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Justin Allgaier starts from rear, still leads most laps for Darlington win

Justin Allgaier faced an uphill battle if he wanted to go back-to-back in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Darlington Raceway, but he was more than up for the challenge. He led seventy-six of 147 laps, twenty-one more than JR Motorsports team-mate Noah Gragson as he held off said ally in overtime to win for the first time in 2022.

A rained-out qualifying placed Ty Gibbs on the pole and Allgaier in third, but the latter started at the rear due to a battery change. As Allgaier knifed through the order, Gibbs and Gragson traded the lead in Stage #1 with Gragson winning out. Josh Berry, Allgaier, Riley Herbst, A.J. Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Landon Cassill, Ryan Truex, and Friday’s Truck Series race winner John Hunter Nemechek followed. Timmy Hill and Jeb Burton were responsible for cautions during the stage, while Sheldon Creed exited with an engine failure.

Allgaier led his first laps of the day between stages and to kick off the second, holding the top spot before Myatt Snider wrecked on lap 76. Gragson and Allgaier battled for the lead only for the former to go two-for-two in stage victories, while Gibbs got by Allgaier to place second again. Nemechek, Tyler Reddick, Berry, Sam Mayer, Allmendinger, Truex, and Herbst.

The Allgaier/Gragson duel continued in the final segment until furious charges from Allmendinger and Reddick enabled them to join the fight. Unfortunately for Reddick, a tyre went down and sent him into the wall. Allmendinger, who was on older tyres than Allgaier and Gragson, led to begin overtime but quickly fell back.

Gragson’s chase failed as Allgaier scored his first win of the year and snapping a thirty-four-race winless streak dating back to last year’s spring Darlington event. That race also saw JRM cars finish first and second, with Berry filling the latter.

“We’ve been doing this way too long, and you know how great it feels to get back to Victory Lane,” said Allgaier. “It was awesome racing my team-mates. That was probably the coolest part, racing my team-mates all day, so hats off to those guys.”

JRM drivers have now won three consecutive races. Gragson took the victory at Talladega a fortnight ago, while Berry did so last week at Dover.

Race results

FinishStartNumberDriverTeamManufacturerLapsStatus
137Justin AllgaierJR MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
249Noah GragsonJR MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
3898Riley HerbstStewart-Haas RacingFord147Running
42326John Hunter Nemechek*Sam Hunt RacingToyota147Running
571Sam MayerJR MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
61310Landon CassillKaulig RacingChevrolet147Running
7619Brandon JonesJoe Gibbs RacingToyota147Running
8516A.J. AllmendingerKaulig RacingChevrolet147Running
91111Daniel HemricKaulig RacingChevrolet147Running
101221Austin HillRichard Childress RacingChevrolet147Running
11939Ryan SiegRSS RacingFord147Running
123134Kyle WeathermanJesse Iwuji MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
131602Brett MoffittOur MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
141527Jeb BurtonOur MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
151423Anthony AlfredoOur MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
16154Ty GibbsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota147Running
173645Tommy Joe MartinsAlpha Prime RacingChevrolet147Running
1828Josh BerryJR MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
191836Alex LabbéDGM RacingChevrolet147Running
203599Stefan ParsonsB.J. McLeod MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
21246Ryan VargasJD MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
223291Mason MasseyDGM RacingChevrolet147Running
23304Bayley CurreyJD MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
242935Patrick EmerlingEmerling-Gase MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
252066J.J. YeleyMBM MotorsportsFord147Running
263448Tyler Reddick*Big Machine Racing TeamChevrolet147Running
272708David StarrSS-Green Light RacingFord147Running
283744Josh BilickiAlpha Prime RacingChevrolet147Running
292251Jeremy ClementsJeremy Clements RacingChevrolet147Running
302818Ryan TruexJoe Gibbs RacingToyota147Running
31335Matt MillsB.J. McLeod MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
322638Kyle SiegRSS RacingFord147Running
333813Timmy Hill*MBM MotorsportsToyota147Running
342578Josh WilliamsB.J. McLeod MotorsportsChevrolet144Running
351768Brandon BrownBrandonbilt MotorsportsChevrolet142Running
362107Joe Graf Jr.SS-Green Light RacingFord135Accident
371931Myatt SniderJordan Anderson RacingChevrolet73Accident
38102Sheldon CreedRichard Childress RacingChevrolet16Engine
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points

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