Rain shakeup lifts Truex to victory lane at Dover again
DOVER, Del. — Rain shook up the finish to the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday and sent Ryan Truex to victory lane at Dover Motor Speedway again.
Truex led the final two laps after passing Carson Kvapil for the win in the second overtime restart of the BetRivers 200. Truex now has two wins in a row at Dover and two wins in his Xfinity Series career.
Kvapil shocked the NASCAR world, taking the lead from Austin Hill on lap 193. Hill raced everyone hard, bumping Justin Allgaier and taking the lead on lap 173, then bumping Sheldon Creed and retaking the lead on lap 192 after Creed passed him mostly cleanly.
Kvapil restarted in the lead for the first overtime. Hill tried roughing up Kvapil but it didn’t work. As he moved up the track, he spun and sent the race into overtime again.
In double overtime, Truex restarted on the inside of Kvapil. The move to rough up the car on the outside lane worked this time as, in turn three, Truex moved him up the track and drove away to the win.
The race ended under caution when Justin Allgaier wrecked off of turn four coming to get the white flag. He finished 17th — a far cry from how he ran all Saturday.
Allgaier led 34 laps in stage one and claimed the stage win. Then, when strategies shook up the race during the stage break, Allgaier fell behind Cole Custer. Custer led 86 consecutive laps, which included claiming stage two, and ran hard with rain looming.
Allgaier did too, finally breaking free from the ills of the strategy calls and finding freedom in lap traffic giving Custer a hard time. He closed on Custer’s bumper when the caution flew for rain on lap 160, with 40 to go in regulation.
Custer and his team were celebrating but Mother Nature pumped the brakes on the celebration. While there was enough rain to draw a caution, the caution went seemingly normally as pit road opened and all but the top-five drivers pitted. Everyone even chose which lane they wanted for the restart.
Then, the rain, while light, persisted and drew the red flag. After 13 minutes, Mother Nature rained on Custer’s parade after letting up on the track.
Custer and Kyle Sieg pitted, even when the pits were closed, and Chandler Smith pitted once they opened.
That left Justin Allgaier and Parker Kligerman on the track. Allgaier tried to move up to the outside lane, thinking he could choose a lane after moving up to the lead. NASCAR and Austin Hill didn’t like that.
Allgaier took the lead on the lap 172 restart but Hill took it in turn three after bumping him out of the way.
Allgaier then pitted and rallied all the way back to sixth when Hill spun and Sheldon Creed bumped into Allgaier, trying to avoid Hill. He got damage but stayed out, then wrecked in the second overtime, partially because of that damage.
Meanwhile, Custer quietly finished fifth. Both drivers, still winless.
BetRivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway Results
NASCAR Xfinity Series Points after the BetRivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway
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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