Yahoo Autos AJ Allmendinger First to Punch Ticket for NASCAR Xfinity Championship 4
For 29 races this season, victory lane had eluded A.J. Allmendinger, but in the Ambetter Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the 42-year-old driver produced possibly one of the most important wins of his career because it gave him a berth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Four.
“What an up-and-down year. What a crazy year,” Allmendinger said after securing his 18th career victory in the Xfinity Series on Saturday at the 1.5-mile track. “It was going to suck to go all year without a win.
“I circled (this race) on the calendar. With the Roval being in the last round, I felt if we could get to the Round of 8 these three tracks (Las Vegas, Homestead, Martinsville) set up pretty good for us.”
A week before the race, Allmendinger began checking the Las Vegas weather forecast. He knew he needed cool temperatures for a successful run. When he saw the weather prediction was similar to 2021 when he won the event, he told his team they needed to figure out what they did for that race.
Prior to the Las Vegas race Allmendinger had only six top-five and 15 top-10 finishes this year.
“He’s struggled mentally probably at the road courses more than he would admit and that hurt us at the ovals,” Kaulig Racing President Chris Rice said. “He and I went and played golf, and we spent four holes with some serious hard talks and then we probably got drunk after that and harassed my friends. So, from that day forward, we up-ticked.”
Allmendinger noted, “I feel like when we’re at our best we can beat all of them, but our box is super tight.”
Entering Homestead, joining Allmendinger above the cutline are Justin Allgaier, defending series champion Cole Custer and Chandler Smith. Austin Hill enters Homestead eight points below the cutline while teammate Jesse Love possesses a 13-point deficit. Sam Mayer and Sammy Smith are also below the cutline, 23 and 53 points, respectively.
Gray Prepping for Xfinity While Seeking Truck Title
Taylor Gray’s limited schedule in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing has turned into a full-time ride for next year, but before that transition can occur the 19-year-old driver must finish his bid for a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship.
Entering the Truck Series race at Homestead after a two-week break, Gray is 13 points below the cutline.
“I’ve come to learn to hate the Truck Series schedule because I have sat there in my points position and have been off for so many weeks and it has killed me inside,” Gray said. “It is tough especially when you are in a spot like I am, and you have pretty good momentum going and it just stops. I think the biggest thing is getting back into it and having to refocus.”
During those off-Truck Series weeks, Gray continued his preparation for next year with a Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas. In 13 Xfinity races this year, Gray has auditioned two different crew chiefs – Tyler Allen and Seth Chavka. He finished 33rd with Chavka at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but earlier this year he produced a top-five and a top-10 finish with Chavka and a top five with Allen.
“I wanted to get two different feels from two different crew chiefs,” Gray explained.
Gray said that with Chavka they have “shown speed,” but he and Allen “clicked right off the bat, and have gotten along really well.”
“A lot of people view me as an underdog,” Gray said. “I don’t have the wins that other people do. When you go and look on paper, I’m 1,000% viewed as the underdog. I don’t mind that title. I like to fly under the radar, but I think, for me, it’s just going out and proving to people that I’m not some kid that was handed this.”
Joe Gibbs’ grandson, Ty Gibbs, will be listed as the owner of the Xfinity Series car next year.
Watch The Dog and the Baby Bottle
Several drivers in NASCAR’s Cup and Xfinity series are marrying and starting families. They’ve learned there’s often a loss of sleep with a newborn and in some instances, keeping an eye on the family dog is just as important as keeping an eye on the baby.
Such was the case with Cole Custer when Honey, the family’s Portuguese Water Dog, ate part of the baby’s bottle.
“She had to have surgery to get that taken out, so that was interesting,” Custer said. “It was like this part of the bottle that goes into the center of the bottle. It’s this piece of rubber and it was too big for it to be in there, so we had to get it taken out. She’s recovering, but we had a little bit of a scare there.”
Xfinity Round of 8 Standings
Justin Allgaier 3,088
Cole Custer 3,072
Chandler Smith 3,064
x-AJ Allmendinger 3,063
Austin Hill 3,056
Jesse Love 3,051
Sam Mayer 3,041
Sammy Smith 3,011
x-Qualified for Championship 4 based on win at Las Vegas.
