Justin Allgaier leads JR Motorsports 1–2 in Steakhouse Elite 200

The NASCAR Xfinity Series‘ Steakhouse Elite 200 at Darlington Raceway began with Dale Earnhardt Jr. leading parade laps in his father’s newly restored #8 Chevrolet Nova. When the race came to an end, Earnhardt was surely still a happy man as his JR Motorsports drivers Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry finished first and second.

A.J. Allmendinger and Austin Cindric started on the front row, and the former led until a wreck occurred on lap five as J.J. Yeley, Brandon Gdovic, and Joe Graf Jr. went three-wide before Yeley was turned into the wall. Gdovic’s day worsened when he wrecked in turn three on lap 14 for another caution. Two more yellows were waved in the first stage with a scheduled competition competition on lap 22 and Matt Mills ending the segment under yellow with his own accident.

Cindric and Noah Gragson—drivers who opted not to participate in Throwback Weekend by running a historical paint scheme—traded the lead throughout the first stage, and it was Cindric who came out on top. Gragson, Harrison Burton, Daniel Hemric, Tommy Joe Martins, Allmendinger, Myatt Snider, Allgaier, Ty Gibbs, and Michael Annett closed out the top ten.

Hemric dominated much of the second stage until the caution came out on lap 94 for Jesse Little and Jeffrey Earnhardt‘s wreck. Burton assumed the lead for the restart and held off Gragson to take his first stage win of the year. Allmendinger, Berry, Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton, Annett, Allgaier, Cindric, and Brett Moffitt also received stage points.

The third stage opened with Gragson in front. Much like the first two, the leader enjoyed his time at the top before a wreck slowed the race to a caution: on lap 128, Graf turned Gray Gaulding on the backstretch, potentially as payback for a prior incident between the two at Martinsville that ended with a post-race fight. Damage from the entanglement resulted in Graf spinning shortly after the restart to produce another yellow flag.

The final ten laps would see Berry and Allgaier exchanging the lead. Allgaier held the spot until Ryan Vargas spun in turn two on lap 143 to set up overtime for the second time this weekend. After holding off Berry, Allgaier stormed off to his second win of the year.

Although Gragson initially placed fourth, which also granted him his third straight Dash 4 Cash win, he was disqualified after for suspension violations found in post-race inspection; in particular, his car broke Rule 20.14.c: “All suspension mounts and mounting hardware must not allow movement or realignment of any suspension and/or drivetrain component beyond normal rotation or suspension and/or drivetrain travel.” Gragson is the second national series driver to suffer a disqualification in 2021 after Tyler Reddick in March’s Xfinity race at Homestead.

With the DQ, Allmendinger became the new Dash 4 Cash winner as he was promoted to twelfth. Annett was moved up to sixth as JRM still placed three of four drivers in the top ten, while Jeremy Clements was elevated to fifth for his first top five of the year; Harrison Burton is now a top-ten finisher, and Alex Labbé is now classified in ninth as he scores his first top ten in 2021. Elsewhere in the top twenty, Ryan Ellis finished fifteenth in his maiden Xfinity start of the year, Ty Gibbs‘s streak of top fives in each of his first three career starts ends in seventeenth, and Tanner Berryhill wrapped up his first NASCAR start since 2018 in twentieth. Colby Howard and points leader Cindric crashed on the final lap, resulting in the latter’s first retirement of the year.

Race results