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Wild late-race restart propels Allgaier to Xfinity win at Chicagoland

Two great restarts by Justin Allgaier provided a victory that will launch him into the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs in style.

Race winner Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Race winner Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Brett Moist / Motorsport Images

Allgaier got a big jump on Erik Jones on a restart with seven of 200 laps remaining and held off Kyle Larson to win Saturday’s TheHouse.com 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Jones appeared to be in position to challenge Allgaier for the win but was black-flagged by NASCAR for a restart violation.

“I wanted those (playoff points) really bad,” Allgaier said in Victory Lane. “After practice I didn’t think we had the best car but these guys persevered throughout the course of the day. I didn’t know if we’d had a shot (at the win), I thought maybe a top-five but we had great late-race restarts.”

Allgaier took the lead for the first time with a three-wide move on a restart with 15 to go, diving to the low lane and sliding up to the front.

“T.J. (Majors, his spotter) was doing a great job of letting me know when they were leaving,” Allgaier said of the restart. “Elliott (Sadler) gave me a big shove and that allowed me to get by Erik (Jones).

“To win at my home race track, to get my second win here, nothing could be sweeter.”

Sadler, the regular-season champion and Allgaier’s teammate at JR Motorsports, finished third, Daniel Hemric was fourth and Austin Dillon completed the top-five.

The win was Allgaier’s second this season and fifth of his career.

Joining Allgaier, Sadler and Henric in the playoffs are William Byron, Brennan Poole, Cole Custer, Matt Tifft, Blake Koch, Ryan Reed, Michael Annett, Jeremy Clements and Brendan Gaughan.

CLICK HERE for complete playoff grid.

Stage 2

Jones took the lead on the restart after Stage 1 and never looked back on his way to dominating all 45 laps to claim the Stage 2 victory.

Unlike the first stage, when Jones built a more than two-second lead only to see it disappear late in the run, Jones remained dominant, finishing more than 2.1-seconds ahead of second-place Custer.

Through the first 90 laps, Jones had led 89 of them.

Ryan Blaney finished third, Larson was fourth and Sadler completed the top-five.

During pit stops after the conclusion of the stage, Jones was first off pit road, followed by Custer and Blaney. However, both Jones and Blaney were penalized by NASCAR for speeding on pit road, sending both to the rear of the field on the restart.

Custer took over the lead on the restart on Lap 97.

Byron, who went to the garage in Stage 1 for a transmission change, made it back on the track in Stage 2 but was running 19 laps down.

Stage 1

Larson hit the wall while trying to chase down Jones but Jones came away with the Stage 1 victory.

Larson had made up almost all of a 2.5-second deficit before the conclusion of the first 45-lap segment but hit the wall, which appeared to slow his momentum.

Custer finished third, Blaney was fourth and Daniel Suarez ended up fifth.

“I like racing with the Cup guys, I think they make you better,” Custer said during the break.

One of this season’s title contenders, Byron, was forced to the garage after 29 laps when he developed a problem in the transmission of his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeLaps LedRetirementPointsbonus
1 7 united_states Justin Allgaier  Chevrolet 200 - 15   47  
2 42 united_states Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 200 1.772 22      
3 1 united_states Elliott Sadler  Chevrolet 200 2.194     45  
4 21 united_states Daniel Hemric  Chevrolet 200 2.472     34  
5 2 united_states Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 200 2.853        
6 19 united_states Matt Tifft  Toyota 200 3.878     35  
7 00 united_states Cole Custer  Ford 200 4.802 41   47  
8 3 united_states Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 200 4.834        
9 11 united_states Blake Koch  Chevrolet 200 5.404     28  
10 98 united_states Darrell Wallace Jr.  Ford 200 5.663     27  
11 48 united_states Brennan Poole  Chevrolet 200 5.869     26  
12 33 united_states Brandon Jones  Chevrolet 200 6.480     25  
13 62 united_states Brendan Gaughan  Chevrolet 200 6.721     24  
14 23 united_states Spencer Gallagher  Chevrolet 200 6.813     23  
15 5 united_states Michael Annett  Chevrolet 200 6.997     22  
16 28 united_states Dakoda Armstrong  Toyota 200 7.494     21  
17 16 united_states Ryan Reed  Ford 200 9.771     20  
18 20 united_states Erik Jones  Toyota 200 28.151 94      
19 18 mexico Daniel Suarez  Toyota 199 1 lap        
20 51 united_states Jeremy Clements  Chevrolet 199 1 lap     17  
21 14 united_states J.J. Yeley  Toyota 198 2 laps     16  
22 99 united_states David Starr  Chevrolet 197 3 laps     15  
23 4 united_states Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 196 4 laps     14  
24 39 united_states Ryan Sieg  Chevrolet 196 4 laps     13  
25 01 united_states Harrison Rhodes  Chevrolet 196 4 laps     12  
26 22 united_states Ryan Blaney  Ford 196 4 laps 28      
27 52 united_states Joey Gase  Chevrolet 196 4 laps     10  
28 07 united_states Spencer Boyd  Chevrolet 194 6 laps     9  
29 0 venezuela Vance “Vinnie” Matthew Miller  Chevrolet 193 7 laps     8  
30 25 united_states Chris Cockrum  Chevrolet 193 7 laps     7  
31 90 canada Mario Gosselin  Chevrolet 184 16 laps     6  
32 74 united_states Mike Harmon  Dodge 184 16 laps     5  
33 9 united_states William Byron  Chevrolet 166 34 laps   Transmission 4  
34 78 united_states Josh Bilicki  Chevrolet 152 48 laps   Electrical 3  
35 8 united_states B.J. McLeod  Chevrolet 86 114 laps   Engine 2  
36 13 united_states Carl Long  Dodge 33 167 laps   Vibration 1  
37 40 united_states Garrett Smithley  Toyota 24 176 laps   Engine 1  
38 89 united_states Morgan Shepherd  Chevrolet 23 177 laps   Handling 1  
39 93 united_states Jeff Green  Chevrolet 8 192 laps   Brakes 1  
40 15 united_states Matt Mills  Chevrolet 3 197 laps   Vibration

 

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