AJ Allmendinger proved to be a heartbreaker for several drivers Sunday. The Kaulig Racing driver scored his third career NASCAR Cup series win in convincing fashion Sunday and helped ensure elimination from NASCAR Playoffs for four drivers.
The win was his third on a road course, his last coming on the Indianapolis Road Course in 2021.
Allmendinger led a race high 46 laps but most importantly the final 10 after a restart following the race’s 7th and final caution holding off William Byron to win by .666 of a second. With the win Allmendinger denied the chance of a hail Mary win by Kyle Busch who finished third and joined Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, and Bubba Wallace as those eliminated in the Playoffs.
Ty Gibbs was fourth behind Busch. Joey Logano was fifth.
Allmendinger, who has yet to announce his plans for next season, certainly made no apologies and was emotional after the win.
“Because you don’t know when you’re going to do it again,” he said fighting back tears. “I love all the men and women at Kaulig Racing so much. First of all, hi to my beautiful wife and my new baby boy. I usually give these checkered flags away but I’m going to have to wrap this around Aero. My mom and dad, all my family and friends, those people see how much anguish and how much I put it on my shoulders when we’re struggling. It just means the world.
“I hate crying right now, but it’s a freaking Cup race, man. You don’t know when it’s ever going to happen again. Let’s go!”
Busch came into the ROVAL race needing a win and for a time looked like he might just get it. He was leading late in the race but was second to Allmendinger on the final restart when he spun his tires and fell to third as Byron passed him. In the end Busch had nothing for the two frontrunners knowing only a win would advance him. His hopes for a third Cup series title will have to wait until next season.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s what we set out to do,” he said. “That’s what we felt like our road course program had in it anyways was for sure a top 3, definitely a win.”
Tyler Reddick who started on pole, led the second most laps on the day and won Stage 1 was sixth. Chris Buescher was seventh, Alex Bowman eighth.
Chase Elliott looked to be the car to beat early on and at one point had a lead of 7 seconds. But an ill-timed caution on lap 49 when Corey LaJoie and Josh Bilicki tangled coming out of the pits just before Elliott was about to dive in, forced him to stay out. And while he did win Stage 2, it put him off sequence and out of contention for the win.
Ross Chastain did rally for tenth place finish, but it wasn’t enough and the driver who finished second in the Playoffs last season was eliminated.
Bubba Wallace did run near the front of the field but on a restart with 22 laps to go Daniel Suarez was racing three wide for position, came into the backstretch chicane too hot sending Austin Cindric and Wallace through the chicane. Wallace was forced to do a stop and go penalty on the frontstretch and rejoined the field in 31st. He managed to fight back to 16th, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the Playoffs.
Brad Keselowski struggled much of the race, and on lap 16 he missed the frontstretch chicane and didn’t do a stop and go as prescribed by NASCAR. He was called for a pass-through penalty, but the next lap did a stop and go on the frontstretch to no avail as NASCAR sent him back around for a pass-through penalty. He finished 18th.
“We kept clawing and it just wasn’t enough today,” Keselowski said. “I felt like I could have done a few things better and obviously it’s frustrating when you don’t advance and you don’t get what you want out of the day, but we’ve got a lot of great things going on and we’ll learn from it and come back stronger.”
Regular season champion Martin Truex Jr. had a mediocre second round and a mediocre race Sunday finishing 20th. But he had enough points to survive and more on to the next round.
Despite a DNF, Denny Hamlin advanced thanks to Stage points earned earlier in the race. Hamlin spun on lap 77 exiting the frontstretch chicane and had contact from Michael McDowell that ultimately led to a broken toe link and left him with a last place finish.
Byron is the top seed in the Round of 8 which starts in a week on the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“We’ve got to keep it rolling,” Byron said. “I’d like to do one-two-two in the next round. That would be ideal but keep performing where we want to be.”
RACE RESULTS
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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