This year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Champion A.J. Allmendinger won five races this season, but he came up just short of raising the championship trophy with a 14th-place finish in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet in Saturday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race.
“I just probably need to be a little better here to lead us in a better direction,” Allmendinger said of the one-mile Phoenix Raceway.
A problem with his right-rear tire caused Allmendinger to spin out bringing out a caution flag only 18 laps from the scheduled end of the race. It essentially ended any hopes he had of winning the race and Allmendinger apologized to Austin Cindric – who was leading at the time – for bringing out a caution and forcing a restart.
“I don’t want to be part of the storyline like that,” Allmendinger said. “I’d like it to have been a better storyline. Part of the growth. Definitely not what we wanted today, tonight. But we’ll come back strong. My thanks to all the men and women at Kaulig Racing and Chris Rice for making this such a dream season.
“Congrats to Daniel, it’s going to be cool having him as my teammate next season,” Allmendinger said of Hemric, who is moving to the Kaulig Racing team in 2022. “So for him to be the champion, looks like I’ve got something to shoot for next year. Congrats to him.”
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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