The official 2021 Food City 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series entry list features top NASCAR drivers set to compete at Bristol Motor Speedway, highlighting the full lineup of race participants and teams.
Friday, September 17th, 2021
Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN
With cars bouncing off each other like pinballs through two laps of overtime, AJ Allmendinger took his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet three-wide to the bottom, passed Justin Allgaier and Austin Cindric on the final lap and won Friday night's Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The victory gave Allmendinger the NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship by 10 points over Cindric, who held the race lead when the 10th and final caution flag flew on Lap 297 of 300 after Allgaier turned JR Motorsports teammate Sam Mayer in Turn 1.
In the overtime, things got crazy. Cindric and Allgaier picked the top lane, and Allmendinger chose the inside of the front row. On the white-flag lap, Allmendinger drove hard into Turns 3 and 4 and slid up into Cindric's No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
Allmendinger fell back to third, but contact between Allgaier's Camaro and Cindric's Mustang gave Allmendinger a chance to slip beneath both cars into the lead.
But the race wasn't over. On the final lap, Cindric charged off the final corner, slammed into Allmendinger, and both cars slid sideways across the finish line, with Allmendinger the winner by .082 seconds.
After taking the checkered flag, Allmendinger careened off the inside wall, slid across the track into traffic and took a huge hit from Kaulig Racing teammate Justin Haley.
But the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship was his.
"I expected to get run into," Allmendinger said. "It happened that previous corner. It's frustrating getting hit that hard coming to checker, but we're battling for the win. It's Bristol, baby. That's what it's all about.
"I haven't had a lot of chances to get a win at Bristol, so you know what? When you have a chance to do it, you've got to go do it. If I don't take that chance, I don't belong in a race car, because my team deserves the win."
Under the circumstances, Cindric exhibited remarkable restraint in his post-race interview.
"I thought we had a great battle all season long up to this point, so congratulations to Kaulig and AJ," said Cindric, who led 75 laps, third-most behind Allgaier's 92 and Daniel Hemric's 78. "Those guys didn't want us to win really bad, and I hate that it completely destroyed our Ford Mustang.
"That's all I've got, man...It's looks like the 7 (Allgaier) just got loose there (in spinning Mayer), and AJ obviously just drove straight through us. You'll have that in green-white-checkered racing."
The victory was Allmendinger's first at Bristol, his fourth of the season and the ninth of his career. The final lap of overtime was the only lap he led, as the race went six laps past its scheduled distance of 300 circuits.
The regular-season cutoff race also set the final positions for the Round of 12 in the Xfinity Series Playoff. With no new winner, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements clinched the final three spots on points, as expected, as the series heads for the Playoff opener Sept. 25 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Herbst finished third behind the wrecking cars of Allmendinger and Cindric. Allgaier fell to fourth on the final lap, with Jones and Haley running fifth and sixth. Harrison Burton, Myatt Snider, Mayer and Hemric completed the top 10.
ENTRY | # | DRIVER | HOMETOWN | DOB | AGE | MAKE | SPONSOR | TEAM | CREW CHIEF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Los Gatos, CA | Dec 16, 1981 | 39 | Chevrolet | Barger Precast | Kaulig Racing | Jason Trinchere |
2 | 104 | Landon Cassill | Cedar Rapids, IA | Jul 7, 1989 | 32 | Chevrolet | TeamJDMotorsports.com | JD Motorsports | Tommy Machek |
3 | 66 | David Starr | Houston, TX | Nov 11, 1967 | 53 | Toyota | Whataburger | Motorsports Business Management | Johnny Roten |
4 | 13 | Timmy Hill | Port Tobacco, MD | Feb 25, 1993 | 28 | Toyota | Unsponsored | Motorsports Business Management | Sebastian Laforge |
5 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | Riverton, IL | Jun 6, 1986 | 35 | Chevrolet | Brandt | JR Motorsports | Jason Burdett |
6 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Grimes, IA | Aug 7, 1992 | 29 | Chevrolet | Fr8Auctions | Our Motorsports | Pat Tryson |
7 | 23 | Ty Dillon | Lewisville, NC | Feb 27, 1992 | 29 | Chevrolet | Home Town Lenders | Our Motorsports | Kenneth Roettger |
8 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Halifax, VA | Aug 6, 1992 | 29 | Chevrolet | Dynagro Seed | Kaulig Racing | Bruce Schlicker |
