Pit Stops : Las Vegas Motor Speedway

• Thursday, October 17th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Las Vegas is the first chance for Xfinity Playoff contenders to lock into the Championship Four

A week after the NASCAR Xfinity Series first thrilling Playoff elimination race, the series moves to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway 1.5-miler for Saturday’s Ambetter Health 302 (7 p.m. ET on the CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

JR Motorsports Justin Allgaier, who claimed the final Playoff transfer position a week ago at the Charlotte ROVAL, now leads the newly reseeded eight-driver standings by 18 points over the Championship 4 Round’s cut line with races at Las Vegas, Homestead-Miami and Martinsville, Va. to ultimately decide which four drivers will compete for the season trophy in the Nov. 9 Phoenix finale.

Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith are nine and eight points – respectively – above the cutoff line entering this round.

Challenging those four are last weekend’s ultimate clutch race winner, JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer (-8), RCR rookie Jesse Love (-12), Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger (-18) and a third JR Motorsports driver, Sammy Smith (-19), who won the Talladega, Ala. Playoff race two weeks ago.

“The win last week was a true testament to how hard this team works,” said Mayer, who had to win at the Charlotte ROVAL to advance in the Playoffs. “We knew we had one job and we did just that to keep ourselves in contention for the championship. Vegas has been hit or miss for me in the past, but it is a fun track to run at and I think we have great momentum to keep up the speed and effort to have a solid finish in the end.”

While this is a re-set for the Playoff drivers such as Mayer, there remains major motivation for the entire race field to change a strong trend at the track. However, the Vegas high-banks have historically been kind to the championship contenders since it became a part of the Playoffs seven years ago.

Five of the six previous Fall Vegas races have been won by Playoff drivers. Last Fall is the lone exception with SHR’s Riley Herbst claiming an emotional first career victory at his home track. He was one of four drivers just eliminated from 2024 Playoff contention at the ROVAL.

Among the Playoff drivers, Hill has celebrated the most in Las Vegas’s flashy Victory Lane with a NASCAR Xfinity Series win there last February and a pair of NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins in the spring of 2019 and 2020.

Allmendinger won the 2021 Spring NASCAR Xfinity Series race and Chandler Smith won the 2022 Spring Truck race at Vegas.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series fulltime drivers Daniel Dye, Taylor Gray and Corey Heim join former NASCAR Cup Series regular Aric Almirola on the entry list this weekend.

Practice for the Ambetter Health 302 is Friday afternoon at 6:35 p.m. ET followed by qualifying at 7:05 p.m. ET – both sessions will be on USA Network and the NBC Sports App.

• Ambetter Health 302
• Pole Winner: Brandon Jones
• Age: 27
• Team : No 9 - Menards/Pelonis Chevrolet
• Owner: Rick Hendrick
• Crew Chief: Adam Wall
• Brandon Jones won the Pole Award for the Ambetter Health 302 with a lap of 29439 seconds, 183430 mph
• This is his 12th pole in 299 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
• This is his fourth pole and 11th top-10 start in 2024
• This is his first pole in 16 races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• Cole Custer (second) posted his 22nd top-10 start of 2024 and his eighth in nine races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• Chandler Smith (third) posted his fourth top-10 start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway It is his 24th in 30 races this season
• Jesse Love (eighth) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Saturday, October 19th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Allmendinger locks up spot in Championship Race with win in Vegas

t was the first NASCAR Xfinity Series trophy of the season for A.J. Allmendinger but the timing was on point, his Playoff win in Saturday’s Ambetter Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway punching his ticket into next month’s season finale Championship race.

The 42-year old Californian held off a hard-charging Ryan Sieg by a mere .156-second to claim his 18th career win – leading a race best 102 of the 201 laps in his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Allmendinger had to out-run and out-negotiate Sieg in the closing laps, ultimately getting the best of the field on a final re-start at the 1.5-miler with two laps remaining.

