Justin Allgaier handles the heat, sweeps stages at Nashville
Brenden Martin recaps the Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway where Justin Allgaier won his second Xfinity race this season and the 18th in his career.
JR Motorsports No. 7 Justin Allgaier won his second race of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity season and his 18th career race in the series with a dominating performance that saw him sweep every stage in the Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Allgaier led 135 of 188 laps and had a maximum points day thanks to sweeping each stage and bringing a record 15th win with JR Motorsports.
NBC Sports’ Marty Snider asked the winner if he ever had a car as dominant as his Chevrolet Camero today.
“I don’t think ever,” Allgaier said to Snider. “You fans that stuck around here in this heat, thank you very much. What a heck of a race man.”
The blazing heat played a huge role in the wear-and-tear of the tires and even more so the wear of the drivers. The temperature in Nashville hit a high of 98 degrees Fahrenheit and did not simmer down by the end of the race.
Drivers made sure to chug down a ton of fluids before and after the race. The heat outside didn’t hold a candle to the heat inside the cars. Car temps reached into the 130s in Stage 1 and even as high as 150 degrees in Motor Business Management Motorsports No. 66 Natalie Decker’s Toyota Supra.
Decker’s cool suit failed in the middle of the race, forcing her to spend her 25th birthday in grueling heat.
After having issues in practice and qualifying, Decker finished the race seven laps down in 32nd, still good for five spots ahead of her starting position.
The heat hit the racers hard as they exited their cars. Kaulig Racing No. 16 AJ Allmendinger sat on pit road after the race with an ice pack on his ankle as it spent the race in the hottest part of the vehicle.
JD Motorsports No. 6 Ryan Vargas was carted to the infield care center with a wet towel on his head.
A driver feeling the heat was Ryan Sieg Racing No. 28 Parker Retzlaff. He said he never felt anything like it.
“This is definitely the most grueling race I’ve ever done,” Retzlaff said to NBC Sports’ Dave Burns. “It’s just pounding waters before the race, just trying to get ice, pouring it in my suit. I’m definitely worn out and it’s definitely going to take me a little bit of time to get my energy back. But I feel good and I’m happy with our finish.”
Retzlaff finished 12th after starting 25th, continuing his streak of now four-straight top-20 finishes in his five starts.
Despite the heat, drivers kept their cool in the first two stages as the first caution for cause would not come until the final stage. Allmendinger got around the pole-sitter, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 98 Riley Herbst on the outside on Lap 1, but it was not long before Allgaier turned on the afterburners.
Starting in fifth, Allgaier got around Herbst for second on Lap 13 and passed Allmendinger for the lead six laps later. It was all him from there, growing his lead on Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Trevor Bayne by six-and-a-half seconds before winning Stage 1.
Pit road issues for Kaulig Racing plagued the ensuing pit stops as all three of the team’s Cameros were too fast on pit road.
The three Kaulig drivers of Allmendinger, No. 11 Daniel Hemric and No. 10 Landon Cassill finished 16th, 17th and 18th respectively.
Stage 2 was an even simpler task for Allgaier as he led every lap for a wire-to-wire stage win to bring his total to five on the year and extend JR Motorsports’ oval stage winning streak to 12.
Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Ty Gibbs battled hard to finish second in Stage 2 but was not able to catch Allgaier who pulled away from the competition.
A fourth-place finish for Gibbs was easy to swallow, especially after spinning due to JR Motorsports No. 1 Sam Meyer taking the air of Gibbs’ car late in the race.
“He just packed air on my left rear and I got out there and he drove into me but it’s just part of it,” Gibbs said to Burns. “Hopefully he learns from it and we won’t have to go through that again. I’ve done that mistake too to the 39 [car] at the beginning of the year. It’s part of the learning experience.”
Meyer finished right behind Gibbs in fifth, but the two were a lot calmer than their incident at Martinsville Speedway which resulted in a fist fight.
The field began to shake up for the final stage as Gibbs beat Allgaier off pit road and the two went back-and-forth for the lead for multiple laps before the first caution for cause came out as B.J. McLeod Motorsports No. 5 Ryan Preece spun JR Motorsports No. 8 Josh Berry on Lap 106.
Preece won the truck race the night prior, his second truck win at Nashville, he was able to get through the spin without any damage and brought home a sixth-place finish.
Berry, on the other hand, was put off-cycle in his pit strategy and had to pit again at the end of the race, leading to a 29th-place finish.
The spins continued on Lap 117 when Sam Hunt Racing No. 26 Jeffery Earnhardt got loose and spun after hitting Richard Childress Racing No. 2 Sheldon Creed.
Earnhardt admitted he got loose under Creed and that he was at fault.
Earnhardt kept the car going and took his Toyota Supra to a seventh-place finish. While Creed was able to continue after that incident, the next one was his downfall.
On Lap 124, Creed was involved in a three-car wreck that took SS-Greenlight Racing No. 07 Joe Graf Jr., Our Motorsports No. 27 Jeb Burton and himself out of the race. Creed ended the race 36th out of 38 racers and sustained his fifth DNF of his rookie season.
The drama extended out in front of the pack as Bayne, who was running second, had a pit road penalty when a pair of his tires rolled into another pit box. Bayne had to move to the rear, but still had enough time to regain second place where he ended up finishing.
“I’m still frustrated and upset right now with second because we had a winning car,” Bayne said to Burns. “I feel like I did everything I could do today. We drove to second three times and just kept getting ourselves on pit road with the 98 [car] clipping our guys, but then we had a tire get away. We just got to clean it up. If you’re going to win you got to be perfect.”
Bayne closed by saying that he still wants a full-time ride next season and that he didn’t feel he got to show what he could do when he raced in the Cup Series nearly a decade ago.
Once every car that needed fuel for the final laps came in to pit. Allgaier emerged as the winner just as he did at Darlington in May.
The win puts him in third place in the hunt for the regular season championship that Allmendinger still leads with Gibbs splitting the two.
The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season returns to a road course, the second one in three races with a visit to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the Henry 180 on Saturday, July 2 at 2:30 p.m. ET.
The race can be watched on USA Network as well as on the NBC Sports App and can be listened to on Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Race Results:
Driver Points Standings:
Owners’ Points Standings:
