NASCAR
Justin Allgaier Victorious Again at Nashville, Winning Every Stage
LEBANON, Tenn. – Reigning Xfinity Series Champion Justin Allgaier showed why he’s top dog Saturday night. For the second time in three years, the JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet put on a clinic at Nashville Superspeedway. Picking up all three Stage wins, the fastest lap, and 101 laps led, Allgaier left it all on the track in Tennessee. The current points leader only padded his gap heading into the summer stretch.
Allgaier was set back at first to start the final stage, after Sheldon Creed beat him off pit road. The start of Stage 3 would be delayed by a large restart crash, leading to a lengthy cleanup.
Once Stage 3 actually got underway, Creed initially took off but soon lost ground to Connor Zilisch. A spinning William Sawalich triggered another yellow with 50 laps left, and put Allgaier back in this race. On the restart Allgaier launched out of a cannon, going three-wide bottom and cleared both leaders off of turn two.
Allgaier had a mirror full of Zilisch for multiple laps on end here, but the 7 remained out front. Zilisch never quite mounted enough of a challenge to get by Allgaier, giving his veteran teammate another Tennessee triumph.
“These guys right here, they deserve it more than anything,” Allgaier said. “I screwed them over last week, by making a pit call that had equally as good of a car. But this Hellmann’s Chevrolet was absolutely on rails. Ashley and the kids are here, there’s no cooler feeling that to win at a place like this, Nashville. The fans here are incredible, this race is special to me. I said before the race that I really wanted to get a second guitar for both kids to have one. They can fight over both of them or one of whatever. Really proud of everyone at JR Motorsports, the Hendrick Engine Shop, Chevrolet, all of our partners.”
Behind the front JR Motorsports duo were another pair of teammates–Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed. Ross Chastain also passed Aric Almirola late to earn a top-five. The rest of the top-10 were: Austin Hill, Jesse Love, Carson Kvapil, and Sammy Smith. Hear from a few of these drivers below.
Following a week off, Xfinity Series teams are back in action in their return to Mexico City. While the Cup Series holds their inaugural event south of the border, Xfinity will see a homecoming 18 years in the making. The Chilango 150 goes green Saturday, June 14 at 4:30 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to James Gilbert/Getty Images
