Xfinity Category

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — It 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 toRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor CONCORD, N.C. – Sometimes it’s just not meant to be. Parker Kligerman came into Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 on the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in must-win territory to punch his ticket into the next round of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs and for a split-second, it looked like he had pulled it off. Until he hadn’t. Pitting for fresh tires inside of 15 laps to go in regulation, Kligerman made the drive of a lifetime, clawing his way forward on a restart with 11Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C.—As Sam Mayer celebrated his drama-filled victory in Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Parker Kligerman watched a replay of the whisker-close circumstance that knocked him out of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. In overtime, Mayer passed Kligerman in Turn 7 of the 2.280-mile, 17-turn circuit and pulled away to claim the victory that propelled him into the Playoffs’ Round of 8. But Mayer’s win was devastationRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Worst to first. Sammy Smith and the No. 8 JR Motorsports team are heading to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs after winning Saturday’s United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. Smith came into the day at the bottom of the Playoff standings, some 23 points below the cut-off line, but with his victory on Saturday, he’s the first of the championship contenders to advance to the next round. “Just a great team. My sponsors, everybody that has stuck withRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service KANSAS City, Kan.— Part-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Aric Almirola ran down Playoff leader Cole Custer in the closing laps of Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway and pulled away for his second victory of the season in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. In a Round of 12 Playoff opener that ended with several unhappy drivers and a handful of post-race conversations between Playoff contenders, Almirola picked up his first win at the 1.5-mile track and the sixth of his career.Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – It wasn’t the cleanest of nights, but Dale Earnhardt, Jr. certainly had fun in his return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. After starting in 13th, the problems started almost immediately for the two-time Xfinity Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer when issues with the radio system in his helmet cropped up, forcing him to pit road under the first caution for his No. 88 JR Motorsports team to try and swap the helmet out toRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – One driver’s misfortune was another’s gain. Coming into Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway to close out the NASCAR Xfinity Series season, it appeared to be Justin Allgaier’s points lead to lose with a healthy lead over Cole Custer and others in the points standings. It was going to take some misfortune on Allgaier’s part for Custer and the others to be in position to strike and that’s exactly what happened. After leading the opening 60 laps, Allgaier found himselfRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – Junior’s last ride, at least for now. Since retiring from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition at the end of the 2017 season, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has made it a habit of running at least one NASCAR Xfinity race each year since and once again, he’s back behind the wheel of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway for Friday night’s running of the Food City 300. A year after contending for the win before a small fire inRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Introducing. … Connor Zilisch. The 18-year-old North Carolina native made his formal entrée into big time NASCAR racing with a major statement holding off the field on a pair of thrilling overtime restarts at the historic 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International road course to claim his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in his first career start. The Mission 200 at The Glen finished under caution with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sheldon Creed finishing runner-up – for a record 12th time –Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – Three things in life are certain: Death, taxes, and Austin Hill winning NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. For the fourth time in the last six races on the 1.5-mile superspeedway, native Georgian Hill was able to be victorious on his home turf, piloting his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to victory, sweeping the season and banking his third win of the season. Saturday’s win also breaks a winless streak dating back to February when Hill was able to startRead More