May 11, 2024 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Justin Allgaier finishes off dominating NASCAR Xfinity win at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Justin Allgaier finally beat Murphy’s Law to the checkered flag in Saturday’s Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200 at Darlington Raceway.

This time, there were no bizarre circumstances to keep the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet out of Victory lane, like the late cut tire that deprived Allgaier of a near-certain win at Phoenix in the fourth race of the season.

After crossing the finish line 3.407 seconds ahead of runner-up Austin Hill, Allgaier had his first victory of the season, his third at the Lady in Black and the 24th of his career, tying him with his car owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., for 10th most in NASCAR Xfinity Series history.

Allgaier, 37, also leaves Darlington as the career leader in top-10 finishes in the series with 267, having broken a tie with Kyle Busch in that statistical category.

“I just wanted (spotter) Eddie (D’Hondt) call ‘White flag,’” said Allgaier, who had led laps in seven of 10 events this season without winning. “We’ve had such a heck of a year. We’ve led a ton of laps, and we haven’t been able to do it…

“I think having a little gray hair today helped me out, though. Those long green-flag runs, and being able to know what’s worked in the past here… I didn’t know if the day would come when I’d be able to match Dale Jr. Not only is he a great boss but a really good mentor.

“To come here and be able to tie him, to be able to take over the all-time top 10s, man, there’s nothing better.”

Hill, who led six laps to Allgaier’s 119 of 147, blamed himself for not being able to challenge his fellow Chevrolet driver for the victory.

“I just couldn’t get into Turn 1 on restarts like I really needed to all day,” said the driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Camaro. “It was just me. I’ve just got to figure out what to do differently getting into Turn 1.

“I did really good with my launches. That’s something that I struggled with here where I’d buzz the tires late in the zone. Didn’t do that all day—I felt pretty good about my restarts—but I would get down into (Turn) 1 and I’d get tight…

“More than anything, I’ve just got to do a better job inside the race car. I thought we were just as good as the 7 all day. Congrats to those guys. We were just that little bit off today, and I think most of it was me.”

Polesitter Cole Custer recovered from a disastrous pit stop under an early competition caution to finish third, followed by Sam Mayer and Aric Almirola.

“Every time I get in this car, I plan to win and expect to win,” Almirola said. “Fifth is great, but I want to win—but Justin was so fast.”

Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst, Sunoco rookie Jesse Love, Sheldon Creed and Brandon Jones completed the top 10. Rookie Shane van Gisbergen finished 15th in his first Darlington start. Carson Kvapil was 19th in his third race in the series and his first at Darlington.

Hill took the series lead by three points over Custer in second.



NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 11
Race Results for the Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200 - Saturday, May 11, 2024
Darlington Raceway - Darlington, SC - 1.366 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 147 Laps - 200.802 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 5/11/2024 @ 03:50 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 7 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Heritage Chevrolet 147 1 1 60 Running 2 119 7
2 5 21 Austin Hill Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 147 2 2 53 Running 2 6
3 1 00 Cole Custer Haas Automation Throwback Ford 147   34 Running 1 21
4 6 1 Sam Mayer RTIC Outdoors Chevrolet 147 3 4 48 Running  
5 18 20 Aric Almirola He Gets Us Toyota 147 7 5 42 Running  
6 11 48 Parker Kligerman Spiked Lite Coolers Chevrolet 147 5 3 45 Running  
7 9 98 Riley Herbst Terrible Herbst Ford 147 9 9 34 Running  
8 12 2 Jesse Love # Whelen Chevrolet 147 8 7 36 Running  
9 3 18 Sheldon Creed Ivan Stewart Tribute Toyota 147 10  29 Running  
10 14 9 Brandon Jones Menards/Bali Chevrolet 147  8 30 Running  
11 38 17 William Byron(i) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 147   0 Running  
12 2 81 Chandler Smith Smith General Contracting Toyota 147 6 10 31 Running  
13 26 39 Ryan Sieg Sci Aps Ford 147   24 Running  
14 8 5 Anthony Alfredo Chevy Accessories Chevrolet 147   23 Running  
15 17 97 Shane Van Gisbergen # Quad Lock Chevrolet 147   22 Running  
16 16 27 Jeb Burton Capital City Towing Chevrolet 147   21 Running  
17 15 91 Kyle Weatherman DriveSmartWarranty.com Chevrolet 147   20 Running  
18 24 19 Taylor Gray(i) Operation 300 Toyota 147   0 Running  
19 13 88 Carson Kvapil Clarience Technologies Chevrolet 147   18 Running  
20 21 44 Brennan Poole CW & Sons Infrastructure Chevrolet 147   17 Running  
21 25 11 Josh Williams Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet 147   16 Running  
22 30 92 Josh Bilicki Circle B Diecast Chevrolet 147   15 Running  
23 34 26 John Hunter Nemechek(i) Toyota Racing Development Toyota 147   0 Running  
24 27 14 David Starr SHAR Ford 147   13 Running  
25 31 38 Matt DiBenedetto Viking Motorsports Ford 147   12 Running  
26 37 35 Chad Finchum Garrison Homes Chevrolet 147   11 Running  
27 36 29 Blaine Perkins To The Point Apparel Ford 147   10 Running  
28 33 4 Dawson Cram # Prolube Oil Chevrolet 147   9 Running  
29 35 6 Garrett Smithley TeamJDMotorsports.com Chevrolet 146   8 Running  
30 22 42 Leland Honeyman # RANDCO Industries Chevrolet 146   7 Running  
31 10 31 Parker Retzlaff FUNKAWAY Chevrolet 146   6 Running  
32 29 28 Kyle Sieg RSS Racing Ford 146   5 Running  
33 28 07 Patrick Emerling Liberty Brew Chevrolet 146   4 Running  
34 23 8 Sammy Smith TMC Chevrolet 146   3 Running  
35 4 16 AJ Allmendinger LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 126 4 6 14 Running 1 1
36 32 15 Hailie Deegan # Airbox Ford 102   1 Accident  
37 19 51 Jeremy Clements Alliance Driveway Solutions Chevrolet 94   1 Running  
38 20 43 Ryan Ellis Classic Collision Chevrolet 71   1 Drive Shaft  

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 48 Mins, 58 Secs. Average Speed: 110.567 MPH Margin of Victory: 3.407 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 7, 21, 1, 16, 48, 81, 20, 2, 98, 18
Stage 2 Top 10: 7, 21, 48, 1, 20, 16, 2, 9, 98, 81

Caution Flags: 5 for 31 laps; Laps: 22-25 (Competition Caution [42]); 47-52 (Stage 1 Conclusion [17]); 92-98 (Stage 2 Conclusion [92]); 103-108 (#15 Spin Frontstretch [17]); 124-131 (#28 Spin Turn 2 [35]).

Lead Changes: 5 among 4 drivers; C. Custer 1-21; A. Allmendinger 22; A. Hill 23-25; J. Allgaier 26-49; A. Hill 50-52; J. Allgaier 53-147.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: May 25, 2024 - Charlotte Motor Speedway

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