AJ Allmendinger scored the win in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
Competing in his fifth race of the season for Kaulig Racing, Allmendinger led 20 laps and held off a number playoff drivers to capture his third career series win.
“It’s for sure challenging this race track is so fun I really enjoy it,” Allmendinger said. “It takes me back to my Champ Car days, it’s like a street course. You make a small mistake you usually huge consequences so it makes it fun to racing on but it’s very difficult. Everyone at Kaulig Racing we’ve worked hard to try to make our racecars faster, we’ve improved them from Watkins Glen until now.”
Tyler Reddick finished second, 2.4 seconds behind, for his best career road course finish.
“We’ve been getting better on these road courses and the cars have been really fast for me.” Reddick said. “But still, I lack the knowledge I need to keep myself on the safe side at the beginning of the race.”
Austin Cindric, who finished second in the first stage, was able to finish third after losing a rear shock in the final laps.
“I wish I had a chance to fight the 10 there at the end, but under caution I felt a shock mount break,” Cindric said. “The right-rear shock was clean off the race car before I even restarted the race, so I’m glad I didn’t wreck and I’m glad I finished third. I guess all of that is positive, but at the same time I felt like we had a good shot.”
Justin Allgaier finished fourth for his 12th consecutive top 10 finish this season with his JR Motorsports teammate Noah Gragson, in a backup car, rounding out the top five.
Alex Labbe, driving the No. 90 Chevrolet for DGM Racing, recorded a career-best finish in sixth. He also finished fourth and seventh in Stage 1 and 2, respectively.
John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Truex completed the top 10.
Custer clinched a spot in the next round of the playoffs on points as he now has a 71-point advantage on the cutoff.
Christopher Bell, who advanced last week with his win at Richmond, finished 12th after he was involved in an incident with Chase Briscoe while battling for second on Lap 57. Bell, who was penalized for missing the frontstrech chicane, spun Briscoe in Turn 2 after he was run off track in the chicane.
“The 98 was really fast and I was going to let him go as soon as he got beside me and then whenever we got into the chicane, he didn’t leave me any option besides running me off the race track,” Bell said. “At that point, I was just going to race him back as hard as I could.”
The race featured seven cautions for 14 laps.
