Entry List : Bristol Motor Speedway

• Bristol Motor Speedway
• Food City 300
• Pole Winner: Noah Gragson
• Age: 23
• Team: No. 9 - Bass Pro Shops / TrueTimber / BRCC Chevrolet
• Owner: JR Motorsports
• Crew Chief: David Elenz
• Start positions set by NASCAR's Performance Metrics Qualifying (PMQ).
• Noah Gragson won the Pole Award for the Food City 300 by having the highest total PMQ.
• PMQ is a total number calculated on four performance metrics from the previous race:
• 15% of the driver's fastest lap time position.
• 25% of the driver's final race finish position.
• 25% of the owner's final race position.
• 35% of the Owner Points position.

• Friday, September 17th, 2021
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

AJ Allmendinger triumphs at Bristol, wins Xfinity regular-season crown in slugfest

With cars bouncing off each other like pinballs through two laps of overtime, AJ Allmendinger took his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet three-wide to the bottom, passed Justin Allgaier and Austin Cindric on the final lap and won Friday night's Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The victory gave Allmendinger the NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship by 10 points over Cindric, who held the race lead when the 10th and final caution flag flew on Lap 297 of 300 after Allgaier turned JR Motorsports teammate Sam Mayer in Turn 1.

In the overtime, things got crazy. Cindric and Allgaier picked the top lane, and Allmendinger chose the inside of the front row. On the white-flag lap, Allmendinger drove hard into Turns 3 and 4 and slid up into Cindric's No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

Allmendinger fell back to third, but contact between Allgaier's Camaro and Cindric's Mustang gave Allmendinger a chance to slip beneath both cars into the lead.

But the race wasn't over. On the final lap, Cindric charged off the final corner, slammed into Allmendinger, and both cars slid sideways across the finish line, with Allmendinger the winner by .082 seconds.

After taking the checkered flag, Allmendinger careened off the inside wall, slid across the track into traffic and took a huge hit from Kaulig Racing teammate Justin Haley.

But the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship was his.

"I expected to get run into," Allmendinger said. "It happened that previous corner. It's frustrating getting hit that hard coming to checker, but we're battling for the win. It's Bristol, baby. That's what it's all about.

"I haven't had a lot of chances to get a win at Bristol, so you know what? When you have a chance to do it, you've got to go do it. If I don't take that chance, I don't belong in a race car, because my team deserves the win."

Under the circumstances, Cindric exhibited remarkable restraint in his post-race interview.

"I thought we had a great battle all season long up to this point, so congratulations to Kaulig and AJ," said Cindric, who led 75 laps, third-most behind Allgaier's 92 and Daniel Hemric's 78. "Those guys didn't want us to win really bad, and I hate that it completely destroyed our Ford Mustang.

"That's all I've got, man...It's looks like the 7 (Allgaier) just got loose there (in spinning Mayer), and AJ obviously just drove straight through us. You'll have that in green-white-checkered racing."

The victory was Allmendinger's first at Bristol, his fourth of the season and the ninth of his career. The final lap of overtime was the only lap he led, as the race went six laps past its scheduled distance of 300 circuits.

The regular-season cutoff race also set the final positions for the Round of 12 in the Xfinity Series Playoff. With no new winner, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements clinched the final three spots on points, as expected, as the series heads for the Playoff opener Sept. 25 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Herbst finished third behind the wrecking cars of Allmendinger and Cindric. Allgaier fell to fourth on the final lap, with Jones and Haley running fifth and sixth. Harrison Burton, Myatt Snider, Mayer and Hemric completed the top 10.

• Drivers Entered: 41 (3 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 300
• Laps Actual: 306 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
• Margin of Victory: 0.082 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 10 Minutes 26 Seconds
• Average Speed: 75.026
• Cautions: 10 for 72 laps
• Lead Changes: 11
• Green Flag Passes: 1,071 (4.6 passes per green flag lap)

• Bristol Motor Speedway
• 40th Annual Food City 300
• Race Winner: AJ Allmendinger
• Age: 39
• Team : No. 16 - Barger Precast Chevrolet
• Owner: Kaulig Racing
• Crew Chief: Jason Trinchere
• AJ Allmendinger won the 40th Annual Food City 300, his ninth victory in 53 NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
• This is his fourth victory and 17th top-10 finish in 2021.
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in two races at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• Austin Cindric (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in seven races at Bristol Motor Speedway. It is his 19th top-10 finish in 2021.
• Riley Herbst (third) posted his second top-10 finish in three races at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• Sam Mayer (ninth) was the highest finishing rookie.
• AJ Allmendinger has won the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship.