A.J. Allmendinger continues magical week with New Holland 250 win

A.J. Allmendinger is having the time of his life in the last week. Just six days after winning his first NASCAR Cup Series race since 2014 at the series’ inaugural Indianapolis Road Course event, he held off Brandon Jones to win the Xfinity Series‘ New Holland 250 at Michigan International Speedway. It is his third win of the season as it further embeds him into the Xfinity championship battle.

Although main title rival Austin Cindric started on the pole and dominated the opening stage (Ty Gibbs, Allmendinger, Myatt Snider, Noah Gragson, Daniel Hemric, Harrison Burton, Brandon Jones, Josh Berry, and Justin Haley rounded out the top ten), he would not survive into Stage #2 as the beginning of the segment was marked by a large wreck that collected him, Haley, Hemric, Snider, Brandon Brown, Joe Graf Jr., and Bubba Wallace. With Cindric out of the picture, Jeb Burton dominated the stage but Allmendinger would take the win.

Burton was responsible for a caution of his own when his car stopped on the track on lap 117. Chevrolets led every lap in the final stage as Allmendinger sparred with Berry, who was racing on a substitute basis in Michael Annett‘s place and thus started at the rear as a driver change. However, Allmendinger took the spot on lap 122.

Mason Massey and Colby Howard‘s accident forced an overtime session, while Gibbs spun while in the top ten to result in another GWC. After the race, Gibbs remarked on Twitter, “Looks like I ran straight outa talent”. Gibbs had won the previous day’s ARCA Menards Series race.

Despite facing resistance from Jones who closed the gap to .163 seconds, he could not get by Allmendinger as he took his third win of the year. It is Allmendinger’s second oval victory of 2021 (third career). With Allmendinger’s win and Cindric finishing thirty-seventh, the former narrowed the gap to the championship leader from 82 to 35 points.

“When you restart on the front row, the outside was the place to be and you also have to just hope you got a push,” said Allmendinger. “Brandon Jones, thank you so much. He pushed me every time.

“I don’t want to wake up from this dream.”

Berry finished fourth in relief duty, while Jade Buford notched Big Machine Racing‘s first top ten and his second career such finish in ninth. Wallace placed tenth in his first Xfinity start since he ran the first half of the 2017 season.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	2	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	139	Running
2	24	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	139	Running
3	4	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	139	Running
4	17	1	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	139	Running
5	6	20	Harrison Burton	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	139	Running
6	5	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	139	Running
7	8	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	139	Running
8	20	02	Brett Moffitt	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	139	Running
9	19	48	Jade Buford	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet	139	Running
10	36	61	Bubba Wallace*	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	139	Running
11	11	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	139	Running
12	23	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	139	Running
13	10	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	139	Running
14	27	5	Matt Mills	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	139	Running
15	31	31	Jordan Anderson*	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	138	Running
16	22	23	Tyler Reddick*	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	138	Running
17	3	11	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	138	Running
18	14	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	138	Running
19	18	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Martins Motorsports	Chevrolet	138	Running
20	29	26	Colin Garrett	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	138	Running
21	35	6	Ryan Vargas	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	138	Running
22	37	66	David Starr	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	137	Running
23	30	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	137	Running
24	21	47	Kyle Weatherman	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	137	Running
25	38	15	Colby Howard	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	137	Running
26	15	4	Landon Cassill	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	137	Running
27	40	52	Gray Gaulding	Jimmy Means Racing	Chevrolet	137	Running
28	28	17	Carson Ware	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	136	Running
29	12	10	Jeb Burton	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	135	Running
30	26	78	Mason Massey	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Toyota	125	Accident
31	13	36	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	123	Running
32	33	99	Jesse Little	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Toyota	120	Accident
33	16	8	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	114	Running
34	39	74	Bayley Currey*	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	103	Accident
35	34	90	Caesar Bacarella	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	45	DVP
36	9	2	Myatt Snider	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	45	DVP
37	1	22	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	41	DVP
38	32	07	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	37	DVP
39	7	18	Daniel Hemric	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	36	Accident
40	25	68	Brandon Brown	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	35	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points