NASCAR Xfinity, Trucks: How AJ Allmendinger, Grant Enfinger Came Up Big at Indianapolis

AJ Allmendinger continues to make road courses his personal playgrounds on the Xfinity Series. His easy victory Saturday on the infield circuit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was his third NASCAR road course victory in three races this year; all told, eight of his 13 career Xfinity victories have been on road courses.

This one was something of a rout.

Driving a Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, the former open-wheel star led three times for 42 of the 62 laps (including the final 18) in the Pennzoil 151. He won by more than two seconds over Alex Bowman, Justin Allgaier, Ross Chastain, and Chase Briscoe. The back-5 in the 62-lap, 151-mile race on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn track were Riley Herbst, Sam Mayer, Ty Gibbs, Austin Hill, and Noah Gragson.

Allmendinger’s dominance left only 20 laps for the rest of the field. Gragson led six laps, Josh Berry five, Bowman and Allgaier four each, and Gibbs one. Those six drivers swapped the lead eight times, but there was little doubt that Allmendinger was the class of the field. Bowman was quicker on long runs, but Allmendinger had built a significant cushion that Bowman couldn’t overcome.

The victory continued Allmendinger’s impressive performances this year. He opened the season with 12 consecutive top-10 finishes and had added five more in the last eight races. Among them were road course victories at COTA and Portland International. He takes a 17-point lead over Allgaier and a 30-point lead over Gibbs into next weekend’s New Holland 250 Xfinity Series race at Michigan Speedway.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race

19th Annual Pennzoil 150 at the Brickyard

Results

1. (1) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 62.

2. (4) Alex Bowman(i), Chevrolet, 62.

3. (10) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 62.

4. (18) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 62.

5. (6) Chase Briscoe(i), Ford, 62.

6. (3) Riley Herbst, Ford, 62.

7. (5) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 62.

8. (2) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 62.

9. (9) Austin Hill #, Chevrolet, 62.

10. (7) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 62.

11. (11) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 62.

12. (14) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 62.

13. (12) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, 62.

14. (8) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 62.

15. (36) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 62.

16. (17) Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 62.

17. (30) Santino Ferrucci, Toyota, 62.

18. (26) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 62.

19. (29) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 62.

20. (27) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 62.

21. (34) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 62.

22. (16) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 62.

23. (15) Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, 62.

24. (19) Miguel Paludo, Chevrolet, 62.

25. (22) Andy Lally, Ford, 62.

26. (20) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 62.

27. (31) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 62.

28. (35) Patrick Gallagher, Ford, 62.

29. (23) Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, 62.

30. (28) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 62.

31. (32) Scott Heckert, Chevrolet, 62.

32. (24) Kaz Grala(i), Chevrolet, 61.

33. (25) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 61.

34. (38) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, Suspension, 58.

35. (13) Bubba Wallace(i), Toyota, Engine, 28.

36. (33) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Accident, 17.

37. (37) Parker Kligerman(i), Toyota, Accident, 11.

38. (21) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Track Bar, 0.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 77.825 mph.

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 56 Mins, 35 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.084 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 4 for 11 laps.

Lead Changes: 8 among 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders: A. Allmendinger 1-15;T. Gibbs 16;N. Gragson 17-22;A. Bowman(i) 23-24;J. Allgaier 25-28;A. Allmendinger 29-37;J. Berry 38-42;A. Bowman(i) 43-44;A. Allmendinger 45-62.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): AJ Allmendinger 3 times for 42 laps; Noah Gragson 1 time for 6 laps; Josh Berry 1 time for 5 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 4 laps; Alex Bowman(i) 2 times for 4 laps; Ty Gibbs 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 9,31,17,7,98,54,8,2,16,1

Stage #2 Top Ten: 8,36,48,45,91,6,4,23,34,38

Enfinger Advances in Truck Playoffs

The Camping World Truck Series opened its Playoff Series Friday night with a 207-lap race at Indianapolis Raceway Park at Clermont, Ind., a suburb of Indianapolis. The TSport 200 was scheduled for 200 laps, but was extended to 207 by overtime.

