Allmendinger Takes Third ROVAL Win
(CONCORD, NC - OCT 9, 2021 - RIS) Break out the brooms: AJ Allmendinger took the checkered flag for his third straight victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250 on Charlotte Motor Speedway's ROVAL™. Current champion Austin Cindric finished second, followed by Daniel Hemric, Justin Haley, Brandon Jones and Noah Gragson. All of the top six finishers are locked into the next round of the playoffs.
Austin Cindric led from the green flag for the first eight laps of the Drive for the Cure 250 on the ROVAL. An early race incident between Jade Buford and Brett Moffitt slowed the race on the first lap when Buford looped at the top of the infield hill and blocked the line at that point.
Gray Gaulding was the first car out of the race when his rear axle locked up in the back straight chicane to cause another caution. Before this, Justin Allgaier got loose in the second turn, smacking the wall with the right rear and stopping for a fresh tire and fender clearance. Austin Cindric wheel-hopped entering the back straight chicane a lap later and served his stop and go in the front straight restart zone, remaining in second place on the track.
Josh Bilicki missed the back straight chicane badly and ripped out several sections of the lower yellow and black curbing, resulting in a short red flag so track maintenance personnel could remove the bent bolts.
A couple of other brief yellows for debris and a Tommy Joe Martins spin interrupted the race, leading to a final charge by AJ Allmendinger to the third ROVAL win in three years.
"It's special, for sure, to win this race three years in a row and for it to be Drive for the Cure 250. The celebration, seeing the women in victory lane who've survived breast cancer makes it all the more special. For me, what means the most is to be able to represent them and it reminds me that we're just out here racing cars. What they represent is bigger than racing," he commented.
"Today, I was nervous. We had a good points gap, but Talladega showed that anything can happen. We were deciding whether to go for points or go for the win. Once we decided that, our Hyperice Chevy was so good out front. I'm just pumped up to be able to get another win."
Austin Cindric finished second in the No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang, commenting that the Kaulig cars were fast from "turn one to turn 17 apparently. They're fast. They've been fast all year. I feel like this has honestly been one of my weakest road courses for probably exactly what you saw -- the rear tires fall off way too much. I felt like I was driving a skid pad car after about 10 laps. I feel a little bit lucky and a bit fortunate, honestly.
"I didn't get moved or put in the wall, so either way we had a fast car. I think we set a fast lap time and got a good finish, so that sets us up well for Texas. I just wish we could have taken advantage of getting a playoff point.
"In this format you have to get to Phoenix and then have your best day. That's where my mind is. Honestly, out of anyone in the playoffs I would like AJ to win because he and I have the most playoff points over anybody and if he gets five more, it's way better than the guy right below the cut getting five more. That's my mentality. Those guys have been on it all season, not just recently, so I think today we maximized."
Cindric lost some space on the last restart: "I spun my tires like crazy. I was worried about that, but I didn't think it was gonna be that bad. Like I said, I feel like I could have tried a second gear restart. I think that would have helped me out at least maintaining some track position, but from there it was just not meant to be today."
Third place finisher Daniel Hemric commented that: "That was all I had, you know I just lost a little too much rear grip that last run. Then honestly we were lucky to get as far forward as we did and then second, third, fourth, they were all right there in front of me, but I used my rear tires up. At that point we were locked in to the next round. We came here to win and knew we couldn't with what we had; so Dave Rogers (Crew Chief) made a great call to come down and put four tires on Poppy Bank Toyota Supra. I don't know, the 54 (Ty Gibbs) got hooked there on the next-to-last lap and I lost too much lap time to get to where I needed to, but proud of the effort, great call but just came up a little short."
Unofficial Results: 40th Annual Drive for the Cure 250, October 9, 2021, Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course: 2.32 Mile Paved
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 14, AJ Allmendinger (P), No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet, 68, , , 1, 21, 5, 49, Running
2) 1, Austin Cindric (P), No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford, 68, , , 2, 22, , 35, Running
3) 3, Daniel Hemric (P), No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota, 68, 1, 1, 2, 17, 2, 54, Running
4) 5, Justin Haley (P), No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 68, 5, 2, , , , 48, Running
5) 6, Brandon Jones (P), No. 19 Toyota Toyota, 68, 6, 6, , , , 42, Running
6) 10, Noah Gragson (P), No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/BRCC Chevrolet, 68, 3, 4, 1, 1, , 46, Running
7) 37, Preston Pardus, No. 90 Chinchor Electric/Danus Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 13, Myatt Snider (P), No. 2 TaxSlayer Chevrolet, 68, , 3, , , , 37, Running
