Allgaier beats teammate, Earnhardt paces discipline at Darlington – KIRO 7 Information Seattle

DARLINGTON, SC – (AP) – Dale Earnhardt Jr. took his late father’s newly restored Chevy Nova on a throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway to pace up and down the field before Saturday’s Xfinity Series race.

Then its JR Motorsports drivers did their part to honor the NASCAR legacy of their owner’s family.

Justin Allgaier held teammates Josh Berry back in extra time to win the Xfinity event in Darlington and became two of three JR Motorsports racers to finish in the top six.

A fourth JRM rider, Noah Gragson, had crossed the finish line in fourth and appeared to be winning a $ 100,000 bonus. But he was disqualified after his car failed the inspection and dropped to 40th place, most recently on the field.

It was about the only setback for the Xfinity team, which was in part owned by Dale Jr. and his sister Kelley.

“Obviously the story of Dale in this sport, the story of Dale Jr. in this sport, is extremely deep,” said Allgaier. To win this race in this atmosphere, he said, “I don’t know if you can describe these emotions.”

Allgaier only moved forward in the last 10 laps when he overtook Berry in the lead. The eighth and final warning of the race five laps later prepared the two-lap overtime shootout that Allgaier called for his first win on the track, nicknamed “Too Tough To Tame”.

“This place is really something special,” said Allgaier, 34.

His victory was a day full of allusions to the Earnhardts’ maddened past.

Allgaier’s Chevrolet featured a paint job powered by the late Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500 2000.

Before the race, Dale Jr. drove his father’s restored Nova to pace up and down the field.

And then the parade of JR Motorsports drivers came out on top.

Allgaier said the restored Nova had been in the team’s racing shop for a while and that he was excited to see his boss take it out for a spin.

Not that victory was easy. He pushed past Berry on a restart with 10 laps remaining and looked like he had opened up a lead big enough to close the deal. But the eighth caution prepared the overtime.

Allgaier chose the outside line for the last restart and while Berry pushed forward briefly, he drove past him to take over the checkered flag.

“We’re not surprised that we’re really in the top five,” said Berry. “We’re just trying to iron out our mistakes.”

It was Allgaier’s second win in the last four races and his 16th career Xfinity win.

Defending Darlington Xfinity race winner Brandon Jones finished third, just ahead of Gragson, before his car failed the inspection.

Gragson led 40 of 148 laps, the most of any competitor. However, his car was found to have violated a rule that NASCAR said prevents cars from having suspensions “beyond normal rotation or suspension and / or the drivetrain”.

The $ 100,000 bonus for winning a Dash 4 cash promotion was instead given to AJ Allmendinger, who finished 12th.

Daniel Hemric moved up to fourth and Jeremy Clements was fifth, followed by Michael Annett, Brett Moffitt, Ryan Sieg, Alex Labbe and Harrison Burton to round out the top 10.

Annett, another JR Motorsports driver, moved up to sixth place with his teammate’s DQ.

Earnhardt Jr., who retired from full-time racing, last competed in Darlington in 2019 with a fifth place finish in an Xfinity race. He plans to get behind the wheel of the Xfinity race in Richmond on September 11th to honor the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

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