A.J. Allmendinger wins again in Drive for the Cure 250

Prior to the 2021 NASCAR season, A.J. Allmendinger had one Cup Series and five Xfinity Series race victories. By the end of Saturday, he had doubled his total in both.

Allmendinger scored his fifth win of the 2021 Xfinity season when he took the lead in Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval and never looked back in overtime. It is his third straight victory at the Roval and sixth on a road course. Combine with his Cup win at the Indianapolis Road Course in August and there is little doubt that Allmendinger is one of the premier road racers in any NASCAR series.

Austin Cindric started on the pole while Allmendinger was mired back in fourteenth, his second-worst starting spot after beginning the Homestead race in February in twenty-fourth, due to the formula accounting for his early crash at Talladega the previous week. Sage Karam spun after two laps and Jade Buford and Brett Moffitt crashed together for the first of six race-related cautions. Gray Gaulding‘s rear gear failed and caused his #74 to stop on track for another yellow.

At the front, Cindric led the first seven laps before overshooting a backstretch chicane and having to serve a stop-and-go penalty that allowed Daniel Hemric to take the top spot. Hemric would take the stage win ahead of Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs, Justin Haley, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton, and Jeremy Clements.

In Stage #2, a caution came on lap 30 for debris after Josh Bilicki locked up his brakes coming to the backstretch chicane and attempted to swerve instead of crash into those in front of him, but he ran over rumble strips that launched his car into the air; NASCAR eventually removed the strips for the Cup race on Sunday. Meanwhile, Cindric dominated the stage before pitting on lap 36 and relinquishing the lead and stage win to Hemric. Haley, Myatt Snider, Gragson, Clements, Jones, Harrison Burton, Gibbs, Jeb Burton, and Sam Mayer rounded out the top ten.

Gibbs took the lead to begin the final stage. However, he also missed the backstretch chicane on lap 48 and surrendered first to Allmendinger. With four laps remaining, Tommy Joe Martins—who was battling a poor-handling car after being spun on the opening lap and damaging the right front—blew his right-front tyre and slammed into the outside wall. While Martins walked away from the accident without injury, he subsequently tweeted that his “ankle & knee & ribs are gonna be sore tomorrow. Knocked the wind out of me. One of the hardest hits I’ve ever had.”

Martins’ crash set up overtime. As Allmendinger pulled away to win his sixth career Xfinity road course race (the most of any driver in series history), chaos unfolded behind him when Mayer turned Gibbs, though he was able to avoid a spin after drifting across the track. Coming to the finish, multiple drivers including Snider spun, with Brandon Brown crossing the line backwards.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	14	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	68	Running
2	1	22	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	68	Running
3	3	18	Daniel Hemric	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	68	Running
4	5	11	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	68	Running
5	6	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	68	Running
6	10	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Running
7	37	90	Preston Pardus	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	68	Running
8	13	2	Myatt Snider	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	68	Running
9	2	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Running
10	15	8	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Running
11	17	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	68	Running
12	11	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	68	Running
13	7	10	Jeb Burton	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	68	Running
14	20	36	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	68	Running
15	8	20	Harrison Burton	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	68	Running
16	19	48	Jade Buford	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet	68	Running
17	35	4	Landon Cassill	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Running
18	40	61	Austin Hill*	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	68	Running
19	23	99	J.J. Yeley	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Running
20	32	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Running
21	12	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	68	Running
22	16	68	Brandon Brown	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Running
23	24	47	Kyle Weatherman	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	68	Running
24	36	78	Stefan Parsons	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Running
25	28	31	Sage Karam	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	68	Running
26	25	23	Ty Dillon	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Running
27	4	1	Michael Annett	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Running
28	30	17	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	67	Running
29	29	26	Will Rodgers	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	67	Running
30	26	5	Matt Mills	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Toyota	67	Running
31	33	52	Spencer Boyd*	Jimmy Means Racing	Chevrolet	67	Running
32	18	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	66	Running
33	21	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Martins Motorsports	Chevrolet	63	Accident
34	9	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	61	Suspension
35	34	66	Loris Hezemans	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	59	Electrical
36	27	6	Ryan Vargas	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	47	Axle
37	22	02	Brett Moffitt	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	30	Accident
38	31	07	Josh Bilicki	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	28	Accident
39	38	15	Kris Wright*	JD Motorsports	Toyota	19	Suspension
40	39	74	Gray Gaulding	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	10	Rear Gear