Grant Enfinger survived the wild overtime to beat reigning series champion Ben Rhodes, Zack Smith, Stewart Friesen, Corey Heim, Tyler Ankrum, Layne Riggs, Ty Majeski, Matt Crafton, and pole-winner John Hunter Nemechek.

Nemechek (75 laps), Majeski (71) and Carson Hocevar (34) were up front most of the night, three of six leaders who swapped the lead 12 times. But even though Enfinger led only four times for 13 laps, he came on late to lead the final two to win by a half-second. The race was unusually sloppy, with 10 cautions for 78 of the 207 laps.

The trucks get next weekend off before going to Richmond (Va.) Raceway on Saturday night, Aug. 13. Zane Smith is 14 points ahead of Rhodes in the standings, with Enfinger, and Friesen trailing by 22

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race

Inaugural TSport 200

Results

1. (5) Grant Enfinger (P), Chevrolet, 207.

2. (9) Ben Rhodes (P), Toyota, 207.

3. (21) Zane Smith (P), Ford, 207.

4. (8) Stewart Friesen (P), Toyota, 207.

5. (4) Corey Heim # (P), Toyota, 207.

6. (11) Tyler Ankrum, Toyota, 207.

7. (23) Layne Riggs, Toyota, 207.

8. (6) Ty Majeski (P), Toyota, 207.

9. (16) Matt Crafton (P), Toyota, 207.

10. (1) John Hunter Nemechek (P), Toyota, 207.

11. (18) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 207.

12. (15) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 207.

13. (17) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 207.

14. (10) Derek Kraus, Chevrolet, 207.

15. (36) Jesse Little, Chevrolet, 207.

16. (3) Christian Eckes (P), Toyota, 207.

17. (31) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 207.

18. (2) Chandler Smith (P), Toyota, 207.

19. (20) Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 207.

20. (27) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, 207.

21. (7) Carson Hocevar (P), Chevrolet, 207.

22. (13) Taylor Gray (P), Ford, 207.

23. (14) Tanner Gray, Ford, 207.

24. (34) Chris Hacker, Toyota, 207.

25. (19) Jack Wood #, Chevrolet, 207.

26. (26) Blaine Perkins #, Chevrolet, 207.

27. (33) Chase Purdy, Toyota, 206.

28. (24) Jake Garcia, Chevrolet, 206.

29. (25) Dean Thompson #, Chevrolet, 204.

30. (30) Chad Chastain, Chevrolet, 204.

31. (28) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 204.

32. (12) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, Accident, 190.

33. (35) Josh Reaume, Toyota, Too Slow, 153.

34. (22) Lawless Alan #, Chevrolet, Accident, 147.

35. (32) Blake Lothian, Chevrolet, Driveshaft, 72.

36. (29) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, Accident, 9.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 69.961 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 1 Mins, 47 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.477 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 10 for 78 laps.

Lead Changes: 12 among 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J. Nemechek (P) 1-64;C. Smith (P) 65-70;C. Hocevar (P) 71-104;G. Enfinger (P) 105-109;C. Smith (P) 110-116;T. Majeski (P) 117-157;G. Enfinger (P) 158;T. Majeski (P) 159-188;G. Enfinger (P) 189-193;J. Nemechek (P) 194-197;T. Gray (P) 198;J. Nemechek (P) 199-205;G. Enfinger (P) 206-207.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): John Hunter Nemechek (P) 3 times for 75 laps; Ty Majeski (P) 2 times for 71 laps; Carson Hocevar (P) 1 time for 34 laps; Chandler Smith (P) 2 times for 13 laps; Grant Enfinger (P) 4 times for 13 laps; Taylor Gray (P) 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 4,18,42,52,23,99,51,66,38,98

Stage #2 Top Ten: 66,23,99,42,38,51,52,18,16,91