LAS VEGAS — It was the first NASCAR Xfinity Series trophy of the season for A.J. Allmendinger, but the timing was on point, his playoff win in the Ambetter Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday punching his ticket into next month’s season-finale championship race.

The 42-year old Californian held off a hard-charging Ryan Sieg by a mere .156-second to claim his 18th career win — leading a race-best 102 of the 201 laps in his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Allmendinger had to out-run and out-negotiate Sieg in the closing laps, ultimately getting the best of the field on a final restart at the 1.5-miler with two laps remaining.

An exuberant Allmendinger — who is moving to the NASCAR Cup Series next year — climbed out of his Chevrolet, raising his arms to urge the crowd cheer and shouting congratulations to his team and his team owner Matt Kaulig, whose birthday was Saturday.

“I absolutely love these guys and girls at Kaulig Racing, it’s been such up-and-down, but what I love about them is we stick together, we keep fighting,” Allmendinger said before turning toward his team and shouting, “Happy birthday, Matt Kaulig. The boss’s birthday. I told you I was getting you a trophy. I love you.”

“What a way to get to Phoenix after the year we’ve had. Let’s go win a championship. Let’s go!”

For Sieg — who is still looking for his first win in 364 Xfinity Series starts — Saturday’s near-miss marked the fifth runner-up showing of his career and second in the past three races. He challenged Allmendinger mightily in the final 30 laps — passing him with nine laps to go, only to get passed right back the following lap.

“We had the best car on the longer run and I needed a long run and we were getting there,” said Sieg, an RSS Racing driver. “I just overdrove (turn) one and lost some of our track position, but I was able to gain it back. Just sucks to finish second again with a great car. One of these days it’s going to go our way.”

Allmendinger’s fellow playoff drivers, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith, finished third and fourth, respectively. Parker Kligerman, who was eliminated from the playoffs just last week, came in fifth.

Allgaier had a strong No. 7 Chevrolet, winning Stage 2 and leading 42 laps — second best to Allmendinger. His work didn’t get him the automatic Championship 4 berth but does put him atop the championship standings 32 points to the good with races at Homestead-Miami Speedway next week and then at the half-mile Martinsville, Va., track to formally decide which four drivers move to the Nov. 9 seasons finale eligible to compete for the season trophy.

“He did a great job and hats off to those guys to get a Chevrolet in victory lane,” Allgaier said of Allmendinger. “Ryan (Sieg) did a great job, too.

“Really proud of this team. Yesterday in practice we weren’t as good as we wanted to be, but they went to work and made good adjustments all day to put us in a good position.”

“At the end there, just not able to get into dirty air like I wanted to. … Great start to the next round and obviously got some good stage points so we’ll move on to next week.”

Richard Childress Racing rookie driver Jesse Love — a playoff contender — was sixth, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing teammates, defending race winner Riley Herbst and playoff driver Cole Custer. JGR’s Sheldon Creed — also eliminated from playoff contention last week — was 10th.

Playoff contenders RCR’s Austin Hill and JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer were 13th and 14th, respectively, with JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith getting involved in an early-race accident and finishing 32nd — last among the playoff eight.

The reigning series champion Custer sits just behind Allgaier in the points standings — 16 points to the good with Chandler Smith in the fourth position, eight points to the good.

Hill (-8) is fifth followed by Love (-13), Mayer (-23) and Smith (-53).

The series moves to the Homestead-Miami Speedway 1.5-miler next Saturday for the Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300 (4 p.m. ET, CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Mayer is the defending race winner.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race — Ambetter Health 302
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nevada
Saturday, October 19, 2024

1. (9) AJ Allmendinger (P), Chevrolet, 201.
2. (10) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 201.
3. (6) Justin Allgaier (P), Chevrolet, 201.
4. (3) Chandler Smith (P), Toyota, 201.
5. (11) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 201.
6. (8) Jesse Love # (P), Chevrolet, 201.
7. (7) Riley Herbst, Ford, 201.
8. (2) Cole Custer (P), Ford, 201.
9. (38) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 201.
10. (17) Austin Hill (P), Chevrolet, 201.
11. (14) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, 201.
12. (30) Daniel Dye(i), Chevrolet, 201.
13. (12) Aric Almirola (P), Toyota, 201.
14. (4) Sam Mayer (P), Chevrolet, 201.
15. (23) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 201.
16. (24) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 201.
17. (1) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 201.
18. (19) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 201.
19. (18) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 201.
20. (27) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 201.
21. (32) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 201.
22. (20) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 201.
23. (33) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 201.
24. (15) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 201.
25. (28) JJ Yeley, Ford, 199.
26. (22) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 199.
27. (21) Dylan Lupton, Ford, 198.
28. (34) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 198.
29. (31) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 198.
30. (36) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 198.
31. (35) Blaine Perkins, Ford, 198.
32. (5) Sammy Smith (P), Chevrolet, 197.
33. (13) Taylor Gray(i), Toyota, 197.
34. (29) Ryan Vargas, Chevrolet, 197.
35. (37) Akinori Ogata(i), Chevrolet, 196.
36. (26) Dawson Cram(i), Chevrolet, 193.
37. (25) Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, Electrical, 130.
38. (16) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, Fuel Pump, 77.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 127.215 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 22 Mins, 12 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.156 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 7 for 31 laps.

Lead Changes: 13 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: B. Jones 1-8;S. Smith (P) 9-13;C. Custer (P) 14-35;B. Jones 36-38;R. Herbst 39-42;C. Custer (P) 43-51;J. Allgaier (P) 52-93;A. Allmendinger (P) 94-145;R. Sieg 146;P. Kligerman 147;J. Love # (P) 148-150;A. Allmendinger (P) 151-191;R. Sieg 192;A. Allmendinger (P) 193-201.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): AJ Allmendinger (P) 3 times for 102 laps; Justin Allgaier (P) 1 time for 42 laps; Cole Custer (P) 2 times for 31 laps; Brandon Jones 2 times for 11 laps; Sammy Smith (P) 1 time for 5 laps; Riley Herbst 1 time for 4 laps; Jesse Love # (P) 1 time for 3 laps; Ryan Sieg 2 times for 2 laps; Parker Kligerman 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 00,7,98,16,18,28,2,21,9,1

Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,16,28,9,81,00,20,2,98,19

–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.