AJ Allmendinger Wins Atlanta Xfinity Race

RIS Photo by John Davison

HAMPTON, GA – RIS - AJ Allmendinger showed Saturday he still has a lot of racing success left in him, winning the Echo Park 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Driving part-time this season for Kaulig Racing, Allmendinger, who had to roar back from back in the field, earned his fourth career Xfinity Series win, but the first on an oval.

“Oh my God, oh my God, I won on an oval. Do you like that? Whoo!” Allmendinger said to Fox Sports after climbing from his race car. He even kissed the camera, saying he loved his car owner, he was so excited about the win.

“This car was awesome,” said Allmendinger, who took the lead on Lap 127 of the 163-lap race and held on the rest of the way. “This is Atlanta. The car was awesome on long runs, probably better than the driver early. Once I got in the lead, I was just trying to hit my marks, which is hard to do.”

Noah Gragson, who won last week at Bristol, was the highest finisher of the four drivers eligible for the first of four Xfinity Dash 4 Cash races, finishing second and taking home a cool $100,000.

Austin Cindric led the most laps in the race (68) and dominated early by winning the first two stages.  Unfortunately, poor tire management left him with no new tires on the last stop.  Chase Briscoe had taken the lead from Cindric on a late pit stop and also looked headed for his second win in 2020. He and Cindric, along with third place Justin Allgaier were all caught speeding entering the pits, and fell behind Allmendinger.

At this juncture, Allmendinger is not entered in next weekend’s Dash 4 Cash event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but that could change, given Saturday’s win. Gragson, Justin Haley and Daniel Hemric are slated to race in the Dash 4 Cash race at Homestead-Miami. If Allmendinger does not compete in that race, his slot in the Dash would be taken by Harrison Burton.

Haley was third, followed by Hemric and Harrison Burton. Sixth through 10th were Justin Allgaier, Ross Chastain, Brandon Jones, Chase Briscoe and Anthony Alfredo.

Unofficial Results, EchoPark 250, Atlanta Motor Speedway:

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 30, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 C2 Freight Resources Chevrolet, 163, 9, 5, 1, 37, 5, 48, Running
2) 1, Noah Gragson, No. 9 Axalta/EchoPark Automotive Chevrolet, 163, 6, 6, 2, 6, , 45, Running
3) 4, Justin Haley, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 163, 3, 7, 1, 8, , 46, Running
4) 2, Daniel Hemric, No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet, 163, 5, 4, , , , 46, Running
5) 5, Harrison Burton #, No. 20 Hunt Brothers Pizza/DEX Imaging Toyota, 163, 10, 10, , , , 34, Running
6) 3, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet, 163, 4, 8, 1, 1, , 41, Running
7) 11, Ross Chastain, No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet, 163, 2, 3, , , , 47, Running
8) 12, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Toyota Service Centers Toyota, 163, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 9, Chase Briscoe, No. 98 HighPoint.com Ford, 163, 8, 2, 2, 40, , 40, Running
10) 24, Anthony Alfredo, No. 21 Death Wish Coffee Chevrolet, 163, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 21, Michael Annett, No. 1 Flexfit 110 Chevrolet, 163, , 9, 1, 3, , 28, Running
12) 10, Brandon Brown, No. 68 Jabs Construction Chevrolet, 163, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 20, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 All South Electric Chevrolet, 163, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 13, Brett Moffitt(i), No. 02 FR8Auctions Chevrolet, 163, , , , , , 0, Running
15) 34, Colby Howard, No. 15 SANY America Chevrolet, 163, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 8, Austin Cindric, No. 22 Menards/Tuscany Faucets Ford, 163, 1, 1, 3, 68, 2, 41, Running
17) 6, Riley Herbst #, No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota, 163, 7, , , , , 24, Running
18) 31, Bayley Currey(i), No. 74 Mutt and Jeff Porkskins Inc. Chevrolet, 163, , , , , , 0, Running
19) 32, Ronnie Bassett Jr, No. 36 RacingHeroCards/StickyStuff Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 14, Jesse Little #, No. 4 Tufco Flooring Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 16, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 0  Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 33, Tommy Joe Martins, No. 44 Gilreath Farms Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 25, Mason Massey, No. 99 Gerber Collision & Glass Toyota, 162, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 22, Garrett Smithley, No. 07 Matt Laughridge for Congress Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 17, BJ McLeod, No. 6 JD Motorsports Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 27, Joe Graf Jr. #, No. 08 CORE Development Group Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 15, Alex Labbe, No. 90 Larue Snowblowers Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 23, Josh Williams, No. 92 Coolray Heating & AC Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 35, Myatt Snider, No. 93 Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 26, Matt Mills, No. 5 J.F. Electric Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 19, Vinnie Miller, No. 78 Koolbox Chevrolet, 156, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 28, Joe Nemechek(i), No. 47 Patriots of America PAC Chevrolet, 129, , , , , , 0, Suspension
33) 29, Timmy Hill(i), No. 61 RoofClaim.com Toyota, 87, , , , , , 0, Alternator
34) 18, Chad Finchum, No. 13 SMITHBILT HOMES Toyota, 50, , , , , , 3, Suspension
35) 7, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 CMRRoofing.com Chevrolet, 47, , , , , , 2, Engine
36) 37, Stephen Leicht, No. 66 CrashClaimsR.us Toyota, 8, , , , , , 1, Clutch
37) 36, Kody Vanderwal #, No. 52 Advanced Dairy Services Inc. Chevrolet, 3, , , , , , 1, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 163 Laps: 251.02 Miles, 1.54 Mile Paved
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 2 Mins, 37 Secs.
Average Speed: 122.832 MPH
Margin of Victory: 1.858 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 22, 10, 11, 7, 8, 9, 18, 98, 16, 20

Stage 2 Top 10: 22, 98, 10, 8, 16, 9, 11, 7, 1, 20

Race Comments: AJ Allmendinger won the EchoPark 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory.

Prior to the start, the following car dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: No. 44 (unapproved adjustments).

Caution Flags: 6 for 28 laps;
Laps: 18-21 (No. 44 Incident Backstretch / Competition Caution [47]);
42-47 (Stage 1 Conclusion [6]);
70-73 (No. 18 Incident Turn 2 [21]);
82-87 (Stage 2 Conclusion [44]);
99-102 (No. 92 Spin Turn 4 [90]);
126-129 (No. 78 Spin Turn 2 [99]).

Lead Changes: 10 among 7 drivers;
N. Gragson 1-5;
A. Cindric 6-17;
J. Haley 18-25;
A. Cindric 26-42;
J. Allgaier 43;
A. Cindric 44-82;
C. Briscoe 83-98;
M. Annett 99-101;
C. Briscoe 102-125;
N. Gragson 126;
A. Allmendinger 127-163.

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race AJ Allmendinger, No. 16
Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  Harrison Burton, No. 20

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2020, Issue 6, Posted 8:13 PM, 06.06.2020