Allgaier Breaks the Drought at Dover

Justin Allgaier finally moved into the win column for 2020

View Image Gallery

(DOVER DE - AUG 22, 2020 - RIS) Justin Allgaier takes the opening race in the Drydene 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Dover. Allgaier's win comes after a twenty-race cold spell since his last victory. Austin Cindric notched his second race in second place in the last seven races, after winning the other five. Allgaier gave credit to the 'haters' on social media after his run-in with AJ Allmendinger in last week's race at Daytona's road course. "This is the power of social media. I got blasted all week last week and so I guess I need to thank AJ for giving me the drive and the determination and all the haters on social media because that's what's definitely given me some fire and we're firing at the right time," said Allgaier following the race.

Austin Cindric led off the flag while Noah Gragson spun his tires at the green flag and fell back but Harrison Burton could not match pace and held third place through the first laps until the competition caution on lap 20. On the restart, Cindric picked the outslde line and Gragson opted for the inside line. Nine cars are already a lap down, plus Timmy Hill, recipient of the wave-around.

Cindric ended the first stage with his ninth stage win for the season. The 21-year-old has led laps in the last 13 straight Xfinity races. Gragson followed, with Justin Allgaier in third place earlier in the stage. Gragson led Cindric off of pit road, then Justin Allgaier grabbed second from Cindric, chasing down Gragson for the lead in a three-wide pass on the front straight. Two laps later, Chase Briscoe spun on the back straight while attempting an inside pass on Cindric for third. Replays indicate that he lost the air on the rear spoiler and spun, tapping the inside wall before heading to the pits for tires and the crew to examine the car.

Heading to the green flag, Allgaier picked the outside line, followed by Cindric as Gragson once again spun his tires and fell back to fourth before he could move to the upper lane behind Ross Chastain. Allgaier held on for the stage win, followed closely by Cindric, with Chastain, Gragson and Riley Herbst in the top five positions. 

Brandon Brown headed the field after the restart but Allgaier took less than one lap to move back into the lead with Cindric challenging for second while Ryan Sieg lost third to Harrison Burton just before Cindric moved around Brown for second and the battle between Burton and Chastain caught up to him.

Chastain took third, followed a lap later by Burton with Brandon Jones following as Allgaier held a lead of about a second ahead of Cindric.

Lap 150 had BJ McLeod hit th wall with a flat right rear tire, driving directly to the garage. Allgaier led from the outside lane with Cindric making the best inside line restart of the day to slot in behind Allgaier.

Cindric tried an inside pass for the lead but could not finish the move but a caution flew for fifth-place Brandon Jones' spin without contact, leading to another restart and choose situation. Teams were allocated only four sets of tires at the start of the race: three in the pits plus the set on the car. Cindric opted for the inside line at the restart and Allgaier held onto the lead with Chastain falling back from the battle for the lead between Allgaier and Cindric.

The final fifteen laps saw Allgaier holding position over Cindric with Cindric easing a slightly larger gap over Chastain for second. 

"These last 18-24 months have been crazy," the winner commented. "Just proud of these guys and the no give up attitude This team is incredible" said Allgaier. "What a day, what a race car. We were off a little bit at the beginning and Jason (crew chief) did a great job of getting us where we needed to be at.

"This is the power of social media. I got blasted all week last week and so I guess I need to thank AJ for giving me the drive and the determination and all the haters on social media because that's what's definitely given me some fire and we're firing at the right time.

"The slicker this thing got, the more rubbered in it got, the better we were, so the Cup race today, I'm going to be watching that to see what happens. We got a few adjustments we can make. I still feel like we can be better."

Second place finisher Cindric commended that: "track position was extremely important. The track didn't quite move around. When we'd get a restart, about ten-fifteen laps in you'd be the first guy up or making hay in traffic. We've got some things we can do better on."

