No. 16 car finally wins on an oval

Allmendinger gets win after caution

HAMPTON, Ga. — A.J. Allmendinger won a NASCAR oval race for the first time in his long career.

Taking advantage of mistakes by the three leaders, the 38-year-old Californian cruised to victory by nearly 2 seconds over pole-sitter Noah Gragson in the Xfinity Series race Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“Oh my god,” Allmendinger said as he climbed from his No. 16 Chevrolet. “I won on an oval.” Indeed, he did. Allmendinger claimed a single victory during more than a decade in the top-level Cup series, and he had three previous Xfinity wins — all on road courses.

“All I ever wanted to do was win on an oval,” said Allmendinger, who has only a part-time ride in the Xfinity Series after losing his Cup ride after the 2018 season. “I have a lot of success in so many forms of racing.”

Allmendinger started 30th but quickly showed the strength of his car, spending much of the day running in the top 10.

Then, after the final caution of the day, the top three cars — Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric and Justin Allgaier — were all caught speeding on pit road.

That pushed Allmendinger into the top spot on the restart with 34 laps to go.

Truck Series

Taking advantage of a late caution, Grant Enfinger passed local favorite Austin Hill on the final lap to win the NASCAR Truck Series race in overtime..

In front of empty grandstands, Hill appeared to be cruising to his first win of the year, building a 4½-second lead after several miscues ruined Kyle Busch’s chances.

Suddenly, everything changed. Cup star Chase Elliott lost control on worn-out tires coming off turn 2 with three laps to go, sending all the leaders to the pits for tires and setting up a green-white-checkered finish.

Hill was out front when the green flag waved, but Enfinger got a good run on the leader on the next-to-last lap, costing him some speed.

Then, after taking the white flag, Enfinger slid by on the outside to take the lead for good going through turns 1 and 2. He claimed his second victory of the interrupted season.

“We didn’t lead too many laps, but we led the ones that mattered,” Enfinger said.