The official 2021 Drive for the Cure 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series entry list features top NASCAR drivers set to compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, highlighting the full lineup of race participants and teams.
Saturday, October 9th, 2021
Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Concord, NC
AJ Allmendinger stayed undefeated at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
The driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet won his third straight race at the 2.28-mile, 17-turn Roval and achieved several milestones in the process.
With his overtime victory in the Drive for the Cure 250 presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Allmendinger clinched a spot in the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. He won for the fifth time this season and the 10th time in his career.
Winning for the sixth time on a road course, Allmendinger broke a tie with race runner-up Austin Cindric for most-ever Xfinity road course victories.
Allmendinger, who worked his way forward from the 14th starting position, took the lead for good on Lap 48 when Ty Gibbs suffered brake problems, blew the chicane on the backstretch and had to come to a full stop before continuing.
From that point, Allmendinger stretched his lead to 8.8 seconds before a caution for Tommy Joe Martins' wreck on Lap 64 sent the race to overtime.
After the subsequent restart on Lap 67, Allmendinger pulled away again and beat Cindric to the finish line by 3.192 seconds.
Cindric, the defending series champion, already had clinched a spot in the Round of 8. Third-place finisher Daniel Hemric joined him, along with Justin Haley (fourth Saturday), Brandon Jones (fifth), Noah Gragson (sixth), Justin Allgaier (ninth) and Harrison Burton (15th).
Jeb Burton, Myatt Snider, Jeremy Clements and Riley Herbst were eliminated from the Playoffs.
"I knew it was coming out," Allmendinger said of the final caution. "It wasn't going to go simple like that. That was a fight today. We had to be kind of on defense early, worrying about the points. This place was tough to pass—the track was really slick to start with, obviously, because of all the rain.
"Once we got the lead, the (car) was stupid-fast."
As the final run progressed, Cindric didn't have the pace to keep up with Allmendinger.
"I feel like this has honestly been one of my weakest road courses for probably exactly what you saw—the rear tires fall off way too much," Cindric said. "I felt like I was driving a skid-pad car after about 10 laps.
"I feel a little bit lucky and a bit fortunate, honestly. I didn't get moved or put in the wall, so either way we had a fast car. I think we set a fast lap time and got a good finish, so that sets us up well for Texas. I just wish we could have taken advantage of getting a Playoff point."
Instead, it was Hemric who added to his Playoff point total by winning the first two stages of the race. Allmendinger gained five additional Playoff points for the victory.
The race featured six lead changes among five drivers, with Allmendinger leading the final 21 circuits. There were seven cautions for 13 laps, the fourth of which also caused a brief stoppage when the brakes failed on the No. 07 Chevrolet of Josh Bilicki, with the car plowing through the backstretch chicane and dislodging pieces of curbing in its path.
Track workers had to remove the exposed bolts that had held the curbing in place before the race could continue.
ENTRY | # | DRIVER | HOMETOWN | DOB | AGE | MAKE | SPONSOR | TEAM | CREW CHIEF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Los Gatos, CA | Dec 16, 1981 | 39 | Chevrolet | Hyperice | Kaulig Racing | Jason Trinchere |
2 | 199 | JJ Yeley | Phoenix, AZ | Oct 5, 1976 | 45 | Chevrolet | UBCF | BJ McLeod Motorsports | Adam Brooks |
3 | 104 | Landon Cassill | Cedar Rapids, IA | Jul 7, 1989 | 32 | Chevrolet | Voyager | JD Motorsports | Tommy Machek |
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 | Home Town Lenders | Our Motorsports | Pat Tryson |
7 | 23 | Ty Dillon | Lewisville, NC | Feb 27, 1992 | 29 | Chevrolet | Koucar Management | Our Motorsports | Kenneth Roettger |
8 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Halifax, VA | Aug 6, 1992 | 29 | Chevrolet | Radiate Next | Kaulig Racing | Bruce Schlicker |
9 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Mooresville, NC | Jun 22, 1989 | 32 | Chevrolet | Azalea Gynecology | JD Motorsports | Paul Clapprood |
