Cindric wins NASCAR Xfinity race at The Glen.
Chase Elliott has won the pole for the NASCAR Cup race Sunday at Watkins Glen International.
Elliott, the defending race winner, was the fastest Saturday in both rounds of qualifying and beat Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron with a fast lap of 127.297 mph around the 2.45-mile road course.
Kyle Busch qualified third, followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson. Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Aric Almirola and Brad Keselowski completed the top 10. Michael Mcdowell was 11th and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 12th.
Clint Bowyer, in the hunt for the final playoff spot, was 13th followed by Erik Jones and Bowyer’s Stewart-haas Racing teammate, Kevin Harvick. Points leader Joey Logano will start 21st.
Austin Cindric’s dad never wanted him to be a racer. Dad might want to change his mind now.
Cindric won on the road course at Watkins Glen in NASCAR’S Xfinity Series on Saturday, holding off veteran AJ Allmendinger in the final two laps. It was the first series win in 54 races for the 20-year-old Penske Racing driver, and he outran one of the best road racers in NASCAR.
“It’s fantastic. It means so much in the playoffs,” Cindric said. “To be able to execute today, that’s what we need with six or seven races left before the playoffs. It’s a momentum shift. This team is used to winning.”
Allmendinger moved out to a big lead with five laps left in the 82-lap event, but Cindric, with fresher tires in his No. 22 Ford, slowly began closing the gap and was within two car-lengths with three laps to go. He closed to the back bumper of Allmendinger’s No. 10 Chevy in the inner loop but Allmendinger held his ground.
On Lap 81, Cindric tried again to pass going up through the esses and dogged Allmendinger coming out of the carousel turn, a sweeping right-hander, then made the pass.
Not finished yet, Allmendinger bumped Cindric back, forcing him wide, and briefly retook the lead before going wide into the final turn, allowing Cindric to recover. He then made it through the tough first turn and up through the esses as Allmendinger finally faded, finishing 1.16 seconds behind.
Christopher Bell was third, Justin Allgaier fourth and Ryan Blaney fifth.
After the race, Allmendinger’s car failed postrace inspection and was disqualified for height. NASCAR said it didn’t meet the minimum height and said the team had until noon Monday to appeal. The car also was disqualified at Daytona in July with Allmendinger driving.