AJ Allmendinger earned his first win of the season and second career win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) Saturday evening to be the first NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) driver to lock in a spot in the Championship 4.
“First of all, happy birthday, Matt Kaulig – the boss’s birthday,” said Allmendinger, driver of the No. 16 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing. “I told you I was getting you a trophy, baby! What a way to get to Phoenix after the year we’ve had. Let’s go win a championship, let’s go!”
After leading a total of 102 laps, Allmendinger held off Ryan Sieg (No. 28 RSS Racing Ford) in the final laps of the Ambetter Health 302 NXS race after an intense battle for the lead.
“For sure I could have got him,” said Sieg who led twice for two laps and finished second. “I just struggled on the last restart. I made it better, just not enough. Just frustrated. We had a good car on the long run, but restarts, I just need to work on, but it sucks. Second’s good, but damn, I wanna win.”
Justin Allgaier (No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet), Chandler Smith (No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) and Parker Kligerman (No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet) rounded out the top five. Polesitter Brandon Jones (No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet) led twice for 11 laps and ultimately finished 17th. Las Vegas native Riley Herbst (No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford) started and finished the race in seventh.
This weekend’s on-track action culminates Sunday with the South Point 400 NCS race at 11:30 a.m. PT/2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN and SiriusXM.
For tickets or more information on the South Point 400, visit www.lvms.com or call 1-800-644-4444. Single-day tickets are still available; race-day tickets for kids 12 and under are just $10 with the advance purchase of an adult ticket.
