After a season-long frustrations, Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger collected his first win of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season in the Ambetter Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He took the victory Saturday night (Oct. 19) by .156 seconds over Ryan Sieg.
The energetic Allmendinger earned his 18th career Xfinity win, locking himself into the Xfinity Series Championship 4 for the second time in his career.
Sieg had the fastest car at the end of the race, driving the same car that finished second in a .002-second photo finish with Sam Mayer at Texas Motor Speedway back in April. Sieg matched that finish at Las Vegas after a two-lap shootout at the end of regulation.
Justin Allgaier fought through mechanical issues and overheating in his race to take third. Chandler Smith finished as the highest-running Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in fourth, his seventh top-five finish in a row. Parker Kligerman completed the top-five.
Jesse Love finished sixth, followed by Riley Herbst, Cole Custer and Sheldon Creed, who came from the rear of the field after an engine change. Austin Hill rounded out the top 10.
Custer was able to take the early lead from pole sitter Brandon Jones, but through the long run, the JR Motorsports Chevrolets of Jones and Allgaier caught up to the back of the SHR Ford.
A caution for Dylan Lupton hitting the outside wall set up a dash for the stage with a split pit strategy amongst the field playing a significant role. On fresh tires, Custer and Allgaier diced through the field, and Custer passed his teammate Herbst for the lead. He then held off Allgaier to win stage one.
Allgaier took control in the caution-free stage two, but battled a recuring left-side vibration to take the stage two win. Meanwhile, Aric Almirola fought from the back after an pit road interference penalty to fight in the top 10, clocking the fastest laps in the field.
At the start of stage three, the pack accordioned, which led to three playoff drivers, Love, Hill and Sammy Smith, taking damage while JGR’s Taylor Gray spun in the middle of the pack to bring the caution out.
Smith was the biggest loser from the wreck. The Talladega Superspeedway winner stayed out with his damage and fell outside the top 20. He was unable to catch a caution to fix the damage before he was lapped.
Allmendinger took the lead for stage three with Allgaier behind, but the JRM No. 7 had debris stuck on the grill for multiple laps, leading to a problem…
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