Allgaier wins Xfinity race as Elliott has fun
Justin Allgaier won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Road America on Saturday, pulling away over the final five laps to pick up his second victory in three weeks.
Allgaier held a 5.4-second advantage over secondplace Matt Tifft to take a tense race filled with bumps, scrapes and spinouts around the 14-turn course on Saturday in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Daniel Hemric was third.
Allgaier took advantage of late-race commotion to pick up another road course win following a victory two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio.
Second behind points leader Christopher Bell coming into the weekend, Allgaier picked up his fourth victory overall this season.
“I never would have thought we could have a dream season like this one,” he said with a smile after wiping sweat off his forehead. “Two road courses ... would you believe that?”
NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott finished 20th after coming out of retirement to take his first ride Xfinity ride around Road America. The 62-year-old Elliott started 23rd, then climbed up to 17th before spinning out and falling back.
“It was a heck of a lot of fun,” Elliott said.
The old-school driver would have loved the racing at the front of the field.
With three laps to go, second-place James Davison and third-place Justin Marks were jockeying for position trying to catch Allgaier when their cars spun out around a tight left turn.
Tifft blew past Davison and Marks. But no one could catch Allgaier, who started 11th and was second to points leader Christopher Bell coming into the weekend.
Allgaier picked up another win on a road course following a victory two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio. Allgaier picked up his fourth victory overall this season.
It was an entertaining race for NASCAR during an off week for the top-level Cup circuit.
Most of the attention coming into the race fell on Road America rookies like Elliott. British racer Katherine Legge, who was driving in her second NASCAR race, finished 14th.
IndyCar driver Conor Daly, who was making his NASCAR debut, finished 31st. A suspension issue forced his No. 6 Ford into the garage after 35 laps.
IndyCar
Will Power took a splash of fuel late in Saturday night’s race, allowing him to go wide open to the checkered flag and not only give team owner Roger Penske another win at Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis but keep his championship hopes alive.
Power had regained the lead with eight laps to go, and his job the rest of the way was to hold off Alexander Rossi, who had conserved fuel for about 70 laps.
The Andretti Autosport driver was second, ahead of series leader Scott Dixon, to trim into his points lead with two races left.
Power is a bit farther back but can’t be discounted, especially given the double points at the season finale and his prodigious talent on road courses. He won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis this year, just before his big oval breakthrough at the Indy 500.
Simon Pagenaud was fourth and Zach Veach was fifth.