Justin Allgaier Closes in on NASCAR Xfinity Points Lead with Win at New Hampshire

• Justin Allgaier, driving for JR Motorsports, pulled away in the final laps to win Saturday afternoon’s crash-filled Crayon 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
  

• It was the 19th victory of his Xfinity career, his third this year.

• The 19 victories is good for 17th all-time in the Xfinity Series, one behind Greg Biffle.

Justin Allgaier said after an early-season Xfinity Series victory at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway that he always celebrates joyously because he never knows if he’s ever going to win again. Clearly, the man underestimates himself.

Allgaier, driving for JR Motorsports, pulled away in the final laps to win Saturday afternoon’s crash-filled Crayon 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It was the 19th victory of his Xfinity career, his third this year—after Darlington and Nashville—and his first at Loudon. Except for the Toyota of runner-up Trevor Bayne, the top 10 finishes were in Chevrolets.

The 19 victories is good for 17th all-time in the Xfinity Series, one behind Greg Biffle. Kyle Busch leads the category with 102.

After starting third on Saturday, Allgaier led three times for 47 of the 200 laps. He led 28 laps late in the race, gave up the point for two, then led the final 19. His 47 laps in front trailed only Ty Gibbs, who dominated by leading 49 before have late-race issues that left him 23rd, four laps behind. Allgaier’s MOV over Bayne was almost four seconds.

Behind Allgaier and Bayne came Landon Cassill and Noah Gragson (temporarily, at least), then Brandon Brown. The back-5 were Jeremy Clements, Sheldon Creed, Ty Dillon (he’ll be leaving Petty/GMS Motorsports after this year), recent Atlanta winner Austin Hill, and Kyle Weatherman.

But a couple of post-race inspection issues resulted in the disqualification of two top-5 runners. The front of Gragson’s car was too low and the rear of Cassill’s car was too low, and they were dropped to last and next-to-last on the rundown. Mason Massey was moved from 11th to 10th and Bayley Currey was moved from 12th to 10th.

Gragson to Cup?

The DSQ (disqualification) comes a few days after Gragson was named as a possibility to replace Tyler Reddick in the Richard Childress Racing No. 8 Chevy for the Cup Series. Reddick has already been introduced as the third driver with Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace at the Hamlin/Jordan 23XI Racing Team in 2024.

Saturday’s 200-lap, 211-mile race was slowed by nine cautions for 56 laps and a red flag for more than seven minutes. All told, a dozen cars were involved in incidents, among them those of Creed, Josh Berry, Daniel Hemric, Jeb Burton, Riley Herbst, Anthony Alfredo, Brandon Jones, Ryan Sieg, and highly touted rookie Julia Landauer, who crashed twice.

Allgaier closed the gap to within 16 points of 22nd-finishing AJ Allmendinger. Gibbs trails by 28 points, Berry by 87, Gragson by 99 (pending review), Hill by 133, Jones by 165, Sam Mayer by 190, Riley Herbst by 209, and Hemric by 237.

Gibbs leads the Xfinity Series with four wins this season.

The tour goes to Pocono Raceway next Saturday for a 225-mile race on the program that also features a 150-mile race for the Camping World Truck Series.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race - 28th Annual Crayon 200

New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Loudon, New Hampshire

Results

1. (3) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.

2. (6) Trevor Bayne, Toyota, 200.

3. (19) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 200.

4. (21) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 200.

5. (18) Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, 200.

6. (17) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200.

7. (15) Austin Hill #, Chevrolet, 200.

8. (20) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 200.

9. (30) Mason Massey, Chevrolet, 200.

10. (24) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 200.

11. (31) David Starr, Ford, 200.

12. (26) Joe Graf Jr., Ford, 200.

13. (33) CJ McLaughlin, Ford, 200.

14. (14) Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 200.

15. (12) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 200.

16. (28) Patrick Emerling, Toyota, 200.

17. (34) Howie Disavino III, Chevrolet, 200.

18. (22) Derek Griffith, Toyota, 198.

19. (36) Ryan Vargas, Chevrolet, 198.

20. (7) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 197.

21. (4) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 196.

22. (35) Matt Mills(i), Chevrolet, 192.

23. (38) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 190.

24. (29) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, Electrical, 189.

25. (37) Akinori Ogata(i), Toyota, Engine, 169.

26. (10) William Byron(i), Chevrolet, Electrical, 163.

27. (27) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, Accident, 143.

28. (8) Brandon Jones, Toyota, Accident, 142.

29. (16) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, Accident, 138.

30. (13) Riley Herbst, Ford, Accident, 133.

31. (1) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, Accident, 127.

32. (11) Ryan Sieg, Ford, Accident, 124.

33. (23) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Accident, 124.

34. (25) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, Accident, 124.

35. (2) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, Accident, 105.

36. (32) Julia Landauer, Chevrolet, Accident, 90.

37. (5) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 200.

38. (9) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 200.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 86.24 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 27 Mins, 13 Secs. Margin of Victory: 3.869 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 9 for 56 laps.

Lead Changes: 15 among 10 drivers.

Lap Leaders: D. Hemric 1-5;T. Bayne 6-22;T. Gibbs 23-37;R. Sieg 38-47;T. Gibbs 48-81;W. Byron(i) 82-103;L. Cassill 104-111;J. Berry 112-122;L. Cassill 123-127;B. Brown 128-139;S. Creed # 140-149;L. Cassill 150-151;J. Allgaier 152-179;L. Cassill 180-181;J. Allgaier 182-200.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Ty Gibbs 2 times for 49 laps; Justin Allgaier 2 times for 47 laps; William Byron(i) 1 time for 22 laps; Landon Cassill 4 times for 17 laps; Trevor Bayne 1 time for 17 laps; Brandon Brown 1 time for 12 laps; Josh Berry 1 time for 11 laps; Sheldon Creed # 1 time for 10 laps; Ryan Sieg 1 time for 10 laps; Daniel Hemric 1 time for 5 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 39,54,16,88,68,18,23,11,7,98

Stage #2 Top Ten: 88,54,16,18,11,7,8,98,39,2