NASCAR at Charlotte Xfinity playoff race live updates: AJ Allmendinger wins in rain

NASCAR’s Xfinity Series returns to (a potentially wet) road course for Saturday’s elimination playoff race, this time at the sport’s hometown track of Charlotte Motor Speedway. The Drive for the Cure 250 starts at 3:30 p.m. on NBC.

The twelve driver playoff field will be reduced to eight teams after the race. Ross Chastain, Harrison Burton, Riley Herbst and Michael Annett are all in jeopardy of missing the cutoff as the four drivers below the bubble prior to Saturday.

AJ Allmendinger is the defending Charlotte road course winner. Chase Briscoe (win at Las Vegas) and Justin Haley (win at Talladega) have secured their spot in the next round, while 10 others are looking to lock a place in the Round of 8.

Follow along here for lap-by-lap updates from Charlotte Motor Speedway. Refresh this page for the latest updates and follow NASCAR reporter Alex Andrejev on Twitter at @AndrejevAlex.

For more information on NASCAR’s road course rain racing procedures, click here.

NASCAR XFINITY POINTS STANDINGS POST-CHARLOTTE

FINISHING ORDER FROM THE DRIVE FOR THE CURE 250

7:03 p.m., Lap 68: AJ Allmendinger wins his second race of the season

The race restarts with two laps to the checkered flag (one overtime lap) and Briscoe in the lead, but Briscoe spins off the restart into the first turn and Allmendinger inherits the lead. Allmendinger holds onto his position and celebrates in Victory Lane as Briscoe blames himself.

“In conditions like this, you gotta be a hundred percent and I went 110,” Briscoe says on the broadcast of his foray into the puddle.

Harrison Burton, Brandon Brown, Michael Annett and Riley Herbst are the drivers eliminated before the Round of 8.

6:46 p.m., Lap 64: Race re-starts, then back to yellow

Allmendinger leads on the restart on Lap 61 with Briscoe in second, but Briscoe picks up his spot again. The yellow flag comes out on Lap 64 for Brown, who drives through a massive puddle and is stalled on the track.

6:43 p.m., Lap 59: Caution for stopped car

The caution flag is thrown for McLaughlin stopped on track after a spin. He backs up attempting to restart and leaders nearly swipe him. Briscoe brushes the wall and has damage to his right front and slows a bit.

6:36 p.m., Lap 55: Briscoe’s big moves

Briscoe runs side-by-side with Allmendinger for a lap. With 12 laps left, Briscoe makes his pass by outbraking Allmendinger on the backstretch. He re-takes the lead. Allmendinger hangs onto second place, followed by Hemric and Allgaier still. Cindric misses the chicane and is forced to stop-and-go.

6:28 p.m., Lap 51: Allmendinger leads

Allmendinger wrangles the corners to pull ahead of the pack as Briscoe wiggles slightly rounding a turn and drops to fourth. Briscoe races back to second by the next lap. The order is Allmendinger, Briscoe, Hemric and Allgaier. Cindric, Herbst and Gragson race closely, and Gragson and Herbst make contact again late in the race. Herbst earlier rear-ended Gragson from the lead and Gragson said on NBC after the incident under the red flag, “I don’t really get mad. I get even.”

6:23 p.m., Lap 48: Caution

The yellow flag comes out for Little stalled in the infield, and Chastain is told by his team to pit for fuel. Chastain’s team is having radio issues and Allmendinger was told by his team to roll up next to Chastain and deliver the message that he should pit. Chastain gets the message and pits.

6:17 p.m., Lap 47: Briscoe holds lead

Briscoe, Chastain, Labbe continue to lead in the top-three, but Allmendinger, in fourth, has the most fuel. “Make no mistakes and you’ll win this thing, dude,” Allmendinger’s radio says. “Nobody will make it on fuel but you.”

6:09 p.m., Lap 42: Gragson gets the wall

The race restarts for the final stage and on the first turn, Gragson loses control from the top-10, does a full 360 spin in the middle of the track and slams the inside wall. The caution flag does not come out and Briscoe, Chastain continue to lead. Allmendinger reported no windshield wipers at the stage break.

6:02 p.m., Lap 40: Chase Briscoe wins Stage 2

Briscoe and Chastain lead the field on the restart and Briscoe jumps out front. He races the laps cleanly to win the stage. Chastain holds onto second, followed by Labbe, Cindric, Gragson, Hemric, Brown, Allgaier, Gaulding and Buford in the top-10 for points. With the stage points, Cindric has locked in his spot in the playoffs.

5:53 p.m., Lap 36: Back to green

Williams immediately gets into the wall rounding Turn 1, but the race stays green. Briscoe gets up to P1 ahead of Allmendinger on the same lap, followed by Chastain in third. Then, the caution comes out with three laps left in the stage. Burton is stopped on the track with an apparent clutch issue. He heads to the garage, his hopes for advancing in the playoffs dashed. The yellow will stay out until a one-lap shootout for the stage win.

5:47 p.m., Lap 34: Green to yellow for immediate pileup

The green flag waves to restart and three turns later, the leaders hydroplane and crash into the Turn 3 wall. Haley’s hood is stuck crushed underneath the back of Pardus. The crash appears to be the result of Allgaier spinning from out front with multiple drivers, including Herbst and Annett, piling in. Haley is done for the day.

5:24 p.m.: Race gets ready to resume, switching channels

As seven track dryers and four Air Titans work on removing standing water (there is no hope for drying), drivers are called back to their cars. NASCAR intends to make this race official. Engines are re-fired 10 minutes later. The broadcast for the race will move from NBC to CNBC at 5:55 p.m. through the conclusion of the race. Herbst, a playoff driver below the bubble, is in the lead, followed by Williams and Allmendinger on the restart.

