Ty Gibbs picked up the win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Pennzoil 150 Saturday afternoon (Aug. 12) on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, beating out AJ Allmendinger on the final restart before driving away to his first series win of the season.
The reigning Xfinity Series champion picked up the 12th Xfinity Series win of his career, and his third on a road course.Â
Road America winner Sam Mayer brought the No. 1 Chevrolet home in second, followed by pole-sitter Allmendinger in third. Austin Hilll and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five.
Two time road-course winner on the season Cole Custer came home in the sixth position, while playoff bubble drivers Parker Kligerman and Sheldon Creed found themselves nose-to-tail at the finish, coming home in seventh and eighth.
Impressive runs for Kaz Grala and Brett Moffitt would round out the top 10, as they finished ninth and 10th, respectively.Â
For Ty Gibbs, the win at Indy was a special one. “We got the Brickyard lets go!” Gibbs grew up racing go karts down the street from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and now he’s a winner at the track. When asked what the win does for his chances in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, Gibbs response was simple: “Just go win.”
Pole sitter AJ Allmendinger would have to settle for third, despite sweeping both stages in the race. “We were never fast enough to win the race. I thought Ty was the class of the field…We got in a good rhythm there, maybe if it would’ve stayed green.”
From the start, Allmendinger led the opening two laps before fellow Cup driver Gibbs grabbed the lead from the No. 16 with a late braking move into turn 1. From there, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver began to run away.
However, the green-flag run didn’t last long, as the first yellow flag of the day flew on lap 7, due to lightning in the area as rain began to fall.
After almost a 45 minute red flag, rain tires were put on, and cars got back rolling. As the field came around for a single file restart on lap 11, Allmendinger and Mayer both opted to hit pit road for slick tires before anyone else.Â
Following the restart, the track continued to dry and drivers began making the switch from wet tires to dry. While most of the leaders would pit for dry tires before the end of the stage on lap 20, Daniel Hemric, Kligerman, Allgaier, and Josh Berry stayed out on rain tires to gain stage points.
As the stage came to an end, Allmendinger would cycle to the front to win the stage, followed by Mayer, Hemric, Kligerman, Allgaier, Gibbs, Parker Retzlaff, Chandler Smith, Berry and Custer would round out the top 10.
The caution flew again on lap 28 for the No. 53 of Brad Perez, who came to a stop on the banking of the oval’s turn 1. As the car came to a stop, Perez reported to the team that he had no brakes.
Despite being outside the fuel window, most of the field hit pit road under caution, as tires became a key factor. JR Motorsports teammates Mayer, Berry and Allgaier all stayed out to gain track position, and were joined by Custer, Moffitt, and Ryan Sieg.
The field came back to green on lap 31, and Mayer held off Custer for the lead. In just one lap after the restart, Allmendinger drove from eighth to third, making quick use of the fresh tires on the Kaulig Racing No. 10.
Just three laps later, Allmendinger would put the No. 10 back out front, making the pass on Mayer for the lead through turns one and two. At this same point in time, Gibbs made the move onCuster for third, battling back on fresh tires after a bad pit stop under caution.
On lap 36, Cole Custer made a move to the inside of Allgaier into turn 12, in an attempt to regain the fourth position from the No. 7. Custer would have a slight lock up and get into the side of Allgaier, before Allgaier returned the favor in turn 13, shoving Custer wide into the grass and sending the No. 00 spinning.Â
Just before the end of the stage, a move to the inside in turn 1 by Hemric resulted in a half spin by the No. 11 that resulted in contact with John Hunter Nemechek, causing significant damage to the nose of the No. 20.
Allmendinger would sweep the stages, picking up the stage 2 win over Gibbs and Mayer. Bubble drivers Creed and Riley Herbst both picked up some valuable stage points, finishing the stage fourth and fifth. Hill, Smith, Nemecheck, Hemric and Jeremy Clements rounded out the top 10.
The caution would fly once again on lap 44 for the No. 34 of Andre Castro. At the same time Creed hit pit road unsure of whether or not the pits were closed. The team would go through with service on the car, resulting in a penalty and the No. 2 restarting at the tail of the line.
On the ensuing restart with 16 laps to go, Gibbs and Allmendinger would battle hard throughout the opening lap ,but it was Gibbs coming away with the lead, while further in the pack Brandon Jones was spun around.
With just five laps to go, Grala overshot turn 1 from the sixth position. As Grala attempted to rejoin the racetrack, the No. 26 tagged the left rear of Nemechek’s No. 20, sending Nemechek spinning in turn 2.Â
At the front, it was all Gibbs, as the continued to drive away from Allmendinger and Mayer lap after lap. In the end, Gibbs would drive away by over seven seconds by the time the checkered flag flew for the JGR driver on lap 62.Â
The next race of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season will be the Sunoco Go Rewards 200 at The Glen from Watkins Glen International Raceway. Coverage will be provided by USA, starting at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Aug. 19.
About the author
Chase began working with Frontstretch in the spring of 2023 as a news writer, while also helping fill in for other columns as needed. Chase is now the main writer and reporter for Frontstretch.com's CARS Tour coverage, a role which began late in 2023. Aside from racing, some of Chase's other hobbies include time in the outdoors hunting and fishing, and keeping up with all things Philadelphia sports related.
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Maybe he should drop down, seems the only place he might get a win. Turd!