Allmendinger wins 4th straight at Charlotte Roval. Who makes NASCAR Xfinity playoff cut?
Make that four in a row.
AJ Allmendinger again asserted himself as one of the best road-course drivers in NASCAR on Saturday, winning his fourth Charlotte Roval Xfinity Series race in as many years. The No. 16 car dueled the No. 54 car of Ty Gibbs for most of Stage 3 — and he ultimately prevailed, passing him in overtime and then holding him off on another final restart.
Allmendinger had already won last weekend at Talladega, so his playoff fate was already sealed before his victory. But the win was sweet nonetheless: The 40-year-old driver did a burn-out that had billows of white smoke rise at the start-finish line, celebrating his fifth win of the 2022 season as if it was his first.
“It’s pretty amazing to be able to win four in a row,” Allmendinger told reporters post-race. “This was a race that I didn’t believe at times with 10 to go, or five to go, that we were gonna be able to get it done. But that’s what I love about this race team. They kept pumping me up. I felt like I was letting them down, but I just knew that if we had enough restarts, if I could just time one right we could have a pretty good shot at it.
“Felt like we stole it, but I’m not going to give it back.”
Kaulig Racing announced earlier this month that Allmendinger will drive full-time for the company in the Cup Series next season. When asked if he felt any additional pressure to win in this last Xfinity run, he didn’t need a second thought.
“Honestly, four years ago I sat up here at this race and talked about how I was probably looking at something else in life,” Allmendinger said. “You know, JTG (Daugherty Racing) and I were splitting apart, and I thought NBC was the next side I was going to, and that that was the next step in my career. So at that point in my life, I had three NASCAR wins, total?”
He continued: “If you’d have told me you’d win one championship and you don’t win all these races and share all these Victory Lanes and all that ... I wouldn’t trade that. I love what we’ve been able to do, and if we’re fortunate enough to put the cherry on top and get to Phoenix and win the championship, then great. If not, man, I still love what we’re doing right now.”
Gibbs ultimately finished second. Noah Gragson, who clinched a spot in the Round of 8 with a win at Texas (his fourth win in a row at that point), finished third.
“I felt like I drove back to him a good bit there the last lap and a half of the race,” Gibbs said. “Just didn’t have enough time.”
Said Gragson: “I was joking with the guys this morning, ‘We had a really good Septemeber, we’ve had a terrible October,’ so hopefully we can turn it around.’”
Those who advanced to the Round of 8: Allmendinger, Gragson, Gibbs, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry.
Those who were eliminated: Ryan Sieg, Daniel Hemric, Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements.
Other notes from Charlotte Motor Speedway
▪ After a relatively tame beginning, just three cautions through two stages, the race got sent into overtime thanks to a bunch of wrecks and aggressive moves down the stretch. The totals: seven cautions for 12 total laps.
▪ This was the latest battle between Allmendinger and Gibbs: In the past 13 races, the two have won nine and notched 19 Top 10s between them. Even so, there were eight lead changes and six different leaders on Saturday.
▪ Marco Andretti, whose stardom in Motorsports began at birth (he’s the grandson of Mario Andretti) and who rose to his name after winning the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 rookie honors in 2006, ran his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday. He ultimately didn’t finish the race after T-boning into Jeff Burton, who spun out in Stage 3.
This story was originally published October 8, 2022 at 6:42 PM.