9) 2, Justin Allgaier (P), No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 15, Sam Mayer #, No. 8 QPS Employment Group Chevrolet, 68, , 10, , , , 28, Running
11) 17, Josh Williams, No. 92 WORKPRO Tools Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 11, Jeremy Clements (P), No. 51 All South Electric Chevrolet, 68, 10, 5, , , , 32, Running
13) 7, Jeb Burton (P), No. 10 Radiate Next Chevrolet, 68, 9, 9, , , , 28, Running
14) 20, Alex Labbe, No. 36 Prolon/Globocam/GBI Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 8, Harrison Burton (P), No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota, 68, 8, 7, , , , 29, Running
16) 19, Jade Buford #, No. 48 Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 35, Landon Cassill, No. 4 Voyager Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 40, Austin Hill(i), No. 61 AISIN Toyota, 68, , , , , , 0, Running
19) 23, JJ Yeley, No. 99 United Breast Cancer Foundation Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 32, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 0 Azalea Gynecology Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 12, Ty Gibbs #, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 68, 4, 8, 1, 7, , 26, Running
22) 16, Brandon Brown, No. 68 American PetroLog Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 24, Kyle Weatherman, No. 47 Axe Crossbows Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 36, Stefan Parsons, No. 78 SOKAL Digital Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 28, Sage Karam, No. 31 BLACK OPS by Ric Prado Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 25, Ty Dillon, No. 23 Koucar Management Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 4, Michael Annett, No. 1 TMC Transportation Chevrolet, 68, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 30, Joe Graf Jr., No. 17 Arrowhead Brass Chevrolet, 67, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 29, Will Rodgers, No. 26 GoodRX/Race To End Hep C Toyota, 67, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 26, Matt Mills, No. 5 Thompson Electric Inc Toyota, 67, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 33, Spencer Boyd(i), No. 52 RIMTYME Chevrolet, 67, , , , , , 0, Running
32) 18, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 CMR Construction and Roofing/A-Game Ford, 66, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 21, Tommy Joe Martins, No. 44 AAN Adjusters Chevrolet, 63, , , , , , 4, Accident
34) 9, Riley Herbst (P), No. 98 Monster Energy Ford, 61, 7, , , , , 7, Suspension
35) 34, Loris Hezemans, No. 66 Hezeberg Systems Toyota, 59, , , , , , 2, Electrical
36) 27, Ryan Vargas #, No. 6 MaintenX Chevrolet, 47, , , , , , 1, Axle
37) 22, Brett Moffitt, No. 02 Home Town Lenders Chevrolet, 30, , , , , , 1, Accident
38) 31, Josh Bilicki, No. 07 CoverSeal Chevrolet, 28, , , , , , 1, Accident
39) 38, Kris Wright(i), No. 15 First National Bank Toyota, 19, , , , , , 0, Suspension
40) 39, Gray Gaulding, No. 74 GPS Tab Chevrolet, 10, , , , , , 1, Rear Gear
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoffs
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 7 Mins, 14 Secs.
Length: 68 Laps, 157.76 Miles
Average Speed: 74.396 MPH
Margin of Victory: 3.192 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 18, 16, 9, 54, 11, 19, 98, 20, 10, 51
Stage 2 Top 10: 18, 11, 2, 9, 51, 19, 20, 54, 10, 8
Comments: A.J. Allmendinger has won the Drive for the Cure 250 presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, his 10th victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: No. 1 (driver change).
Failed to Qualify: (1) No. 13 Timmy Hill(i).
Caution Flags: 7 for 13 laps;
Laps: 3-4 (No. 48, 02 Incident Turn 6 [None]);
12-13 (No. 74 Stopped On Track [None]);
21-22 (Possible Fluid Turn 10 / Stage 1 Conclusion [None]);
30-32 (Debris Turn 11 [Red Flag: 00:04:41] [02]);
37-37 (Debris [02]);
42-42 (Stage 2 Conclusion [02]);
65-66 (No. 44 Incident Turn 14 [78]).
Lead Changes: 6 among 5 drivers;
A. Cindric (P) 0;
A. Cindric (P) 1-7;
D. Hemric (P) 8-20;
N. Gragson (P) 21;
A. Cindric (P) 22-36;
D. Hemric (P) 37-40;
T. Gibbs # 41-47;
A. Allmendinger (P) 48-68.
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: AJ Allmendinger, No. 16
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Sam Mayer, No. 8
UNOFFICIAL Points Report
Rank) Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1) AJ Allmendinger (P) 16 29 3 3050 0 0 5 10 50
2) Austin Cindric (P) 22 29 -1 3044 -6 6 5 9 44
3) Justin Allgaier (P) 7 29 -1 3021 -29 23 2 3 21
4) Noah Gragson (P) 9 29 3 3017 -33 4 2 3 17
5) Daniel Hemric (P) 18 29 -2 3016 -34 1 0 9 16
6) Justin Haley (P) 11 28 -1 3015 -35 1 1 5 15
7) Harrison Burton (P) 20 29 1 3008 -42 7 0 2 8
8) Brandon Jones (P) 19 29 -2 3003 -47 5 0 1 3
9) Jeb Burton (P) 10 29 0 2082 -968 921 1 1 9
10) Myatt Snider (P) 2 29 0 2075 -975 7 1 0 5
11) Jeremy Clements (P) 51 29 1 2046 -1004 29 0 0 0
12) Riley Herbst (P) 98 29 -1 2037 -1013 9 0 0 1
13) Ty Gibbs # 54 16 0 589 -2461 1448 3 3 0
14) Brandon Brown 68 29 0 574 -2476 15 1 0 5
15) Ryan Sieg 39 29 0 557 -2493 17 0 0 0
16) Michael Annett 1 22 1 534 -2516 23 0 0 0
17) Josh Berry 21 -1 525 -2525 9 2 1 0
18) Josh Williams 92 28 1 471 -2579 54 0 0 0
19) Tommy Joe Martins 44 29 -1 450 -2600 21 0 0 0
20) Alex Labbe 36 29 0 449 -2601 1 0 0 0
21) Landon Cassill 4 29 0 421 -2629 28 0 0 0
22) Jade Buford # 48 28 1 409 -2641 12 0 0 0
23) Brett Moffitt 02 27 -1 393 -2657 16 0 1 0
24) Kyle Weatherman 47 26 0 299 -2751 94 0 0 0
25) Jeffrey Earnhardt 0 25 0 286 -2764 13 0 0 0
John Davison
Long-time RIS staffer, beginning in the mid-80s. Charlotte, NC area local contact.