XFINITY RECAP

• Friday’s FOOD CITY 300, Bristol

WINNER: AJ ALLMENDINGER

With cars bouncing off each other like pinballs through two laps of overtime, AJ Allmendinger took his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet three-wide to the bottom, passed Justin Allgaier and Austin Cindric on the final lap and won Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The victory gave Allmendinger the Xfinity Series regular season championship by 10 points over Cindric, who held the race lead when the 10th and final caution flag flew on Lap 297 of 300 after Allgaier turned Sam Mayer in Turn 1.

In the overtime, things got crazy. Cindric and Allgaier picked the top lane, and Allmendinger chose the inside of the front row. On the whiteflag lap, Allmendinger drove hard into Turns 3 and 4 and slid up into Cindric’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

Allmendinger fell back to third, but contact between Allgaier’s Camaro and Cindric’s Mustang gave Allmendinger a chance to slip beneath both cars into the lead.

The regular-season cutoff race also set the final positions for the Round of 12 in the Xfinity Series Playoff. With no new winner, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements clinched the final three spots on points, as expected, as the series heads for the Playoff opener Sept. 25 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.