March 15, 2025 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Justin Allgaier gets his first Las Vegas win

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — On Friday night, Justin Allgaier saw the Eagles in concert. On Saturday, he was flying.

Holding off Aric Almirola over a 102-lap green-flag run, Allgaier finally claimed victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after finishing second four times at the 1.5-mile track.

Allgaier’s victory in The Liuna! was his first of the season, the 26th of his career and the 90th for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The reigning series champion crossed the finish line 1.067 seconds ahead of Almirola, who lost ground trying to run the outside lane with just over three laps left.

The decisive moment in the race, however, may have come much earlier. Allgaier lost the lead to Almirola during an exchange of pit stops midway through the final stage, but he regained it in traffic on Lap 152 and remained out front the rest of the way.

With the victory, Allgaier qualified for the first Xfinity Dash4Cash race next Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, along with third-place finisher Jesse Love, fourth-place Austin Hill and fifth-place Sam Mayer. The highest finisher among the four earns a $100,000 bonus.

Almirola isn’t scheduled to run the Homestead race.

“It was amazing,” said Allgaier. “This whole team—I just can’t say enough. Aric and I were going at it. Hats of to him; he ran a heck of a race…

“Rick Brandt (of sponsor Brandt) was here last night. He took us to a great concert, Eagles concert … Everyone at JR Motorsports, I can’t say enough about how proud I am of what we have here. It’s been special.”

After Allgaier took the lead on Lap 152, he opened an advantage of more than two seconds over Almirola, who spent the next 40 laps whittling the margin down to a car-length. But Almirola couldn’t find a way past Allgaier in the closing laps.

“You always hate to finish second, but Justin and that team was I felt like the class of the field today,” Almirola said. “We were close, but they could just take off so much faster than I could. I think that’s really the difference.

“I thought my only hope was to cycle in front of him on the green-flag stop, and we did, but I just got caught up behind some lapped traffic there that I misjudged. I wasn’t sure which way they were going, and he got by me and built such a big gap that I used my stuff up trying to get back to him.”

The green-flag stops in the final stage proved costly to Sunoco rookie Connor Zilisch, who streaked into the lead on Lap 100 and held it until Allgaier nosed ahead at the start/finish line on Lap 127.

During the stops on Lap 145, however, Zilisch drew a speeding penalty and served a pass-through that dropped him to the back of the lead lap. He rallied to finish ninth, the last driver on the lead lap.

Allgaier led 102 of the 200 laps, followed by Almirola (51) and Zilisch (28). Brandon Jones, Ryan Seig, Harrison Burton, Zilisch and Sheldon Creed completed the top 10.

Allgaier, who won the first stage by 8.262 seconds and finished second in Stage 2, took over the series lead by 19 points over Love.


NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 5
Race Results for the The LiUNA! - Saturday, March 15, 2025
Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Las Vegas, NV - 1.5 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 300. Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 3/15/2025 @ 07:05 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 6 7 Justin Allgaier Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet 200 1 2 59 Running 3 102 6
2 11 19 Aric Almirola Younglife Toyota 200 2 1 54 Running 1 51 1
3 7 2 Jesse Love Whelen Chevrolet 200 8 10 38 Running  
4 14 21 Austin Hill Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 200 7  37 Running  
5 5 41 Sam Mayer Audibel Ford 200 9 5 40 Running  
6 15 20 Brandon Jones Menards/OSI Toyota 200  8 34 Running  
7 20 39 Ryan Sieg Sci Aps Ford 200 10  31 Running  
8 18 25 Harrison Burton Dead On Tools Ford 200   29 Running  
9 3 88 Connor Zilisch # WeatherTech Chevrolet 200 4 3 44 Running 2 28
10 23 00 Sheldon Creed Friends of Jaclyn Ford 199  9 29 Running  
11 21 28 Kyle Sieg Toppool.com Ford 199   26 Running 1 6
12 16 10 Daniel Dye # Trackside Chevrolet 199   25 Running  
13 17 16 Christian Eckes # LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 199   24 Running  
14 1 8 Sammy Smith Pilot Chevrolet 199 6 4 35 Running 1 13
15 28 26 Dean Thompson # Thompson Pipe Group Toyota 199   22 Running  
16 19 99 Matt DiBenedetto ReMA Chevrolet 199   21 Running  
17 2 1 Carson Kvapil # Bass Pro Shops/Clarience Tech Chevrolet 199 3 6 33 Running  
18 22 42 Anthony Alfredo Dude Wipes Chevrolet 199   19 Running  
19 4 54 Taylor Gray # Operation 300 Toyota 198 5 7 28 Running  
20 9 48 Nick Sanchez # Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers Chevrolet 198   17 Running  
21 12 4 Parker Retzlaff Suave Chevrolet 198   16 Running  
22 30 44 Brennan Poole Macc Door Systems Chevrolet 198   15 Running  
23 10 27 Jeb Burton Golden Corral Chevrolet 198   14 Running  
24 13 51 Jeremy Clements First Pacific Funding Chevrolet 197   13 Running  
25 26 5 Kris Wright First National Bank Corp Chevrolet 196   12 Running  
26 27 31 Blaine Perkins City Lights Shine Chevrolet 195   11 Running  
27 33 14 Garrett Smithley Trophy Tractor Chevrolet 194   10 Running  
28 25 07 Patrick Emerling Goat Power Bikes Chevrolet 194   9 Running  
29 24 11 Josh Williams Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet 194   8 Running  
30 29 70 Leland Honeyman LH Waterfront Construction Chevrolet 194   7 Running  
31 34 91 Josh Bilicki Rafael Construction Chevrolet 193   6 Running  
32 32 74 Dawson Cram Realty.com Chevrolet 192   5 Running  
33 37 53 Joey Gase Nevada Donor Network Chevrolet 191   4 Running  
34 35 71 Ryan Ellis Tablo Chevrolet 181   3 Running  
35 38 35 Greg Van Alst Prescott Tire Pros Chevrolet 179   2 Running  
36 36 32 Austin Green OVERPLAY Chevrolet 139   1 Alternator  
37 31 45 Mason Massey Mongoose Power Solutions Chevrolet 113   1 Suspension  
38 8 18 William Sawalich # Soundgear Toyota 0   1 Accident  

Fastest Lap Bonus:  # lap 100 / 30.266
88                                                                   
,
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 8 Mins, 30 Secs. Average Speed: 140.078 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.067 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 7, 19, 1, 88, 54, 8, 21, 2, 41, 39
Stage 2 Top 10: 19, 7, 88, 8, 41, 1, 54, 20, 00, 2

Race Comments: Justin Allgaier won the LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his 26th NASCAR Xfinity Series victory. Prior to the green flag, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field: Nos. 20, 26, 70 (unapproved adjustments).

Failed to Qualify: None.

Caution Flags: 3 for 18 laps; Laps: 2-5 (#4, 18 incident backstretch [None]); 47-53 (Stage 1 Conclusion [44]); 92-98 (Stage 2 Conclusion [21]).

Lead Changes: 7 among 5 drivers; S. Smith 1-13; J. Allgaier 14-48; A. Almirola 49-99; C. Zilisch # 100-126; J. Allgaier 127-144; C. Zilisch # 145; K. Sieg 146-151; J. Allgaier 152-200.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: March 22, 2025 - Homestead-Miami Speedway

NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875


NASCAR Xfinity Series Points Report
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The LiUNA!

UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 3/15/2025 @ 07:35 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL

Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1. Justin Allgaier 7 5 1 200 0 0 1 2 7
2. Jesse Love 2 5 -1 181 -19 19 1 0 5
3. Sam Mayer 41 5 0 170 -30 11 0 0 0
4. Austin Hill 21 5 0 160 -40 10 1 4 9
5. Sammy Smith 8 5 0 156 -44 4 0 0 0
6. Aric Almirola 19 3 5 151 -49 5 1 1 0
7. Sheldon Creed 00 5 -1 144 -56 7 0 0 0
8. Taylor Gray # 54 5 -1 137 -63 7 0 0 0
9. Connor Zilisch # 88 5 5 133 -67 4 1 0 5
10. Ryan Sieg 39 5 0 133 -67 0 0 0 0
11. Christian Eckes # 16 5 -2 127 -73 6 0 0 0
12. Jeb Burton 27 5 -4 121 -79 6 0 0 0
13. Harrison Burton 25 5 0 119 -81 2 0 1 1
14. Carson Kvapil # 1 5 3 114 -86 5 0 0 0
15. Brandon Jones 20 5 5 110 -90 4 0 0 0
16. Nick Sanchez # 48 5 0 103 -97 7 0 0 0
17. Daniel Dye # 10 5 2 103 -97 0 0 0 0
18. Josh Williams 11 5 -3 97 -103 6 0 0 0
19. William Sawalich # 18 5 -7 93 -107 4 0 0 0
20. Jeremy Clements 51 5 -2 93 -107 0 0 0 0
21. Matt DiBenedetto 99 5 1 87 -113 6 0 0 0
22. Brennan Poole 44 5 -1 84 -116 3 0 0 0
23. Dean Thompson # 26 5 1 82 -118 2 0 0 0
24. Blaine Perkins 31 5 -1 72 -128 10 0 0 0
25. Anthony Alfredo 42 5 4 66 -134 6 0 0 0
26. Josh Bilicki 91 5 -1 65 -135 1 0 0 0
27. Kyle Sieg 28 5 4 61 -139 4 0 0 0
28. Ryan Ellis 71 5 -2 61 -139 0 0 0 0
29. Parker Retzlaff 4 4 1 60 -140 1 0 0 0
30. Leland Honeyman 70 3 -3 57 -143 3 0 0 0
31. Joey Gase 53 4 -3 51 -149 6 0 0 0
32. Kris Wright 5 5 0 44 -156 7 0 0 0
33. Garrett Smithley 14 4 3 37 -163 7 0 0 0
34. Patrick Emerling 07 2 1 36 -164 1 0 0 0
35. Jordan Anderson  1 -2 30 -170 6 0 0 0
36. Alex Labbe  1 -2 28 -172 2 0 0 0
37. Mason Massey 45 3 1 25 -175 3 0 0 0
38. Caesar Bacarella  1 -1 24 -176 1 0 0 0
39. Nick Leitz  2 0 22 -178 2 0 0 0
40. Ryan Truex  1 0 20 -180 2 0 0 0
41. Greg Van Alst 35 3 0 19 -181 1 0 0 0
42. Justin Bonsignore  1 0 12 -188 7 0 0 0
43. Cj Mclaughlin  1 0 12 -188 0 0 0 0
44. Austin Green 32 2 0 12 -188 0 0 0 0
45. Dawson Cram 74 2 4 7 -193 5 0 0 0
46. Mason Maggio  1 -1 6 -194 1 0 0 0
47. Carson Ware  1 -1 5 -195 1 0 0 0
48. Sage Karam  1 -1 5 -195 0 0 0 0
49. Thomas Annunziata  1 -1 3 -197 2 0 0 0
50. Preston Pardus  1 0 1 -199 2 0 0 0
51. Baltazar Leguizam?n  1 0 1 -199 0 0 0 0
52. William Byron(i)  1 0 0 -200 1 0 1 0
53. Alex Bowman(i)  1 0 0 -200 0 0 1 0
54. Ross Chastain(i)  1 0 0 -200 0 0 0 0
55. Riley Herbst(i)  1 0 0 -200 0 0 0 0
56. Corey Heim(i)  1 0 0 -200 0 0 0 0
57. Carson Hocevar(i)  1 0 0 -200 0 0 0 0
58. Brad Perez  0 0 0 -200 0 0 0 0
59. Jj Yeley(i)  0 0 0 -200 0 0 0 0

-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series