In a dramatic two-lap overtime shootout, Justin Allgaier squeezed past JR Motorsports teammate Josh Berry and held on to win Saturday’s Steakhouse Elite 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Darlington Raceway.
Allgaier chose the outside lane for the final restart and had to fend off Berry, who edged ahead entering Turn 1. But Allgaier shot the gap to the outside off Turn 2 and pulled away to win by .422 seconds over his teammate.
Allgaier had wrestled the lead from Berry from the bottom lane on the previous restart on Lap 138 and appeared a likely winner before Ryan Vargas’ spin on Lap 142 forced the final restart and sent the race to overtime.
“Our car wasn’t as good as we wanted all day, but the guys down in the pits, they just kept fighting,” said Allgaier, who added his first Darlington win to his maiden win this season at Atlanta. “To check off Atlanta and Darlington, I couldn’t be more appreciative of this race team … We’re going to celebrate this one for a while.”
The victory was the 16th of Allgaier’s career.
Berry will cede his part-time ride in the No. 8 JRM Chevrolet to Sam Mayer in the second half of the season.
“I’m mad,” Berry said. “I want to win. I’m racing for my life out here, man. We need to find a sponsor or something so I can run this thing full-time. But it’s hard to be mad, coming here, running second, no practice, first time with these guys — that’s pretty incredible.”
Brandon Jones ran third followed by Daniel Hemric in fourth who led 38 laps — second only to Noah Gragson’s 40.
Gragson passed Harrison Burton for the lead on Lap 100 of a scheduled 147 and held it until Gray Gaulding spun off the bumper of Joe Graf Jr.’s Chevrolet on Lap 126. Both Harrison Burton and Berry beat Gragson off pit road, a sequence of events Gragson felt was decisive.
“Got beat on pit road there. I’ve got to go back and look and see if I could have done a better job on my speeds,” Gragson said.
Noah Gragson, who originally finished fourth, was disqualified under Rule 20.14.c in post-race inspection. With the DQ, AJ Allmendinger won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus for finishing highest among the remaining eligible drivers.
Jeremy Clements, Michael Annett, Brett Moffitt, Ryan Sieg, Alex Labbe and Harrison Burton completed the top 10.
Series leader Austin Cindric was out front for 34 laps and won the first stage but crashed on the frontstretch coming to the checkered flag. He finished 30th and saw his points advantage over second-place Hemric shrink from 59 to 39.
Harrison Burton won Stage 2, but the decision to pit for tires before the final two-lap shootout proved unproductive. Burton, who led 12 laps, finished 11th.
The race featured nine cautions for 43 laps.
Prior to the green flag for the Steakhouse Elite 200, Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2021 NASCAR Hall of Famer, drove his father’s restored No. 8 Chevrolet Nova for parade laps.
Darlington Raceway PR
