The last time Justin Allgaier dominated an Xfinity Series race was at Phoenix Raceway. With a three-second gap in the last five laps en route to victory, Allgaier suffered a heart-breaking blown tire that put him in the wall and took him out of victory lane.
At Darlington Raceway, though, Allgaier got his redemption to pick up his first win of the season after an equally dominant performance. The driver of the No. 7 car led 119 laps on the day and swept the stages to pick up his third win at Darlington.
“We’ve had such a heck of a year,” Allgaier said. “We’ve led a ton of laps and we haven’t been able to do it. But the guys walking down pit road right there, everybody back at the shop at JR Motorsports – (sponsor) Rick Brandt’s here today, big cause to party – I just can’t say enough.
“This weekend has always been my favorite,” he added. “I think having a little grey hair, though, helped me out today. Those long green-flag runs, and being able to know what’s worked in the past here… all-in-all, the day was good.”
The wins puts Allgaier tenth on the all-time Xfinity Series wins list, tied with Dale Earnhardt Jr, and the leader for top-tens in the series.
“That means a lot,” Allgaier said. “I didn’t know that the day would come that I would be able to match Dale Jr. Not only is he a great boss but a really great mentor and an unbelievable racecar driver.”
Runner-up Austin Hill was unable to get past Allgaier despite having multiple chances to restart behind him. He said that his speed on the restarts just wasn’t enough to get him to the lead.
“Our Bennett Chevrolet was as fast as Xfinity internet all day, just…the driver wasn’t,” a disappointed Hill said. “I just couldn’t get into turn 1 on restarts like I really needed to all day, and I think a lot of it’s just me: I’ve just got to figure out what to do differently getting into turn 1.”
Still, Hill ended up second. He gave credit to his pit crew for getting him out in front of Allgaier more than once to give him the chance.
“Yeah, that’s probably what I’m more frustrated about than anything else. My pit crew killed it all day and then I would lose a spot on the racetrack for them. Sorry to those guys,” he said. “Just a frustrating day all day. Hopefully we can get back to the drawing board and we’ll get us one here eventually.”
Behind Hill, Cole Custer started on the pole but quickly lost the lead with a slow pit stop compounded with a loose lug nut that forced him back down pit road during the competition caution in Stage 1. He was able to recover to third, but never got the clean air to show off the speed that his No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing car displayed in qualifying.
“We obviously had a big lead there at the start and then just lost it on the pit stop. But our guys made all those spots back throughout the day,” Custer explained.
“We have a great pit crew, just have to have it all play out right. We kind of got behind on our adjustments when we got back in traffic, but… man, I’m just so frustrated, I want to be in victory lane so bad for Ford, for everybody at SHR. We’re just missing it. Just have to have everything go right, but we keep knocking on the door and we’ll get there.”
Sam Mayer and Aric Almirola rounded out the top five. Parker Kligerman finished sixth, followed by Riley Herbst, rookie Jesse Love in his first start at the track, Sheldon Creed, and Brandon Jones.
William Byron, driving the No. 17 Camaro for Joe Gibbs Racing, hit the wall just a few laps into the race, which caused his tire to go down, putting him three laps down. Byron was able to get back on lead lap through the free pass by the last run of the day, and he ended the day in eleventh.
AJ Allmendinger, who had a strong car that was able to contend in the top five, went to the garage with electric issues in Stage 3, a disappointing end to a strong performance.
The race featured five cautions, including the competition caution in Stage 1, two of which were for cause. Both came out in Stage 3, caused by spins for Hailee Deegan from a blown tire and for Kyle Sieg.
The Xfinity Series returns at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 25th.
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