Allmendinger gets 11th Xfinity road course win
A.J. Allmendinger dominated early, then had to fight to retake the lead at the start of the final stage to earn his 11th career NASCAR Xfinity series road course victory Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Allmendinger bumped Sheldon Creed out of the lead with 14 laps to go, then held off William Byron over the next couple of laps before pulling away late for the victory, his second in a row at the Texas track. Byron will be starting today's NASCAR Cup series race from the pole position.
“I spent a lot of years not winning anything, so I'm going to celebrate everything like its my last one, because you never know,” the 41-yearold Allmendinger said. “We fought hard.”
Allmendinger and Kaulig Racing had the dominant car for much of the race and started Saturday from the pole. He built a big lead early before a pit stop strategy misstep and getting caught in some caution flag restart traffic dropped him to the back.
“I feel like I'm on vacation,” Allmendinger told his garage in an early radio message as he steadily pulled away from the pack in the first stage.
The race got much harder from there.
With NASCAR running a new format that doesn't have breaks at the end of the road course race stages, Allmendinger pitted from the front. That dropped him to 27th and turned a 3.5-second lead into deficit of about 37 seconds. He then got stuck in the pack on a restart, one of four in stage two, and the car in front of him got bumped and spun around, forcing Allmendinger into a complete stop.
“I wasn't sure how the race was going to play out,” Allmendinger
said. “I knew we had a really fast car, it was about getting back up there.”
Creed won the second stage, giving the Richard Childress driver a chance to race for his first career Xfinity series win. But another restart saw Allmendinger launch from sixth to second and right on Creed's bumper.
With those two battling for the lead and Byron waiting behind them for an opening, Allmendinger tagged Creed's left rear wheel and pushed him sideways. Creed fought back to finish ninth.
“He turned. I was trying to stay off him. I hate that happened,” Allmendinger said. “(Creed) has all the right to be mad . ... It's the way it goes. It's not they way I wanted to take the lead.”
Creed noted Allmendinger had the speed to eventually pass him, but was frustrated by the contact that cost him a podium.
“I don't know if I had his pace in the long run,” Creed said. “I thought I gave him enough room, but I don't know. I need to watch it.”
NASCAR Cup
Kimi Raikkonen has already sprayed champagne from the winner's podium at the Circuit of Americas.
That was in 2018, when he wore Ferrari red and scored the final victory of his long Formula One career at the United States Grand Prix.
The Finn is back in Texas, but in a much different car in a much different series with very different racing styles.
Raikkonen and fellow former F1 champion Jenson Button will drive today in NASCAR's first road course race of 2023. Raikkonen won the F1 championship in 2007. England's Button won it two years later. They have 36 career F1 victories between them.
“It's nice to be back,” Raikkonen said Saturday. “It's a lovely place here in Texas.”
Raikkonen will driving Trackhouse Racing's Project91 entry that is designed to give a seat in NASCAR to drivers from others disciplines. Button will drive the No. 15 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing.
Many of the regular NASCAR drivers welcome the Europeans.
Ryan Blaney said he wants to meet Button because he was a huge fan as a kid. Cup series leader Joey Logano is impressed they are climbing into cars that must feel unusual.
“We don't ever get the opportunity to stack up against those guys. They grow up racing completely different cars in different countries,” Logano said. “Put me in an F1 car and I'm going to be lost. It's great for our sport.”
And there's another “road course ringer” in the field: Sports car driver Jordan Taylor makes his NASCAR debut with Hendrick Motorsports. He qualified fourth driving for injured Chase Elliott, who is still recovering from fractured tibia in a snowboarding accident.
“Jordan is really strong,” said William Byron, a two-time winner this season who qualified in pole position for today. “It's impressive. The other guys, too.”
Some drivers have questioned whether Taylor and the F1 guys really know what they are in for in the rough-andtumble racing in the Cup series.
Raikkonen has some experience with that. He made his Cup series debut last season at Watkins Glen, and was competitive until getting run off course on a restart.
“In F1, open wheels if you touch somebody you usually lose a part or lose a wheel, you can't really take that risk . ... In NASCAR, you can have a bit more closer racing,” Raikkonen said.