10 | 74 | Gray Gaulding | Colonial Heights, VA | Feb 10, 1998 | 23 | Chevrolet | GPS Tab | Mike Harmon Racing | Ryan Bell |
11 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Tucker, GA | Jun 20, 1987 | 34 | Ford | CMR Construction and Roofing / A-Game | RSS Racing | Kevin Starland |
12 | 47 | Kyle Weatherman | Wentzville, MO | Aug 28, 1997 | 24 | Chevrolet | Axe Crossbows | Mike Harmon Racing | Mike Tyska |
13 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Kannapolis, NC | Jan 27, 1991 | 30 | Toyota | Poppy Bank | Joe Gibbs Racing | Dave Rogers |
14 | 07 | Josh Bilicki | Menomonee Falls, WI | Jun 3, 1995 | 26 | Chevrolet | G Coin | SS Green Light Racing | Joe Williams |
15 | 11 | Justin Haley | Winamac, IN | Apr 28, 1999 | 22 | Chevrolet | LeafFilter Gutter Protection | Kaulig Racing | Alex Yontz |
16 | 52 | Spencer Boyd | Creve Coeur, MO | Jun 26, 1995 | 26 | Toyota | Rimtyme | Means Motorsports | Tim Brown |
17 | 36 | Alex Labbe | Saint-Albert, Canada | Apr 29, 1993 | 28 | Chevrolet | Prolon / Globocam / GBI | DGM Racing | Mario Gosselin |
18 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Columbus, OH | Sep 2, 1998 | 23 | Ford | Menards / Richmond | Team Penske | Brian Wilson |
19 | 61 | Austin Hill | Winston, GA | Apr 21, 1994 | 27 | Toyota | AISIN | Hattori Racing Enterprises | Scott Zipadelli |
20 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Woodbridge, VA | Sep 14, 1993 | 28 | Chevrolet | American Petrolog | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Doug Randolph |
21 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Atlanta, GA | Feb 18, 1997 | 24 | Toyota | Toyota | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jeff Meendering |
22 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Huntersville, NC | Oct 9, 2000 | 21 | Toyota | DEX Imaging | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jason Ratcliff |
23 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Spartanburg, SC | Jan 16, 1985 | 36 | Chevrolet | All South Electric | Jeremy Clements Racing | Mark Setzer |
24 | 17 | Joe Graf Jr | Mahwah, NJ | Jul 12, 1998 | 23 | Chevrolet | Arrowhead Brass | SS Green Light Racing | Jason Miller |
25 | 92 | Josh Williams | Port Charlotte, FL | Aug 3, 1993 | 28 | Chevrolet | WorkPro Tools | DGM Racing | Nathan Kennedy |
26 | 105 | Matt Mills | Lynchburg, VA | Nov 14, 1996 | 24 | Chevrolet | Thompson Electric Inc | BJ McLeod Motorsports | David Ingram |
27 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Charlotte, NC | Dec 30, 1994 | 26 | Chevrolet | TaxSlayer | Richard Childress Racing | Andy Street |
28 | 9 | Noah Gragson | Las Vegas, NV | Jul 15, 1998 | 23 | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / TrueTimber / BRCC | JR Motorsports | Dave Elenz |
29 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Las Vegas, NV | Feb 24, 1999 | 22 | Ford | Monster Energy | Stewart-Haas Racing | Richard Boswell |
30 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Como, MS | Dec 7, 1986 | 34 | Chevrolet | AAN Adjusters | Martins Motorsports | Dan Stillman |
31 | 48 | Jade Buford | Brentwood, TN | Feb 15, 1988 | 33 | Chevrolet | Big Machine Spiked Coolers | Big Machine Racing | Patrick Donahue |
32 | 90 | Preston Pardus | New Smyrna Beach, FL | Feb 15, 1997 | 24 | Chevrolet | Chinchor Electric / Danus | DGM Racing | Tony Furr |
33 | 106 | Ryan Vargas | La Miranda, CA | Sep 23, 2000 | 21 | Chevrolet | MaintenX | JD Motorsports | Kase Kallenbach |
34 | 178 | Stefan Parsons | Cornelius, NC | Jun 15, 1998 | 23 | Toyota | Sokal | BJ McLeod Motorsports | Keith Wolfe |
35 | 66 | Loris Hezemans | Amsterdam, Netherlands | May 26, 1997 | 24 | Toyota | Hezeberg Systems | Motorsports Business Management | Michael Contarino |
36 | 26 | Will Rodgers | Maui, HI | Oct 8, 1994 | 27 | Toyota | GoodRX / Race To End Hep C | Sam Hunt Racing | Andrew Abbott |
37 | 1 | Josh Berry | Hendersonville, TN | Oct 22, 1990 | 30 | Chevrolet | TMC Transportation | JR Motorsports | Mike Bumgarner |
38 | 15 | Kris Wright | Wexford, PA | Jul 17, 1994 | 27 | Chevrolet | First National Bank | JD Motorsports | Wayne Carroll Jr |
39 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Charlotte, NC | Oct 4, 2002 | 19 | Toyota | Monster Energy | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chris Gayle |
40 | 8 | Sam Mayer | Franklin, WI | Jun 26, 2003 | 18 | Chevrolet | QPS Employment Group | JR Motorsports | Taylor Moyer |
41 | 31 | Sage Karam | Nazareth, PA | Mar 5, 1995 | 26 | Chevrolet | Montage Mountain / BG Products | Jordan Anderson Racing | Arthur Haire |