Unofficial Results, Drydene 200, Dover International Speedway - 1  Mile Concrete

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 5, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 FFA Chevrolet, 200, 3, 1, 3, 120, 6, 58, Running
2) 1, Austin Cindric, No. 22 PPG Ford, 200, 1, 2, 2, 49, 1, 54, Running
3) 13, Ross Chastain, No. 10 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet, 200, 4, 3, , , , 49, Running
4) 2, Noah Gragson, No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber Camo Chevrolet, 200, 2, 4, 1, 27, , 49, Running
5) 4, Harrison Burton #, No. 20 Fields/DEX Imaging Toyota, 200, 5, 6, , , , 43, Running
6) 6, Riley Herbst #, No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota, 200, 6, 5, , , , 42, Running
7) 27, Jeb Burton, No. 8 State Water Heaters Chevrolet, 200, , 9, , , , 32, Running
8) 22, Justin Haley, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 200, , 7, , , , 33, Running
9) 8, Michael Annett, No. 1 Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet, 200, 9, 10, , , , 31, Running
10) 10, Chase Briscoe, No. 98 Highpoint.com Ford, 200, 8, , , , , 30, Running
11) 26, Anthony Alfredo, No. 21 ADS/Footing First Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 9, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 CMRRoofing.com Chevrolet, 200, 10, , , , , 26, Running
13) 7, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 21, Brandon Brown, No. 68 Jabs Construction Chevrolet, 200, , , 1, 4, , 23, Running
15) 28, Brett Moffitt(i), No. 02 Robert B Our Inc Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 0, Running
16) 3, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Menards/Pelonis Toyota, 200, 7, 8, , , , 28, Running
17) 11, Myatt Snider #, No. 93 The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 23, Joe Graf Jr #, No. 08 Bucked Up Energy Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 19, Alex Labbe, No. 90 Prolon/VRVictoriaVille.com Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 30, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 0 Drydene Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 14, Tommy Joe Martins, No. 44 Gilreath Farms Red Angus Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 15, Stephen Leicht, No. 61 JANIKING Toyota, 198, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 12, Jesse Little #, No. 4 Drydene Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 18, Josh Williams, No. 92 Musselman's Big Cup Applesauce Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 20, Kyle Weatherman, No. 47  Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 32, Stefan Parsons, No. 99 Rich Mar Florist Toyota, 198, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 29, David Starr, No. 07 Jacob Construction Chevrolet, 197, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 35, Vinnie Miller, No. 78 Glassskinz Chevrolet, 196, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 34, Chad Finchum, No. 13 GARRISON HOMES Toyota, 196, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 33, Colby Howard, No. 15 Project Hope Foundation Chevrolet, 195, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 24, Kody Vanderwal No. , No. 52 ADVANCED DAIRY SERVICES Chevrolet, 194, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 31, Korbin Forrister(i), No. 36 Nursing Home Heroes Chevrolet, 191, , , , , , 0, Running
33) 25, Matt Mills, No. 5 JF Electric Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 17, BJ McLeod, No. 6 Drydene Chevrolet, 146, , , , , , 3, Suspension
35) 16, Bayley Currey(i), No. 74 Mutt and Jeff Porkskins Inc Chevrolet, 92, , , , , , 0, Fuel Pressure
36) 36, Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 JANIKING Toyota, 55, , , , , , 0, Vibration
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 200 laps, 200 miles
Time of Race: 1 hr, 48 min, 57 sec
Average Speed: 110.142 mph
Margin of Victory: 1.977 sec

Stage 1 Top 10: 22, 9, 7, 10, 20, 18, 19, 98, 1, 39
Stage 2 Top 10: 7, 22, 10, 9, 18, 20, 11, 19, 8, 1

Race Comments: Justin Allgaier won the Drydene 200 at Dover International Speedway, his 12th victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Prior to the start, the following car dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 15 (unapproved adjustments).

Caution Flags: 6 for 27 laps;
Laps: 22-25 (Competition [99]);
47-51 (Stage 1 Conclusion [78]);
78-81 (No. 98 incident backstretch [99]);
92-96 (Stage 2 Conclusion [08]);
150-154 (No. 6 incident turn 4 [93]);
164-167 (No. 19 spin turn 4 [98]).

Lead Changes: 6 among 4 drivers;
A. Cindric 1-48;
N. Gragson 49-75;
J. Allgaier 76-92;
B. Brown 93-96;
J. Allgaier 97-149;
A. Cindric 150;
J. Allgaier 151-200.

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race:  Justin Allgaier, No. 7 
Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  Harrison Burton, No. 20