to pit for new tires. Allgaier was first off pit road and led Mayer and Hill on the restart with 16 laps remaining.

Allgaier maintained a solid lead over Hill and Custer with 10 laps to go.

1	J. Allgaier	7	147		6
2	A. Hill	21	147	3.407	7
3	C. Custer	00	147	0.787	8
4	S. Mayer	1	147	0.649	7
5	A. Almirola	20	147	0.933	7
6	P. Kligerman	48	147	0.175	8
7	R. Herbst	98	147	3.058	7
8	J. Love	2	147	0.423	7
9	S. Creed	18	147	0.359	7
10	B. Jones	9	147	0.284	7
11	W. Byron	17	147	0.320	8
12	C. Smith	81	147	0.299	9
13	R. Sieg	39	147	0.424	7
14	A. Alfredo	5	147	1.459	7
15	S. van Gisbergen	97	147	1.272	7
16	J. Burton	27	147	0.504	7
17	K. Weatherman	91	147	1.426	7
18	T. Gray	19	147	0.360	7
19	C. Kvapil	88	147	0.323	7
20	B. Poole	44	147	0.162	7
21	J. Williams	11	147	0.218	8
22	J. Bilicki	92	147	2.697	7
23	J. Nemechek	26	147	0.006	9
24	D. Starr	14	147	0.416	7
25	M. DiBenedetto	38	147	2.310	7
26	C. Finchum	35	147	0.274	7
27	B. Perkins	29	147	0.092	7
28	D. Cram	4	147	10.585	7
29	G. Smithley	6	146	1 Lap	6
30	L. Honeyman	42	146	4.760	9
31	P. Retzlaff	31	146	4.493	8
32	K. Sieg	28	146	6.411	9
33	E. Patrick	07	146	1.836	7
34	S. Smith	8	146	0.410	8
35	A. Allmendinger	16	126	20 Laps	8
36	H. Deegan	15	102	24 Laps	6
37	J. Clements	51	94	8 Laps	8
38	R. Ellis	43	71	23 Laps	6