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#7: Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports, Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet at Las Vegas

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Justin Allgaier Dominates Xfinity Race at Las Vegas

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Justin Allgaier led over 100 laps, dominating much of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, en route to his first victory of the 2025 season.

The reigning series champion had to hold off a late push from Aric Almirola after the last round of pit stops, but did so, aided by lapped traffic. Almirola, last week’s winner at Phoenix Raceway, crossed the line second after leading 51 laps of his own. 

The win for Allgaier comes on the heels of a race at Phoenix Raceway in which a late yellow while leading, and the subsequent restart, dropped him to a fifth-place finish. 

“Aric and I were going at it, hat’s off to him, he ran a heck of a race,” Allgaier told The CW. “I’ve been lucky enough to win a lot of races in my career, but this one means a lot because I feel like we’ve been very close lately.” 

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The race endured a number of lengthy green flag runs, as outside of the stage cautions, there was only one yellow flag for cause, flying on lap 1. 

Jesse Love rebounded from a stage two pit road penalty to finish third, and teammate Austin Hill crossed the line in fourth after a vibration put him a lap down early. To round out the top five, Sam Mayer finished fifth.

The remainder of the top 10 saw Brandon Jones finish sixth, Ryan Sieg in seventh, Harrison Burton in eighth, Connor Zilisch in ninth and Sheldon Creed in 10th. Creed finished a lap down, as only the top nine were on the lead lap when the checkered flag flew. 

As the field took the green flag, Carson Kvapil spun his tires, stacking up the outside lane. While Sammy Smith rocketed to an uncontested lead, the stack up caused an early Lap 1 caution as the field exited turn 2. William Sawalich spun in front of Jeb Burton, making significant contact to the outside wall. Parker Retzlaff also spun in the wreck, but didn’t make any contact, and was able to continue.

Smith was able to find the same success on the first restart of the race as he did on the initial start, taking sole possession of the lead as the field worked into turn 3. Smith maintained that lead for about 10 laps, until JRM teammate Allgaier worked around him on lap 15, giving the reigning champion the lead. Allgaier wouldn’t surrender that lead until the caution flew on lap 45 to end the first stage, in which he won. Under the green flag run, Smith fell to sixth position. 

Under the stage one caution break, Josh Williams stepped out of his Kaulig Racing No. 11, after being under the weather for the first 45 laps. Ty Dillon stepped into the car for the remainder of the event. Elsewhere, Jeremy Clements stalled on the apron of turn 2, and needed a push back to pit road from the track safety team. 

Almirola restarted stage two from the lead after Allgaier lost a handful of positions on pit road. However, after about 25 green-flag laps, Allgaier recovered from that mishap, beginning to battle with Almirola for the lead. Right as Allgaier was looking to make a pass, Hill hit pit road with a vibration issue, putting the driver of the No. 21 a lap down. 

Back out front, Allgaier and Almirola battled for the top spot and the stage two win for a number of laps. With two laps to go in the stage, Allgaier used the lapped car of Ryan Ellis as a pick to pass Almirola in turn 1, but allowed him to get back around as they raced down the backstretch. Allgaier attempted a last ditch effort coming back to the green and checkered flag, but to no avail, giving Almirola the stage win. 

Allgaier lost a spot on pit road, setting up the restart with Almirola and Smith on the front row. The green flag for the final stage saw the bottom lane prevail stronger, much like it had the entire race. Both Almirola and Allgaier cleared Smith on the outside lane, with Almirola holding off the No. 7 into the first few laps of the stage. However, Zilisch took momentum to the outside lane a lap later to pass them both, taking the lead. Like Allgaier in the first stage, Zilisch set sail from there, gapping the rest of the field by nearly a second after four laps out front. 

Zilisch’s uncontested possession of the lead lasted about 25 laps before Allgaier reeled him back in, albeit slowly. With 74 laps to go, the battle for the lead was on. Zilisch got caught up behind Greg Van Alst, allowing Allgaier to pull up beside his JRM teammate. However, Zilisch powered back around on the outside, taking the lead back. Allgaier got the final say a few laps later, however, using Garrett Smithley as a pick to take the lead back. Three laps later, Allgaier’s lead was already at a half of a second. Ten laps later, the lead was over a second and a half, and Almirola had gotten around Zilisch for second.

Green flag pit stops occurred with 55 laps to go, with Almirola entering pit road nearly a second behind Allgaier. However, when the two exited pit road, they were side by side. Almirola got around him in turns 3 and 4, giving him the lead, but not for long. Allgaier used lapped car Blaine Perkins to his advantage, reclaiming the lead from Almirola the next lap. 

Also of note under green flag pit stops, both Zilisch and Smith were caught speeding on pit road, with both serving pass-through penalties. 

Despite the battle coming off of pit road, Allgaier seemed like he wasn’t going to look back. However, with 20 laps to go, Almirola’s long run speed began to come back into play. Allgaier’s lead was cut in half by lap 180, and three laps later, the two were nose to tail. The leaders kept a largely consistent gap between each other for a number of laps, with lapped traffic allowing Almirola to pull closer with 10 laps to go. However, that gap wouldn’t get any smaller, with Allgaier maintaining the lead and winning his first race of the 2025 season. 

Today’s race also acted as a qualifier race for the Dash 4 Cash, which kicks off next Saturday. Allgaier, Hill, Love and Mayer qualify, and the top finisher of the four will take home a cash prize of $100,000 at the conclusion of next week’s race. 

Xfinity Results From Las Vegas

The West Coast Swing is now over for the Xfinity Series, with teams now headed to south Florida next Saturday (March 22) at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The green flag for the Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300 is slated to fly at 4 p.m. ET, with television coverage being carried by The CW. Practice and qualifying will be held that morning, starting at 10:30 a.m. ET, and it will be live streamed on The CW App.

Josh joined Frontstretch in 2023 and currently covers the ARCA Menards Series. Born and raised in Missouri, Josh has been watching motorsports since 2005. He currently is studying for a Mass Communication degree at Lindenwood University

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Jim lanhardt

I think WEEK needs to give up xfinity if they can’t broadcast the hole race. If they are going to cut the race. Let some other channel take it over. All they are doing is pissing people off‼️‼️

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