5 p.m., Lap 30: Red flag

Cars are called to pit road as NASCAR pulls out the red flag to attempt more track drying. Teams report NASCAR is telling drivers to stay close, but the water is continuing to pour down. The race has not yet reached the halfway point and therefore is not official (need four more laps). There are not lights on the track, and sundown is around 7 p.m., but according to the weather radar, the rain cell should pass through by 6 p.m.

4:49 p.m., Lap 28: Track drying attempts futile

Track dryers on are funneling standing water from the track as the rain comes down harder. Herbst, Williams and Allmendinger are in the top-three. Gragson’s radio predicts “20 more minutes of this heavy rain.” For now, track drying efforts can’t keep up with the storm.

4:41 p.m., Lap 26: Stage 2 starts, then stops

Finishing the first lap when the race returns to green in the second stage, Brown and Grala miss the chicane heading into the frontstretch. Gragson leads the field but Herbst gets into the back of him and Gragson spins off the track. Herbst inherits the lead as the yellow flag comes out.

4:27 p.m., Lap 20: Kaz Grala wins Stage 1

Kaz Grala passes the green-and-white checkered flag as Harrison Burton slows and stops just before crossing the line and drops from the top-10 at the stage finish. Burton receives a penalty for not doing a full stop-and-go. This stage finish will hurt Burton, who was on the cutoff bubble. Grala, Gragson, Labbe, Haley, Allgaier, Chastain, Hemric, Williams, Pardus and Brown finish in the top-10 for points. The race is goes on.

4:14 p.m., Lap 18: Race returns to green

Puddles continue building under caution. There is standing water on pit road, and the race stays yellow until Lap 18 when the green flag comes out with Gragson in the lead. Kaz Grala takes the lead on the final lap of the stage, passing Gragson, and saving his car from nearly hitting the wall to retain P1.

4:07 p.m., Lap 13: Chastain spins, caution out for

Multiple cars wreck rounding Turn 5 as they skid into the wall on a now soaked track. Those who get stopped include Martins, Weatherman and Gragson from the lead. The caution comes out. Just before the yellow, Chastain spins and loses his top spot. “The puddles have turned into rivers,” Haley’s radio reports.

4:02 p.m., Lap 11: Briscoe spins but no caution

Briscoe’s 98 car spins after the final chicane on the frontstretch but the race stays green. “I got too much of the curb,” Briscoe says, and he drops out of the top-10.

4 p.m., Lap 9: Rain picks up, Gragson still leads

Gragson continues with a significant lead, and Haley has regained the second place spot. The order is Gragson, Haley, Chastain, Allmendinger, Briscoe, Burton. The “light” rain has turned into pouring. “The biggest thing I see is just staying out of the paint.” Chastain and Haley are both having issues with their windshield wipers and can’t see.

3:57 p.m., Lap 6: Three-wide restart, aggressive move by Chastain

Chastain runs to the inside on the restart to go three-wide and slides into second place past Haley. Gragson still leads. Allmendinger, who started in 22nd, has already raced up to fifth. The sky is dark and overcast, but the rain has stopped and Chastain’s team reports the track is drying in certain spots, but drivers slide in others.

3:51 p.m., Lap 5: Decision time on tires

NASCAR calls a caution for weather and teams must determine if their switching to wet weather tires or sticking with the dry. NASCAR requires rear lights to be activated. Most teams switch to the wet tires, and Gragson re-emerges as the leader coming to green.

3:43 p.m., Lap 3: Caution is out and rain starts

Moffit says “something broke in the rear” after rounding Turn 14 and getting into the wall. The yellow flag comes out on Lap 2 as the skies darken under caution. Then, rain sprinkles touch down. Teams report “sprinkles” and estimate an hour of rain.

3:37 p.m., Lap 1: Green flag, Gragson leads

The field goes green under dry conditions, but drivers are communicating about nearing rain clouds. There is no competition caution, and NASCAR will need to deem “wet conditions” before teams are able to change switch tires. The field goes green with Cindric and Briscoe picking up positions on the first lap. Gragson leads from the inside lane and Chastain pits after the first lap.

3:31 p.m.: Cars rolling off the grid

The pace car leads the field onto the 17-turn course. Gragson and Haley are starting in the front row with Gragson on the inside for pace laps. “It’s super narrow,” says Justin Haley of the course on the NBC broadcast, also noting the likelihood for rain.

3:22 p.m.: Opening ceremonies underway

The national anthem is performed by Nashville recording artist Stephanie Owens with the Charlotte Fire Department Honor Guard on-site. The chief operating officer of BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, Gerald Petkau, is serving as the grand marshal and health care workers give the command to start engines.

3:15 p.m.: Cars on the grid

Drivers are at their cars (no rain yet) as fans fill into their socially distanced seats in the grandstands. For tomorrow’s Cup race, around 6,7000 fans (seven percent capacity) are expected to attend. Today’s attendance appears under that number.

3:00 p.m.: Rain holding off, but looming for later

Showers haven’t quite reached the speedway, but rain clouds are looming overhead. Rain is expected to start after 4 p.m., according to AccuWeather.com, which means the race will likely start under dry conditions and transition to wet. It will be at each team’s discretion whether they switch to wet weather Goodyear tires. Each Xfinity team will have two sets of rain tires (Cup teams have four sets).

HOW TO WATCH NASCAR XFINITY ROVAL RACE AT CHARLOTTE

• Race: Drive for the Cure 250
• Distance: 155 miles, 67 laps (stages end on laps 20, 40, 67)
• When: Saturday 3:30 p.m.
• TV: NBC (broadcast starts at 3 p.m.)
• Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

NASCAR XFINITY ROVAL RACE STARTING LINEUP

This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 3:02 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription