The official 2021 Food City 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race lineup, determined by qualifying results, shows the starting positions of all drivers at Bristol Motor Speedway.
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.
ST | # | DRIVER | MAKE | SPD | TIME | BHND | SPONSOR | TEAM | CREW CHIEF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 9 | Noah Gragson | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Bass Pro Shops / TrueTimber / BRCC | Jr Motorsports | Dave Elenz |
2 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Brandt | Jr Motorsports | Jason Burdett |
3 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Toyota | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Monster Energy | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chris Gayle |
4 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Toyota | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Poppy Bank | Joe Gibbs Racing | Dave Rogers |
5 | 11 | Justin Haley | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | LeafFilter Gutter Protection | Kaulig Racing | Alex Yontz |
6 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Toyota | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | DEX Imaging | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jason Ratcliff |
7 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Dynagro Seed | Kaulig Racing | Bruce Schlicker |
8 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Ford | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Monster Energy | Stewart-haas Racing | Richard Boswell |
9 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Ford | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Menards / Richmond | Team Penske | Brian Wilson |
10 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Barger Precast | Kaulig Racing | Jason Trinchere |
11 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Jabs Construction | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Doug Randolph |
12 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Ford | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | CMR Construction and Roofing / A-Ga… | Rss Racing | Kevin Starland |
13 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | All South Electric | Jeremy Clements Racing | Mark Setzer |
14 | 36 | Alex Labbe | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Globocam / Rousseau | Dgm Racing | Mario Gosselin |
15 | Michael Annett | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | |||||
16 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Toyota | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | YeeYee | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jeff Meendering |
17 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Crosley Furniture | Richard Childress Racing | Andy Street |
18 | 92 | Josh Williams | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Workpro Tools | Dgm Racing | Nathan Kennedy |
19 | 47 | Kyle Weatherman | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Axe Crossbows | Mike Harmon Racing | Mike Tyska |
20 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Fr8Auctions | Our Motorsports | Pat Tryson |
21 | 26 | Brandon Gdovic | Toyota | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | SnapMobile.Shop Alternate | Sam Hunt Racing | Andrew Abbott |
22 | 8 | Sam Mayer | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Tire Pros | Jr Motorsports | Taylor Moyer |
23 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Gilreath Farms Red Angus | Martins Motorsports | Dan Stillman |
24 | 66 | David Starr | Toyota | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Whataburger | Motorsports Business Management | Johnny Roten |
25 | 178 | Jesse Little | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | David's Electric | Bj Mcleod Motorsports | Adam Brooks |
26 | 199 | Matt Mills | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | SOKAL Digital | Bj Mcleod Motorsports | Keith Wolfe |
27 | 105 | Stefan Parsons | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | JF Electric | Bj Mcleod Motorsports | David Ingram |
28 | 106 | Ryan Vargas | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Voyager | Jd Motorsports | Kase Kallenbach |
29 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | ForeverLawn | Jd Motorsports | Paul Clapprood |
30 | 48 | Jade Buford | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers | Big Machine Racing | Patrick Donahue |
31 | 23 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Home Town Lenders | Our Motorsports | Kenneth Roettger |
32 | 31 | Sage Karam | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Bommarito Automotive Group | Jordan Anderson Racing | Arthur Haire |
33 | 90 | Spencer Boyd | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | DGM Racing | Dgm Racing | BJ Tucker |
34 | 17 | Carson Ware | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Pounds Property Management | Ss Green Light Racing | Jason Miller |
35 | 104 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | TeamJDMotorsports.com | Jd Motorsports | Tommy Machek |
36 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Bucked Up Energy | Ss Green Light Racing | Joe Williams |
37 | 15 | BJ McLeod | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | TeamJDMotorsports.com | Jd Motorsports | Wayne Carroll Jr |
38 | 61 | Chad Finchum | Toyota | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Black Oak Contracting | Hattori Racing Enterprises | Doug Richert |
39 | 52 | Gray Gaulding | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Panini American UFC Prizm | Means Motorsports | Tim Brown |
40 | 74 | Bayley Currey | Chevrolet | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Date Mining / JM Steel | Mike Harmon Racing | Ed Jewett |