An exuberant Allmendinger – who is moving to the NASCAR Cup Series next year – climbed out of his Chevrolet, raising his arms to urge the crowd cheer and shouting congratulations to his team and his team owner Matt Kaulig, whose birthday was Saturday.

“I absolutely love these guys and girls at Kaulig Racing, it’s been such up-and-down but what I love about them is we stick together, we keep fighting,’’ Allmendinger said before turning toward his team and shouting, “Happy Birthday Matt Kaulig. The boss’s birthday I told you I was getting you a trophy. I love you.’’

“What a way to get to Phoenix after the year we’ve had. Let’s go win a championship. LET’S GOOOOOO!”

For Sieg – who is still looking for his first win in 364 Xfinity Series starts – Saturday’s near-miss marked the fifth runner-up showing of his career and second in just the last three races. He challenged Allmendinger mightily in the final 30 laps – passing him with nine laps to go, only to get passed right back the following lap.

“We had the best car on the longer run and I needed a long run and we were getting there,’’ the RSS Racing driver Sieg said afterward. “I just overdrove [turn] one and lost some of our track position, but I was able to gain it back. Just sucks to finish second again with a great car. One of these days it’s going to go our way.’’

Allmendinger’s fellow Playoff drivers, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith finished third and fourth. Parker Kligerman, who was eliminated from the Playoffs just last week, finished fifth.

Allgaier had a strong No. 7 Chevrolet, winning Stage 2 and leading 42 laps – second best to Allmendinger. His work didn’t get him the automatic Championship 4 berth but does put him atop the championship standings 32 points to the good with races at Homestead-Miami Speedway next week and then at the half-mile Martinsville, Va. track to formally decide which four drivers move to the Nov. 9 seasons finale eligible to compete for the season trophy.

“He did a great job and hats off to those guys to get a Chevrolet in victory lane,’’ Allgaier said of Allmendinger. “Ryan [Sieg] did a great job too.

“Really proud of this team. Yesterday in practice we weren’t as good as we wanted to be but they went to work and made good adjustments all day to put us in a good position.’’

“At the end there, just not able to get into dirty air like I wanted to,’’ he said, adding, “great start to the next round and obviously got some good stage points so we’ll move on to next week.’’

Richard Childress Racing rookie driver Jesse Love – a Playoff contender – was sixth, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing teammates, defending race winner Riley Herbst and Playoff driver Cole Custer. JGR’s Sheldon Creed – also eliminated from Playoff contention last week – was 10th.

Playoff contenders RCR’s Austin Hill and JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer were 13th and 14th, respectively, with JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith getting involved in an early race accident and finishing 32nd – last among the Playoff eight.

The reigning series champion Custer sits just behind Allgaier in the points standings – 16 points to the good with Chandler Smith in that fourth position, eight points to the good.

Hill (-8) is fifth followed by Love (-13), Mayer (-23) and Smith (-53).

The series moves to the Homestead-Miami Speedway 1.5-miler for next Saturday’s Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300 (4 p.m. ET, CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Mayer is the defending race winner.

• Drivers Entered: 38
• Laps Scheduled: 200
• Laps Actual: 201 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
• Margin of Victory: 0.156 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 22 Minutes 12 Seconds
• Average Speed: 127.215
• Cautions: 7 for 31 laps
• Lead Changes: 13
• Green Flag Passes: 2,323 (13.7 passes per green flag lap)

• Ambetter Health 302
• Race Winner: AJ Allmendinger
• Age: 42
• Team : No 16 - Modern Day Garage Chevrolet
• Owner: Matthew Kaulig
• Crew Chief: Alex Yontz
• AJ Allmendinger won the Ambetter Health 302, his 18th victory in 128 Xfinity Series races
• This is his first victory and 16th top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his second victory and fifth top-10 finish in six races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• Ryan Sieg (second) posted his fifth top-10 finish in 19 races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway It is his eighth top-10 finish in 2024
• Justin Allgaier (third) posted his 18th top-10 finish in 21 races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• Jesse Love (sixth) was the highest finishing rookie
• Justin Allgaier leads the point standings by 16 points over Cole Custer