9 | 15 | BJ McLeod | Wauchula, FL | Nov 17, 1983 | 37 | Chevrolet | TeamJDMotorsports.com | JD Motorsports | Wayne Carroll Jr |
10 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Mooresville, NC | Jun 22, 1989 | 32 | Chevrolet | ForeverLawn | JD Motorsports | Paul Clapprood |
11 | 52 | Gray Gaulding | Colonial Heights, VA | Feb 10, 1998 | 23 | Chevrolet | Panini American UFC Prizm | Means Motorsports | Tim Brown |
12 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Tucker, GA | Jun 20, 1987 | 34 | Ford | CMR Construction and Roofing / A-Game | RSS Racing | Kevin Starland |
13 | 47 | Kyle Weatherman | Wentzville, MO | Aug 28, 1997 | 24 | Chevrolet | Axe Crossbows | Mike Harmon Racing | Mike Tyska |
14 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Kannapolis, NC | Jan 27, 1991 | 30 | Toyota | Poppy Bank | Joe Gibbs Racing | Dave Rogers |
15 | 61 | Chad Finchum | Knoxville, TN | Sep 22, 1994 | 26 | Toyota | Black Oak Contracting | Hattori Racing Enterprises | Doug Richert |
16 | 178 | Jesse Little | Sherrills Ford, NC | Apr 15, 1997 | 24 | Chevrolet | David's Electric | BJ McLeod Motorsports | Adam Brooks |
17 | 74 | Bayley Currey | Driftwood, TX | Oct 29, 1996 | 24 | Chevrolet | Date Mining / JM Steel | Mike Harmon Racing | Ed Jewett |
18 | 11 | Justin Haley | Winamac, IN | Apr 28, 1999 | 22 | Chevrolet | LeafFilter Gutter Protection | Kaulig Racing | Alex Yontz |
19 | 90 | Spencer Boyd | Creve Coeur, MO | Jun 26, 1995 | 26 | Chevrolet | DGM Racing | DGM Racing | BJ Tucker |
20 | 36 | Alex Labbe | Saint-Albert, Canada | Apr 29, 1993 | 28 | Chevrolet | Globocam / Rousseau | DGM Racing | Mario Gosselin |
21 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Columbus, OH | Sep 2, 1998 | 23 | Ford | Menards / Richmond | Team Penske | Brian Wilson |
22 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Woodbridge, VA | Sep 14, 1993 | 28 | Chevrolet | Jabs Construction | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Doug Randolph |
23 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Atlanta, GA | Feb 18, 1997 | 24 | Toyota | YeeYee | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jeff Meendering |
24 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Huntersville, NC | Oct 9, 2000 | 20 | Toyota | DEX Imaging | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jason Ratcliff |
25 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Spartanburg, SC | Jan 16, 1985 | 36 | Chevrolet | All South Electric | Jeremy Clements Racing | Mark Setzer |
26 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr | Mahwah, NJ | Jul 12, 1998 | 23 | Chevrolet | Bucked Up Energy | SS Green Light Racing | Joe Williams |
27 | 92 | Josh Williams | Port Charlotte, FL | Aug 3, 1993 | 28 | Chevrolet | Workpro Tools | DGM Racing | Nathan Kennedy |
28 | 199 | Matt Mills | Lynchburg, VA | Nov 14, 1996 | 24 | Chevrolet | SOKAL Digital | BJ McLeod Motorsports | Keith Wolfe |
29 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Charlotte, NC | Dec 30, 1994 | 26 | Chevrolet | Crosley Furniture | Richard Childress Racing | Andy Street |
30 | 9 | Noah Gragson | Las Vegas, NV | Jul 15, 1998 | 23 | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / TrueTimber / BRCC | JR Motorsports | Dave Elenz |
31 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Las Vegas, NV | Feb 24, 1999 | 22 | Ford | Monster Energy | Stewart-Haas Racing | Richard Boswell |
32 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Como, MS | Dec 7, 1986 | 34 | Chevrolet | Gilreath Farms Red Angus | Martins Motorsports | Dan Stillman |
33 | 26 | Brandon Gdovic | Pittsburgh, PA | Feb 28, 1992 | 29 | Toyota | SnapMobile.Shop Alternate | Sam Hunt Racing | Andrew Abbott |
34 | 17 | Carson Ware | Jamestown, NC | Feb 28, 2000 | 21 | Chevrolet | Pounds Property Management | SS Green Light Racing | Jason Miller |
35 | 48 | Jade Buford | Brentwood, TN | Feb 15, 1988 | 33 | Chevrolet | Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers | Big Machine Racing | Patrick Donahue |
36 | 106 | Ryan Vargas | La Miranda, CA | Sep 23, 2000 | 20 | Chevrolet | Voyager | JD Motorsports | Kase Kallenbach |
37 | 105 | Stefan Parsons | Cornelius, NC | Jun 15, 1998 | 23 | Chevrolet | JF Electric | BJ McLeod Motorsports | David Ingram |
38 | 1 | Josh Berry | Hendersonville, TN | Oct 22, 1990 | 30 | Chevrolet | PFJ Thank A Trucker | JR Motorsports | Mike Bumgarner |
39 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Charlotte, NC | Oct 4, 2002 | 18 | Toyota | Monster Energy | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chris Gayle |
40 | 8 | Sam Mayer | Franklin, WI | Jun 26, 2003 | 18 | Chevrolet | Tire Pros | JR Motorsports | Taylor Moyer |
41 | 31 | Sage Karam | Nazareth, PA | Mar 5, 1995 | 26 | Chevrolet | Bommarito Automotive Group | Jordan Anderson Racing | Arthur Haire |