AJ Allmendinger has been a great part-time driver for Kaulig Racing since 2019. On Saturday, Allmendinger held off Noah Gragson to score his fourth-career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in Saturday’s EchoPark 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
While Gragson, who scored a $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus by way of his second-place finish, was closing in down the stretch, Allmendinger pulled away over the last couple of laps to win by 1.858 seconds.
“It’s Atlanta, so, you’re trying to figure out how much tire to use early,” explained Allmendinger. “The car was awesome on long runs, the car was better than the driver early too, especially, but once I got to the lead just tried to hit my marks.”
This marks Allmendinger’s first-ever NASCAR National Series win on an oval.
“Oh my god, I won on an oval,” Allmendinger exclaimed upon exiting his car. “You like that?”
Following Allmendinger and Gragson across the line were Justin Haley — Allmendinger’s teammate — Daniel Hemric and Harrison Burton.
Justin Allgaier rebounded from a pit road speeding penalty late in the race to finish sixth.
Ross Chastain, Brandon Jones, Chase Briscoe and Anthony Alfredo rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.
Briscoe, like Allgaier, was busted for speeding on the final pit stop of the day. Briscoe, who was leading at the time, saw a for sure win turn into a disappointing top-10 finish.
Austin Cindric, who won Stages 1 and 2 in the race, was also busted for speeding on the final pit stop. Cindric had scuffed tires for the finish of the race and was only able to rebound for a 16th-place finish.
Post-Race Stat Pack:
