AJ Allmendinger Tag

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. _ Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron won the pole position for Sunday’s Dixie Vodka 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a lap of 166.389 mph in the No. 24 Chevrolet – his first pole position of the 2022 season and eighth of his career. “It’s not like a guaranteed point gain,’’ Byron said, “The pit stall is good, I’m happy with that part of it. And just the momentum for the team. We’ve tried toRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Team Penske’s Joey Logano became the first driver to secure a position in the Championship 4 with a shot at the NASCAR Cup Series 2022 Championship thanks to a valiant surge to victory in the final laps of Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Logano, on fresh Goodyear tires, rallied back through the field following a late race pit stop, passing Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain for the lead with three laps remaining and driving off toRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In a turn of events that bordered on the unbelievable, Christopher Bell found his only path to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. On fresh tires, thanks to a strategic pit stop under caution on Lap 105, Bell passed Kevin Harvick to the outside through Turns 1 and 2 after a restart on Lap 111 and pulled away to win Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. With the victory, BellRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – It took a bit of thievery for AJ Allmendinger to preserve his perfect record at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. “We got that one—we stole that one,” shouted Allmendinger after spinning his car like a dervish during a celebratory burnout at the finish line of the 2.32-mile, 17-turn road course. Indeed, the 40-year-old Allmendinger swiped the lead from Ty Gibbs—a driver half his age—after an overtime restart on Lap 68 of the Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCrossRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Joey Logano wins pole position for Charlotte ROVAL elimination race CONCORD, N.C. – Joey Logano wasn’t pleased with the way he negotiated the final chicane at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. The good news was that the final section of the 17-turn track—which is actually the opening chicane of the alternative qualifying configuration—didn’t hurt his effort significantly in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series time trials. Turning a lap in 120.755 seconds (103.424 mph), Logano secured the pole position for Sunday’s Round of 12 eliminationRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – So close, but so far. Sam Mayer held the lead in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega when the field took the white flag, but by the time they made the final 2.66-mile circuit, it would be veteran AJ Allmendinger who cross the line in first place, beating the JR Motorsports driver to the finish by 0.015-seconds to steal the win away. Starting the day in 13th place, Mayer climbed into the top-10, where he would stay for both the first andRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service TALLADEGA, Ala. – Three times A.J. Allmendinger has led the white flag lap on a superspeedway track and not been able to lead that next lap to earn the big trophy. On Saturday, the veteran waited and pulled ahead of the field in the final feet coming to the Sparks 300 checkered flag at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and edged 19-year old Sam Mayer by .015-second – about three feet – in a photo finish to earn his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win at NASCAR’sRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas — Noah Gragson parked his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet at the finish line, emerged through his car’s roof flap and raised his arms in triumph taking in the loud cheers from the Texas Motor Speedway grandstands as he celebrated a historic fourth consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday afternoon in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300. It was a series best and career-high seventh win on the season for the 24-year old Las Vegas native and automatically reserves his spot inRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – With Chase Elliott pursuing him relentlessly for the final 50 laps, Chris Buescher held on to win Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motors Speedway, becoming the 19th different NASCAR Cup Series winner this season. After the event that set the field for the Round of 12 in the series Playoffs—and eliminated superstars Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick from the postseason—a dozen drivers were breathing sighs of relief and hoping fervently for a return to stock car sanity inRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn.— Make it three in a row for Noah Gragson, who has built enormous momentum as the NASCAR Xfinity Series moves into its seven-race Playoff. On 90-lap older tires, Gragson held off Brandon Jones, the driver who will take his seat in the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet next year, in a 20-lap green-flag run to the finish of Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The victory was Gragson’s third straight in the series, his sixth of the season andRead More