Justin Allgaier Wins DC Solar 200 At Phoenix International Raceway, His First Series Victory Since 2012

by March 19, 2017 0 comments

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Justin Allgaier capitalized on a late-race restart to win Saturday’s DC Solar 200 at Phoenix Raceway, capturing his first victory since 2012 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

Allgaier’s last win came at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve back in August, five years ago. On Saturday at Phoenix Raceway, the driver of the No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet for JR Motorsports got the advantage over Erik Jones on a restart with just four laps to go. Allgaier led a race high of 85 laps en route to his fourth career series victory. The race also the first Dash4Cash event of the season. Allgaier won an extra $100,000.

Ryan Blaney started 33rd but rallied to the front of the pack to finish second in his Team Penske No. 22 Discount Tire Ford on Saturday. Blaney led 15 laps throughout the afternoon. He has finished in the top-10 in his two starts at the track in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.

Driving the No. 20 Reser’s Main St. Bistro Toyota, Erik Jones started second and was able to finish in the third position after leading 65 laps over the course of the race. Jones has finished within the top-10 in all of six of his starts in the series at Phoenix Raceway.

“I don’t know we just couldn’t get going on restarts all day,” Jones said. “Even on the long run I didn’t feel like we had the car that could really run. I thought with the 22 (Ryan Blaney), but Justin (Allgaier) got really good there on the last stage. It’s unfortunate, but a good day for the Reser’s Camry. After the 2 (Austin Dillon) wrecked we were a third place car but all in all, we’ll take it. We need to get a little bit better, but we’re getting there each week with the XFINITY car.”

William Byron and Elliott Sadler completed the top-five finishing positions in Saturday’s event.

The race was broken up into three stages: Stage 1 was 60 laps; Stage 2 was 60 laps and Stage 3 was the remaining 80 laps. Jones captured the win in Stage 1, while Blaney captured the Stage 2 victory.

There were nine cautions in the race, with the yellow flag waving for 55 laps.

The red flag waved for an incident on lap 191, when Cole Custer and Austin Dillon made contact, collecting Ryan Sieg in the process. The No. 00 Haas Automation Ford of Custer sent the No. 2 Rheem Chevrolet of Dillon sailing into Turn 1 with a nudge to his left rear quarter panel. Dillon was then hit by the spinning No. 39 TAP and Sons Electric Chevrolet of Sieg. Dillon retaliated by driving the Custer into the wall.

Dillon was called to the NASCAR hauler to discuss his retaliation following the incident. The crash set the field up for a four-lap dash to the finish on Saturday.

Elliott Sadler still leads the points standings in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. After four races, he leads William Byron by 11 points.

The NASCAR XFINITY Series takes on the last race of the West Coast Swing next weekend at Auto Club Speedway for the NXS 300. Live coverage of the race will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 (FS1) and the Motor Racing Network (MRN) on March 25 at 4 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

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