In Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the fastest car met superior strategy.
In this case, the fastest car, Ty Gibbs’ No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, won the battle — decisively — over the craftiness of A.J. Allmendinger, as the two full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers stole the show and potential Playoff points from the Xfinity regulars.
Allmendinger, the pole winner, parlayed pit strategy into a pair of stage wins, but Gibbs charged ahead after a restart with 16 of 62 laps left and beat Sam Mayer to the finish line by 7.959 seconds at the 2.439, 14-turn circuit. Mayer passed a disappointed Allmendinger for the runner-up spot on the penultimate lap.
The victory was the first of the season for Gibbs, who won last year’s Xfinity title before moving up to his full-time Cup ride. It was his first victory on the Indy road course and his 12th win in 58 starts in the series.
“Awesome car — great car — thank you, (crew chief) Jason Ratcliff,” exulted Gibbs, who will try to hold onto the final Playoff-eligible position in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
“I raced go-karts down the street with a bunch of kids…it’s really special.”
His strategy for Sunday is uncomplicated.
“Just have a good car, set the car up right and go win,” Gibbs said.
Mayer, who won the first Xfinity Series race of his career on July 29 at Road America, was satisfied with second on Saturday.
“That was all I had right there to catch the 10 (Allmendinger) and get us some more points,” said Mayer, who scored his fourth straight top-five finish. “I’m really proud of our guys here today. Our Chevrolet was really fast. But a lot of positivity going into the next couple of weeks because we are clicking off top fives like it’s easy.
“These road courses have been good to us the last couple of weeks — and the ovals are just as good. I’m looking forward to what we have going into (Watkins) Glen next week and then a bunch of ovals after that.”
Series leader Austin Hill of Winston, Georgia finished fourth, followed by Justin Allgaier in fifth. Cole Custer, Parker Kligerman, Sheldon Creed, Kaz Grala, and Brett Moffitt completed the top 10. Allgaier clinched a spot in the Xfinity Series Playoffs.
Allmendinger started from the pole but surrendered the lead to Gibbs on lap 3. Gibbs remained out front until lightning in the area forced NASCAR to red-flag the race at 6:04 p.m.
During the delay, rain soaked the track, but the skies began to clear before the cars restarted. A strategic call by Allmendinger put the driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet back in the lead.
Before the field took the green flag after the resumption of the race, Allmendinger and Mayer pitted for slick tires, while the vast majority of the field stayed on slower treaded rain tires.
Allmendinger rapidly gained ground from the back of the field, and after Gibbs pitted for slicks on lap 14, Allmendinger held a lead of more than 16 seconds in the exchange. He lost just over one second of that advantage before the Brad Perez’s Chevrolet stopped on the track on lap 27 to cause the second caution of the afternoon.
“We were never fast enough to win the race,” Allmendinger said. “I thought Ty was the class of the field… We got in a good rhythm there, maybe if it would’ve stayed green. We just needed a 52-lap green run there to win today.”
In short order after a restart on lap 31, Allmendinger regained the lead from Mayer, who had stayed out on older tires during the caution.
Gibbs restarted three positions deeper in the field than Allmendinger and began to close the gap to the leader. After Gibbs out braked Mayer into turn 7 and took the second spot on lap 38, he trailed Allmendinger by 3.049 seconds.
When both Allmendinger and Gibbs pitted for tires and fuel on lap 43, however, Gibbs won the race off pit road, right before NASCAR called the third caution when Andre Castro stopped on the track.
On the subsequent restart on lap 47, Gibbs, who led a race-high 28 laps, pulled out to an immediate advantage, and expanded it the rest of the way.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, IN
Pennzoil 150 – August 12, 2023
1. (2) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, 62.
2. (15) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 62.
3. (1) A.J. Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 62.
4. (4) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 62.
5. (13) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 62.
6. (6) Cole Custer, Ford, 62.
7. (12) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 62.
8. (9) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 62.
9. (21) Kaz Grala, Toyota, 62.
10. (23) Brett Moffitt, Ford, 62.
11. (26) Alex Labbe, Toyota, 62.
12. (10) Riley Herbst, Ford, 62.
13. (8) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 62.
14. (3) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 62.
15. (27) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, 62.
16. (14) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 62.
17. (24) Parker Retzlaff #, Chevrolet, 62.
18. (19) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 62.
19. (20) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 62.
20. (29) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 62.
21. (25) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 62.
22. (22) Miguel Paludo, Chevrolet, 62.
23. (32) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 62.
24. (11) Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, 62.
25. (35) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 62.
26. (16) Connor Mosack, Toyota, 62.
27. (5) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 61.
28. (17) Sammy Smith #, Toyota, 61.
29. (33) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 61.
30. (36) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 61.
31. (38) Blaine Perkins #, Chevrolet, 60.
32. (30) Ryan Sieg, Ford, Suspension, 57.
33. (34) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 57.
34. (18) Chandler Smith #, Chevrolet, Suspension, 56.
35. (37) Joe Graf, Jr., Ford, Axle, 46.
36. (28) Andre Castro, Chevrolet, Suspension, 39.
37. (7) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, Suspension, 38.
38. (31) Brad Perez, Chevrolet, Brakes, 24.
Average Speed: 77.174 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 57 Mins, 34 Secs. Margin of Victory: 7.959 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 3 for 9 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: A. Allmendinger(i) 1-2;T. Gibbs(i) 3-13;J. Berry 14-15;D. Hemric 16-18;A. Allmendinger(i) 19-28;S. Mayer 29-33;A. Allmendinger(i) 34-42;S. Creed 43;J. Clements 44;J. Bilicki 45;T. Gibbs(i) 46-62.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Ty Gibbs(i) 2 times for 28 laps; AJ Allmendinger(i) 3 times for 21 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 5 laps; Daniel Hemric 1 time for 3 laps; Josh Berry 1 time for 2 laps; Sheldon Creed 1 time for 1 lap; Josh Bilicki 1 time for 1 lap; Jeremy Clements 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 10,1,11,48,7,19,31,16,8,00
Stage #2 Top Ten: 10,19,1,2,98,21,16,20,11,51
Playoff Standings: 1. John Hunter Nemechek – 838 (5 Wins); 2. Austin Hill – 849 (4 Wins); 3. Cole Custer – 737 (2 Wins); 4. Justin Allgaier – 815 (1 Win); 5. Sam Mayer – 682 (1 Win); 6. Chandler Smith – 622 (1 Win); 7. Sammy Smith – 567 (1 Win); 8. Jeb Burton – 521 (1 Win); 9. Josh Berry – 685; 10. Daniel Hemric – 621; 11. Riley Herbst – 605; 12. Sheldon Creed – 588.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
