Tennessee Lottery 250: Allmendinger wins wreck filled race in Nashville

AJ Allmendinger wins his second Xfinity race of the year after a crash-filled race at the Nashville SuperSpeedway.

AJ’s Kaulig teammate Chandler Smith started on the front row with Cole Custer in the #00 starting on the pole. The race was waved to green but immediately halted for a caution in the first turn of the first lap. The #29 of Kyle Sieg gets up into the #27, sending Sieg around, collecting his brother Ryan in the #39, Allgaier in the #7 and Stefan Parsons in the #07.

Another attempt at the start was had on lap 9, but another caution would fly in turn 3 as the #21 of Austin Hill would get loose under Gibbs in the #19, sending the RCR driver into the wall. 

The field lined up again on lap 15 and managed to run a clean few laps with Custer out front. This run wouldn’t last for long however as the #91 of Chad Chastain would spin into the wall on lap 17.

Ty Gibbs in the #19 would take the lead on the lap 22 restart. The field would behave themselves for a green flag run to the end of the first stage, with Gibbs scoring the stage one win. 

Stage One Results:

1. #19
2. #00
3. #10
4. #77
5. #18
6. #16
7. #98
8. #1
9. #20
10.  #48

During caution flag pit stops, Austin Hill in the #21 would take fuel only and took the lead for the restart. Ty Gibbs lined up on the outside for the restart but Hill got loose in turn 1 and took out Gibbs and the #77 of Hocevar. AJ Allmendinger in the #10 would also collect some damage. 

Cole Custer and Sam Mayer would take the front row for the restart on lap 60, where Custer would take the lead until another caution was thrown on lap 61 with Mosack in the #24 spinning into the turn 2 wall. 

Chandler Smith took the lead from Custer on the lap 66 restart however another caution flag would fly three laps later, the #18 of Sammy Smith got spun by the #2, a spin that collected the #9 of Brandon Jones. 

Smith retained the lead on the next restart and the field would behave themselves all the way until the end of the second stage, with the #16 car taking the win. 

Stage Two Results:

1. #16
2. #00
3. #11
4. #1
5. #98
6. #20
7. #28
8. #8
9. #31
10.  #25

Chandler Smith maintained the lead on the lap 98 restart, getting the jump on Cole Custer. The green flag wouldn’t stay out for long as Kligerman in the #48 would get spun by the #26 while trying to come to pit road. 

The field restarted on lap 110. Smith took the lead from Custer and was briefly challenged by his teammate Daniel Hemric before taking the lead and gapping the field. 

On lap 142 AJ Allmendinger took the race lead from Smith after running him down over the course of several laps. However, Allmendinger would lose the lead on the green flag pit cycle due to a slow stop, allowing Smith to reclaim the lead of the race. 

Allmendinger was not done yet, however. The Kaulig driver continued to run down his teammate before taking the lead out of those who pitted with 31 to go due to a massive wiggle from Smith. 

With 12 to go, Allmendinger took the overall race lead from Parker Kligerman and looked to be running away with the race. Until 6 to go when the #91 would spin again and bring out another caution, throwing the race into overtime. 

Kaulig teammates Allmendinger and Smith lined up for the overtime attempt but Smith’s hopes for the win would be dashed as he spun into the first turn, leading to a second overtime attempt. 

This time Riley Herbst would line up alongside Allmendinger, looking for his first career win in the Xfinity series. Allmendinger would get a fantastic jump on the restart, leaving Herbst to fend off the rest of the field. Allmendinger would cruise to victory amid a heavy last lap crash with Justin Allgaier getting into the #31, collecting the #25 and #48.

Herbst managed to maintain 2nd place, scoring his first top 10 finish in 8 races after a strong start to the year. 

JRM’s Sam Mayer recovered from a 34th place qualifying spot to take 3rd place on the day, after a very strong showing throughout the day. 

Austin Hill finished 4th with damage from the earlier wreck, and Josh Berry, who had just been signed to SHR for next year, rounded out the top 10. 

Points leader John Hunter Nemechek recovered to a 6th place finish after having an unscheduled pitstop due to a vibration. And Zane Smith in the #28 for Ryan Sieg Racing finished in 7th place. 

Featured Image Credits: NASCAR_Xfinity on Twitter