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AJ Allmendinger Wins Fourth Consecutive Charlotte ROVAL NASCAR Xfinity Series Race

by Hunter Thomas October 8, 2022 1 comment

CONCORD, N.C. – AJ Allmendinger won his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the season on Saturday after surviving the chaotic Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.

In double NASCAR Overtime, Allmendinger had to once again survive the winding track as fellow Playoff drivers battled behind him. Allmendinger led a race high of 25 laps in the Kaulig Racing No. 16 Nutrien AG Solutions Chevrolet, and he made the final pass for the lead on Ty Gibbs prior to the first Overtime restart.

“It was unbelievable,” Allmendinger said. “All of the credit goes to all of the men and women at Kaulig Racing. The Nutrien AG Solutions Chevy was pretty good, but Ty was really good there at the end. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get him.  I knew if I could just get to one restart on the outside of him, at least we’d have a chance. I can’t thank Xfinity enough for putting on these shows.”

Impressively enough, Allmendinger has now won four consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The feat marks the second-most consecutive wins at a single track. Dale Earnhardt Sr. (Daytona), Kyle Busch (Texas) and Jack Ingram (South Boston) lead the record with five straight wins.

Gibbs finished second in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, earning his third top-10 in a row. Gibbs was leading 23 consecutive laps until he gave up the lead to Allmendinger with five laps to go.

“We had a very fast Monster Energy GR Supra,” Gibbs said. “We got in the wall a little bit there on both of the restarts and never could get back to the 16. We had great speed. I just want to thank my team. I had a great time in the race today and happy that we’re moving onto the round of eight.”

Noah Gragson, James Davison and Justin Allgaier completed the top-five. Rounding out the top-10 was Alex Labbe, Brandon Jones, Josh Berry, Ryan Sieg, and Landon Cassill.

There were nine cautions for 15 laps.

Allmendinger won Stage 1, and Brandon Jones won Stage 2.

The race was also the final event for the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Playoffs. Ryan Sieg missed out on the Round of 8 by a mere two points. Riley Herbst had crashed in the final laps and didn’t advance. Daniel Hemric and Jeremy Clements also didn’t advance to the next round either.

Noah Gragson leads the reseeded Playoff standings, followed by AJ Allmendinger (-12), Ty Gibbs (-18), Justin Allgaier (-23), Josh Berry (-34), Austin Hill (-38), Brandon Jones (-45) and Sam Mayer (-51).

The Round of 8 will get underway at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 15. Live coverage of the Alsco Uniforms 302 will broadcast on NBC and PRN at 3 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com