Austin Hill, who dominated much of the race, went to block Noah Gragson with four of 113 laps remaining, which opened the door for Mayer to move into the lead.
On the final lap, Allmendinger looked like he would finish behind Mayer but got another run and cut to Mayer’s right as Mayer tried to block him. He clipped Mayer by 0.015 seconds at the finish line to earn his first career win on a superspeedway.
The win is his fourth of the 2022 season and his victory automatically sends him into the semifinal round of the playoffs regardless of how he finishes next weekend at the Charlotte Roval.
“Still hate it, still hate it,” Allmendinger said of superspeedway racing, “but, gosh, we’ve been so close to winning one and I feel like I keep giving them away. I thought I gave this away. I’m still learning what too big of a lead is.
“Honestly, all credit to Landon Cassill – he kept shoving me. He stuck with me. That’s what’s great about Kaulig Racing when you have teammates like Landon and Daniel (Hemric). No matter where you go, you know they’re going to go with you. It makes it a little bit easier.
“I just wanted to win on a superspeedway. I finally got it.”
Mayer ended up second, just short of his first series win. Cassill was third, Ryan Sieg fourth and Josh Berry completed the top-five.
Rounding out the top-10 were Parker Kligerman, Ty Gibbs, Hemric, Brandon Jones and Gragson.
With one race remaining in this round of the players, the four drivers lowest in points and facing elimination next weekend at Charlotte are Hemric, Jones, Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Trevor Bayne first off pit road. Mayer was penalized for speeding on pit road and had to restart from the rear of the field.
On the restart on Lap 56, Bayne was followed by Gragson, Jones and Gibbs.
With a push from Jones, Gragson cleared Bayne on the restart and moved into the lead for the first time in the race.
Allmendinger moved into the top spot on Lap 59 only to see Sieg get around him to move out front on Lap 60.
On Lap 68, the first group of cars elected to make their final green-flag pit stop to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the finish of the race.
Myatt Snider get spun around by Blaine Perkins while they were making their respective stops.
Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 81, Austin Hill re-emerged as the leader.
With 15 laps…
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