Allmendinger, who led 28 of the 46 laps including the first 14, almost saw his path to a win derailed when he got spun on a restart after contact with Aric Almirola on Lap 20.
That sent Allmendinger back to 26th place and the fight was on from there. Allmendinger managed to work his way back to the lead after getting into then-leader Sheldon Creed on Lap 33 and sending him off the course.
Despite repeated attempts by William Byron to try catch him in the final 14 laps, Allmendinger fought off each challenge and held on to win by 0.853 seconds.
The win is the first of the season for Allmendinger in the Xfinity Series and 16th of his career (11 have come on road courses including this race last season).
“William Byron is one of the best ones in the sport right now, seeing all Cup races he’s winning. I knew it was going to be tough,” Allmendinger said. “I was just trying to fight to get back up to the front there.
“I hate I had contact with Sheldon. I was trying to stay off him but I hate that happened. This car was really hooked up. With all the damage we had, it definitely hurt the car. Man, I’m probably too old for this job.”
Allmendinger said winning never gets old.
“I spent a lot of years not winning anything so I’m going to celebrate every one like it’s my last one because you never know. As much pressure as I put on myself I’m always going to try to live up to it.”
Ty Gibbs finished third, Sammy Smith fourth and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-five.
Completing the top-10 were Daniel Hemric, Sam Mayer, Josh Berry, Creed and Riley Herbst.
Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Hemric and Mayer were the four highest finishing series regulars in the race and qualified for the $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus in next weekend’s race at Richmond, Va.
Stage 3
As the final stage got under way, the race was under caution for an incident involving Cole Custer.
Several lead-lap cars pit but Creed remained on the track and in the lead on the restart on Lap 33. Creed was followed by John Hunter Nemechek and Almirola.
Allmendinger powered into second place on the restart as Almirola ran third.
On Lap 33, Allmendinger got into the back of Creed and knocked him from the lead as he and Byron ended up racing side-by-side for the top spot.
Allmendinger finally was able to put some distance between himself and Byron as Nemechek moved into third.
With 10 laps remaining, Allmendinger held a small advantage over Byron as…
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