Allgaier’s strategy wins at Mid-Ohio
LEXINGTON, Ohio — Justin Allgaier used fresh tires to pass rookie Austin Cindric with four laps left and win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Allgaier used the sixth restart of the race to squeeze by Cindric on Turn 1, then held off his challenge on the 72nd lap for his third series victory of the season. He also won at Dover and Iowa for JR Motorsport.
He was seventh for the last restart on Lap 69 but had used the caution to replace all four tires.
“We needed to get up front,” Allgaier said. “We know the last restart was going to be pivotal.”
Cindric, the polesitter for Team Penske, finished 2.05 seconds back after leading 59 of the 75 laps on the 2.258mile, 13-turn road course.
“It’s NASCAR racing. We knew there would be a laterace restart,” Cindric said. “Great driver on new tires, great restart. We finished second. It’s frustrating. This place means a lot to me. We just came up short.”
Daniel Hemric was third, followed by Matt Tifft and Ryan Truex. Series points leader Christopher Bell was 11th.
“Justin did a great job moving through traffic,” Hemric said. “When you have new tires at some point during the run it tends to equal but he did a good job getting as far in front as he did. XFINITY, TRUCKS SERIES results.
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“I was sitting there watching [Allgaier and Cindric] go at it. It was a heck of a race from my viewpoint.”
Cindric built a seven-second lead before the fifth caution on the 60th lap. Cole Custer rubbed tires with Tyler Reddick, spinning him and causing a rear right flat tire for Reddick, who could not get his car off the course.
Custer also spun Allgaier during the same incident and Allgaier dropped to eighth with laps and hopes of winning quickly fading.
“I really thought that was as far as we could get,” he said.