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AJ Allmendinger Clinches Xfinity Championship 4 Spot with Las Vegas Win

After a season’s worth of frustrations, Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger collected his first win of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season in the Ambetter Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He took the victory Saturday night (Oct. 19) by .156 seconds over Ryan Sieg.

The energetic Allmendinger earned his 18th career Xfinity win, locking himself into the Xfinity Series’ Championship 4 for the second time in his career.

Allmendinger got the trophy on team owner Matt Kaulig’s birthday.

“I absolutely love these guys and girls at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said to The CW. “[It’s] been such a up and down [season], but what I love about them is that we stick together… What a way to get to Phoenix after year we’ve had. Let’s go win a championship!”

Sieg had the fastest car at the end of the race, driving the same car that finished second in a .002-second photo finish with Sam Mayer at Texas Motor Speedway back in April. Sieg matched that finish at Las Vegas after a two-lap shootout at the end of regulation, his third runner-up finish of the year.

“We had probably the best car,” Sieg said. “I didn’t execute on the restart. I spun the tires. I wasn’t able to stay beside him. [The win is] coming, just got to clean up a few things. There’s a thousand things in the race that could have gone different. If we were in the lead, I could’ve held it, but I had to get there first.”

Justin Allgaier fought through mechanical issues and overheating in his race to take third. Chandler Smith finished as the highest-running Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in fourth, his seventh top-five finish in a row. Parker Kligerman completed the top-five.

Jesse Love finished sixth, followed by Riley Herbst, Cole Custer and Sheldon Creed, who came from the rear of the field after an engine change. Austin Hill rounded out the top 10.

Custer was able to take the early lead from pole sitter Brandon Jones, but through the long run, the JR Motorsports Chevrolets of Jones and Allgaier caught up to the back of the SHR Ford.

A caution for Dylan Lupton hitting the outside wall set up a dash for the stage with a split pit strategy amongst the field playing a significant role. On fresh tires, Custer and Allgaier diced through the field, and Custer passed his teammate Herbst for the lead. He then held off Allgaier to win stage one.

Allgaier took control in the caution-free stage two, but battled a recuring left-side vibration to take the stage two win. Meanwhile, Aric Almirola fought from the back after an pit road interference penalty to fight in the top 10, clocking the fastest laps in the field.

At the start of stage three, the pack accordioned, which led to three playoff drivers, Love, Hill and Sammy Smith, taking damage while JGR’s Taylor Gray spun in the middle of the pack to bring the caution out.

Smith was the biggest loser from the wreck. The Talladega Superspeedway winner stayed out with his damage and fell outside the top 20. He was unable to catch a caution to fix the damage before he was lapped.

Allmendinger took the lead for stage three with Allgaier behind, but the JRM No. 7 had debris stuck on the grill for multiple laps, leading to a problem with the alternator. Allgaier tried to catch Allmendinger to get the debris off, and his team tried to broker a deal with the No. 16 team to get the debris off, promising not to pass Allmendinger.

When told about the deal, Allmendinger responded by telling Allgaier to catch up shortly before the reported alternator issue.

Allmendinger pulled ahead once Allgaier retreated with his alternator problem ahead of green flag pit stops.

Allmendinger continued to lead after pit stops, but Sieg in the No. 28 Ford worked up to second past Smith and Allgaier, just over three seconds behind the leader.

With 30 to go, Ryan Sieg’s brother and teammate Kyle Sieg spun on the frontstretch to bring out the caution and set up final pit stops.

Allmendinger would get a good jump on the restart while Sieg had to battle back up to second after spinning the tires.

Ryan Sieg was able to chase down Allmendinger, getting to the bottom in turns 1 and 2. With nine laps to go, the No. 28 briefly took the lead, but wiggled in turn 1, forcing Ryan to chase his car up the track. That allowed Allmendinger to retake the lead.

Shortly after Ryan began catching Allmendinger again, Smith’s day went from bad to worse as the No. 8 lost voltage to bring out the caution and setting up the two-lap dash and the win for Allmendinger.

Xfinity Las Vegas 2 Results

The Xfinity Series’ Round of 8’s second race will take place at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The green flag will fly on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. ET with broadcasting provided by The CW.

About the author

Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.

Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime

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jon jensen

15 car with more deserving driver comes in 3 laps down in 27 place. Deegan got top 15 in same crap car. Again no women drivers racing in Las Vegas.