Justin Allgaier gets his first win of the season at Atlanta

            Shortly after the conclusion of the Camping World Truck Series race. It was the Xfinity Series turn to race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Austin Cindric won the pole for this race, with Jeb Burton starting second. The “Choose Cone Rule” returned for this race. The rule allows the drivers to pick which lane they want before the race begins. Chad Finchum (driver change), David Starr (driver change), and A.J. Allmendinger (inspection failure) all had to start in the back. A competition caution was set for lap 20.

Cindric led the first six laps of the race before Martin Truex Jr., who started 18th, used the outside lane of turn two to take the lead. The competition caution came out on lap 21. No one went to pit road during the caution, and the race resumed on lap 25. The race went ten laps before Dexter Bean spun at turn two to bring out the second caution with five laps to go in stage one. Some drivers went to pit road during the caution, including Riley Herbst and Brandon Brown.

The race resumed on lap 40 with one lap to go in stage one. Brett Moffitt moved up the track and hit Brandon Jones, causing Jones to spin and hit several cars for the race’s third caution. Martin Truex Jr. would win stage one. Among those involved in the crash were Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, A.J. Allmendinger, and David Starr.

Most drivers went to pit road during the caution, with Truex beating Harrison Burton off pit road. Jeremy Clements came out eighth along with the gas can and was issued a penalty for equipment out of the box. The race resumed on lap 51 to start stage two. Four drivers did not pit and would line up ahead of Martin Truex Jr. Truex quickly got the lead and started to distance himself from the field. The four cars that didn’t pit quickly fell behind. He had +a three-second lead over Justin Allgaier. Truex would cruise to a stage two win. Teams went to pit road during the caution, with Truex beating Allgaier off pit road. The final stage got underway on lap 89.

Truex cleared Allgaier on the restart to stay in first. The restart lasted 24 laps before Mason Massey spun at turn two to bring out the day’s fifth caution. Drivers went to pit road during the caution, with Truex beating Allgaier off pit road. However, Truex was caught speeding and would restart in the back. The race resumed on lap 118.

Not long after the race restarted, Jeremy Clements hit Jeb Burton, and both cars went into the wall at turn one to bring out the race’s sixth caution. Everyone stayed out during the caution, and the race resumed on lap 123. The restart lasted nine laps before Ryan Sieg slid up and turned Josh Berry. Berry’s car went sliding into the grass, digging a deep hole, then lifting up in the air before landing on all four tires with splitter damaged. This ended his day, and he finished in 38th place.

Everyone but Colby Howard went to pit road. During the pit stops, Noah Gragson backed up and hit Daniel Hemric’s car while his crew was servicing the car. Gragson was not issued a penalty for the incident. The race resumed on lap 132. Colby Howard moved out of the way as Justin Allgaier took over the lead. Two laps into the restart, Gragson passed Truex for third, but Truex would get it back.

Truex would then get to Harrison Burton and pass him on lap 151. He was now chasing Allgaier. Allgaier had pulled away from Truex. While Truex was cutting into Allgaier’s lead, he would run out of time as Allgaier got his first win of the season by 1.449 seconds over Truex. This is JR Motorsports 52nd career Xfinity Series win and the fifteenth career win for Allgaier.

After the race, Daniel Hemric let Gragson know how he felt about the pit road incident with punches being exchanged before both crews could separate them. Gragson was called to the NASCAR Hauler after the race, and if any penalties are issued, they will be announced next week.

The rest of the top ten finishers were Harrison Burton third, Noah Gragson fourth, A.J. Allmendinger fifth, Riley Herbst sixth, Michael Annett seventh, Justin Haley eighth, Daniel Hemric ninth, and Ryan Sieg tenth. Truex led 103 laps, the most in the race. There were seven cautions for 37 laps and six lead changes.

The Xfinity Series will have a couple of weeks off before returning to Martinsville Speedway on Friday, April 9th, at 8 pm on FS1.

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