Practice #1 : Circuit of The Americas

• Circuit of The Americas
• 2nd Annual Pit Boss 250
• Pole Winner: Ty Gibbs
• Age: 19
• Team : No. 54 - Interstate Batteries Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs Racing
• Crew Chief: Chris Gayle
• Ty Gibbs won the Pole Award for the 2nd Annual Pit Boss 250 with a lap of 134.52 seconds, 91.258 mph.
• This is his second pole in 24 NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
• This is his first pole and third top-10 start in 2022.
• This is his first pole in his series debut at Circuit of The Americas.
• Ross Chastain (second) posted his first top-10 start of 2022 and his second in two races at Circuit of The Americas.
• Cole Custer (third) posted his second top-10 start at Circuit of The Americas. It is his second in two races this season.
• Sheldon Creed (sixth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

• Saturday, March 26th, 2022
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

AJ Allmendinger dominates Xfinity Series race at the Circuit of The Americas

A.J. Allmendinger was fast and agile when he needed to be Saturday afternoon negotiating the famed Circuit of The Americas and reminding the field just why he's considered one of NASCAR's road course superstars.

Allmendinger's No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet took the checkered flag by 2.039-seconds over Austin Hill's No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in the first road course race of the year. It was the 40-year-old veteran's first NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the 2022 season and 11th of his career. He has seven road course wins on six different road course tracks (series-most).

He led early, and he led late, just when he needed to, holding off the field on two late, and dicey race restarts and controlling the race the final 14 laps en route to the checkered flag.

NASCAR Cup Series regular Cole Custer turned in an inspired comeback from a midrace pit road speeding penalty to finish third. JR Motorsports driver Noah Gragson was fourth - his sixth top-five finish in the seven-race season to date. Gragson's teammate Sam Mayer finished fifth.

With their work, Allmendinger, Hill, Gragson and Mayer are now eligible to win a $100,000 bonus next week in the Dash 4 Cash sweepstakes opener at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. The top finishing driver among them in the ToyotaCare 250 will take the check, courtesy of sponsor Comcast.

"I told myself yesterday, I was not happy with where I put ourselves," said Allmendinger, who qualified fourth.

"Honestly, all these men and women here at Kaulig Racing between the Cup side of it and the Xfinity side of it, they don't' sleep during the week, they're busting their tales and that's why I'm so fricking hard on myself sometimes because they deserve to win more than anybody here. And I just want to do it for them. Thankfully, we got it done today."

And it was not easy. Pole-winner Ty Gibbs and fellow NASCAR Cup Series drivers Ross Chastain and Custer joined Allmendinger at the front of the field for most of the early-going. Gibbs and Chastain exchanged the lead with Allmendinger, but both ultimately suffered setbacks during the course of the 46-lap race around the 3.41-mile, 20-turn circuit.

Gibbs' Toyota suffered a flat time and put him well back in the field (36th place) after he was forced to pit during a green flag run, he recovered to finish 15th. Chastain ran among the front pack all the way until the end of the race when he was collected in an aggressive pack on the final race restart with seven laps remaining and finished 17th.

Myatt Snider finished sixth in a final lap duel with Mayer. Brett Moffitt finished seventh with Jade Buford, Miguel Paludo and Sheldon Creed - who won the pole position for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race earlier in the day rounded out the top 10.

The runner-up Hill was especially encouraged because he was able to keep Allmendinger honest in the closing laps.

"All in all, it was a solid effort for our Global Chevy Camaro," Hill said, adding, "I've always felt like I could get around road courses. I felt like I proved it last year in the trucks winning at Watkins Glen and its just kind of build the momentum and the confidence going forward into this year that when we come to road courses, we can get the job done.

"I guess A.J. was just a little bit better than us, because I felt we had a really good car, but this shows we can run with AJ."

With the showing at COTA, fourth-place finisher Gragson holds a single-point lead over Allmendinger in the Xfinity Series driver standings with Gibbs third, 31 points back.

• Drivers Entered: 42 (4 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 48
• Laps Actual: 46 - Race Shortened
• Margin of Victory: 02.039 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 13 Minutes 14 Seconds
• Average Speed: 70.640
• Cautions: 4 for 8 laps
• Lead Changes: 8
• Green Flag Passes: 2,104 (55.4 passes per green flag lap)

• Circuit of The Americas
• 2nd Annual Pit Boss 250
• Race Winner: AJ Allmendinger
• Age: 40
• Team : No. 16 - Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet
• Owner: Kaulig Racing
• Crew Chief: Bruce Schlicker
• AJ Allmendinger won the 2nd Annual Pit Boss 250, his 11th victory in 66 Xfinity Series races.
• This is his first victory and sixth top-10 finish in 2022.
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in two races at Circuit of The Americas.
• Austin Hill (second) posted his first top-10 finish in one race at Circuit of The Americas. It is his third top-10 finish in 2022.
• Cole Custer (third) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Circuit of The Americas.
• Austin Hill (second) was the highest finishing rookie.
• Noah Gragson leads the point standings by 1 points over AJ Allmendinger.