Austin Cindric wins The Henry 180 at Road America

The NASCAR Xfinity Series made its way to Road America Saturday afternoon in the Henry 180. Michael Annett won the pole by a draw with Austin Cindric starting next to him. Myatt Snider (unapproved adjustments) and Vinnie Miller (driver change) were starting the race in the rear of the field. Before the race could get underway, the rain had passed by the track 15 minutes before the drop of the green flag. Brandon Brown had fuel pressure issues when the engines fired up and tried to leave pit road but didn’t get far. He had to be pushed back to pit road.

GREEN FLAG! 🔥 The mighty machines of the #XfinitySeries are going full send in to Turn 1 at @roadamerica. Tune in on NBCSN! pic.twitter.com/hy2FruPTIH — NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) August 8, 2020

With the drop of the green, Austin Cindric took the lead from Annett on turn one. Not even a lap into the race, the first caution would come out for Bayley Currey as he stopped on the racetrack at turn 13. Riley Herbst came to pit road to change tires. The race resumed on the fifth lap with Cindric leading. A lap later, Chase Briscoe went off the track heading into turn five. The second caution would come out two laps later for fluid on the track from Joe Graf Jr’s car. Not long after the caution came, lightning struck within the ten-mile radius, and the race was under a red flag.

.@ChaseBriscoe5 = WHEELMAN. 💯@roadamerica | #Henry180 pic.twitter.com/4BFJwRpQj1 — NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) August 8, 2020

The red flag lasted an hour and thirty-three minutes. Everyone pitted for rain tires as NASCAR allowed the drivers to keep their positions. The race got back underway at lap 12. The restart did not last long as Vinnie Miller’s car engine blew up to bring out the third caution of the day. During the caution, some of the leaders came to pit road, including AJ Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, and Noah Gragson. The race resumed with one lap to go in stage one. Justin Haley was able to get the lead from Cindric and win stage one. This was Haley’s second stage win of the season.

⚠️ VISIBILITY MAY BE A FACTOR ⚠️ We're back racing in the rain at @roadamerica on NBCSN! pic.twitter.com/0R3JGz0PXj — NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) August 8, 2020

During the caution, some of the leaders came to pit road while Harrison Burton, AJ Allmendinger, Josh Bilicki, Noah Gragson, and eleven others stayed out. Josh Bilicki was the leader as the race resumed on lap 17 to start stage two. A lap into the restart, Bilicki, and Preston Pardus were battling for the lead between turns 11 through 14 with Pardus taking the lead from Bilicki. A lap later, Bilicki would take the lead back from Pardus in turn one. On the same lap, Noah Gragson passed Pardus for second place as he set his sights on the leader. Gragson would take the lead on the next lap at turn 14.

Bilicki would lose the second position to Alex Labbe on lap 21. Gragson would overshoot turn five and traveled off track, allowing Labbe to take the lead. Jesse Little also spun at turn five and was able to get his car going again. Turn five would be a problem for many drivers.

Labbe’s lead would not last long as AJ Allmendinger took it from him at turn five on lap 22. Some drivers started to come to pit road for sticker tires, including Gragson, Allgaier, Myatt Snider, Austin Cindric, Jeremey Clements, and Riley Herbst. Jesse Little’s car would go into the gravel trap at turn one to bring out the fourth caution of the day and end-stage two that went to AJ Allmendinger.

STAGE WINNER: @AJDinger leads the @KauligRacing Chevrolets to a 1-2-3 Stage 2 finish at @roadamerica!#Henrys180 pic.twitter.com/2OEXluqTce — NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) August 8, 2020

During the caution, all of the drivers came to pit road to change tires. Some drivers came back a lap later for fuel, including AJ Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, Justin Haley, and seven others. Kaz Grala led the field back to green on lap 33 to start the final stage. On the same lap, Justin Allgaier took the lead from Grala. Grala would lose the second spot to Cindric. A lap later, Cindric would take the lead from Allgaier at turn one.

On lap 35, Alex Labbe wheel hopped at turn five and collected Myatt Snider in the process as both cars spun and were able to get going again. Chase Briscoe would lose a couple of positions to Allmendinger, and Grala dropped to fifth place. On lap 38, Scott Heckert’s car went off in the gravel trap at turn six to bring out the fifth caution of the day. Just before the caution came out, Riley Herbst spun Justin Haley at turn ten. During the caution, Preston Pardus, Ryan Sieg, and Josh Bilicki stayed out while everyone else came to pit road.

The race resumed with four laps to go. A huge crash occurred at turn three to bring out the seventh caution of the day as Kaz Grala got into Justin Allgaier, sending him to the outside wall off of turn three hard. Jeffery Earnhardt, Myatt Snider, and Jeremey Clements were also involved in the crash.

Too many cooks in the kitchen leads to a day-ender for @J_Allgaier and @JEarnhardt1. 😢 Tune in for this late restart on NBCSN! pic.twitter.com/plb932PVED — NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) August 8, 2020

The race resumed with two laps to go as Austin Cindric got by Pardus at turn one for the lead. Once the dust settled, it was between Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger. Cindric would go on to win the Henry 180 by 1.318 seconds over the second-place finisher AJ Allmendinger. This is Cindric’s fourth win of the season.

Burn it down (again), @AustinCindric! 🔥🔥🔥#XfinitySeries | @roadamerica pic.twitter.com/GDwwn3VRPK — NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) August 8, 2020

The rest of the top ten finishers were Chase Briscoe third, Kaz Grala fourth, Andy Lally fifth, Noah Gragson sixth, Ross Chastain seventh, Preston Pardus eighth, Ryan Sieg ninth, and Michael Annett tenth. There were twelve lead changes from nine drivers, seven cautions for 15 laps.

Updated playoff point standings are Chase Briscoe first (5 wins), Austin Cindric second (4 wins), Noah Gragson third (2 wins), Brandon Jones fourth (2 wins), Harrison Burton fifth (2 wins), Justin Haley sixth (1 win) are locked in. Ross Chastain is in seventh, Justin Allgaier eighth, Michael Annett ninth, Ryan Sieg tenth, Riley Herbst eleventh, and Brandon Brown twelfth are currently in the playoffs. Outside looking in are Jeremey Clements thirteenth, Myatt Snider fourteenth, Josh Williams fifteenth, and Jesse Little sixteenth. The Xfinity Series will now head to Daytona International Speedway for the road course next Saturday at 3 pm on NBCSN.

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