Chandler Smith Wins NASCAR Xfinity Race After Justin Allgaier Crashes From Lead

Right when everyone thought that Justin Allgaier had his third NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Phoenix International Speedway locked up, the Driver of the No. 7 went hard into the wall while exiting the dogleg in turn 1.

After Allgaier crashed from the front, Chandler Smith inherited the lead and on the overtime restart pulled ahead of Sheldon Creed and Jesse Love. This was Smith’s second Xfinity win, he claimed his first last year at Richmond Raceway. Love would pass Creed on the final lap to finish second and Creed would settle for third. Creed has finished second at Phoneix seven times before tonight's third-place finish and still awaits his first win.

Allgaier's hit was the end effect, the cause was his left rear tire going flat. The driver is convinced that the flat came from general tire wear and instead that he must have run over a piece of debris.

“I definitely had to have run something over,” Allgaier told NASCAR on FOX, “Wear-wise there was no way we were wearing the left rear far enough to do that. Going through the dogleg I felt it wiggle a little bit and I knew what it meant. At that point, there’s three laps to go or two laps to go and you have to hope that it holds on and unfortunately, it blew out and that was the end of it.”

While celebrating his accomplishment Smith took the time to acknowledge Allgaier's dominance on the final long green flag cycle.

"I hate that that happened to him," Smith said after climbing out of his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 81, "He definitely had that in the bag. I hate it for his guys."

Allgaier ended up with a DNF in 29th place and fell to eighth in the Xfinity Series championship race. Smith's win locks him into the playoffs and he now sits one point ahead of Austin Hill, with two wins Hill sits at the top of the championship push.

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