Allmendinger all-in on Phoenix as other playoff drivers look to lock in
LAS VEGAS — For the third time in five years, Las Vegas produced a Championship 4-bound driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
A.J. Allmendinger earned his first win of the 2024 season and his first Championship 4 berth in three years.
Excluding road courses and draft-heavy races that he excels at, Allmendinger hadn’t led more than four laps in a single race all year coming into Saturday night. Saturday night saw him lead 102 of 201 laps.
Allmendinger is the first driver in the Championship 4 for the Xfinity Series. As of now, Justin Allgaier is the first driver in on points, sitting 32 points above the cutline after getting second and first in the stages and third in the race.
Allgaier led 42 laps in the second stage en route the stage win but got behind on pit road in the final stage. In the final stage, the lights came on and he fell off.
“I got behind and I felt like it was me not doing what I needed to do. We had tire cording issues and it was in the back of my mind how hard I could run and I ran hard one run and it was to our detriment. We just needed to be better in the dark,” he said.
Debris on the grille, a possible alternator issue and then not being as good under the lights all compounded into a third-place finish.
“If we do what we did tonight and earn points, that gets you through,” he said.
Behind Allgaier is Chandler Smith, who sits eight points above the cutline after Las Vegas. Smith is ahead of Austin Hill, who earned just three stage points but salvaged a tenth-place finish.
“Not a lot for us. We struggled all day. We never had a car that was capable of winning the race until late in the run. Once we got a lot of laps on the tires and everyone started sliding, then we had good pace. It just took us 20 laps to get going. We were too tight and were sliding the front end. We’ve got a lot of work to do but we can make up the points,” Hill said.
Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway lie ahead for Hill and the rest of the playoff field. One track in particular is of interest to him.
“I feel really good about Homestead. I feel like we can go run well and win. Martinsville is anyone’s race and has been bitten me before so I hope we can leave Homestead with a good points advantage,” he said.
Behind Hill are:
- Jesse Love: -13 points to the cutline (finished sixth)
- Sam Mayer: -23 (finished 14th)
- Sammy Smith: -53 (finished 32nd)
Smith brought out the final caution with six laps to go when he slowed on the track with voltage issues.
NEXT: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Oct. 26 (3 p.m. ET; The CW, MRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
Sam Mayer is the defending winner.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com