Justin Allgaier ended the NASCAR XFINITY Series regular season with a win at Chicagoland. Now, he’s looking to back that up with a victory to end Round 1 of the NXS playoffs at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Allgaier kicked off the weekend atop the boards in first practice. The two-time XFINITY Series winner in 2017 lapped the 1.5-mile track in 29.721 seconds (181.690 MPH) leading the field by 0.168 seconds.
Second quickest was Alex Bowman, the 2018 Hendrick Motorsports driver who is returning to the XFINITY Series for the first time this season. He is driving the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Tyler Reddick took to Victory Lane at Kentucky Speedway two weeks ago.
William Byron was third on the charts with Erik Jones and Matt Tifft rounding out the top-five competitors.
Sam Hornish Jr., making his first start in the Team Penske No. 12 Ford, was sixth quickest. Daniel Hemric, Daniel Suarez, Cole Custer and Ty Dillon rounded out the top 10.
NASCAR XFINITY competitors joined with the rest of the sport in showing their support for Las Vegas. Sunday night, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock killed at least 58 people from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay hotel. It was the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the U.S.
DRIVE FOR THE CURE 300 PRACTICE 1 RESULTS
#VegasStrong pic.twitter.com/XP5ppvD0lE
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) October 6, 2017
Growing up in Easton, Pa., Zach Catanzareti has grown his auto racing interest from fandom to professional. Joining Frontstretch in 2015, Zach enjoys nothing more than being at the track, having covered his first half-season of 18 races in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2017. With experience behind the wheel, behind the camera and in the media center, he thrives on being an all-around reporter.