The 2024 NASCAR season is quickly coming to a close with just four races remaining including this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The Xfinity Series kicks off a doubleheader weekend with the Ambetter Health 302.
Kicking off the round of eight, 38 teams brought cars for 38 starting spots; ensuring that every driver will start the race.
On a very windy afternoon, the drivers take to the track for a practice session. The drivers have been divided into two groups for a 15 minute practice session each.
Brandon Jones topped the leaderboard for practice with just three playoff drivers in the top 10.
The first driver on the track to make a qualifying run is Ryan Vargas who posted a time of 30.817 seconds around the mile and a half track.
Corey Heim, the ninth driver out, was the first to break the 30 second mark with a time of 29. 875 seconds.
Sheldon Creed did not make a qualifying run after some engine issues. The crew will change the engine and Creed will start the race from the back of the field.
Brothers Ryan and Kyle Sieg have swapped cars for the last few races in order to get the best points for both cars.
With a time of 29.439 seconds, Brandon Jones puts his number nine car on the pole with Colle Custer alongside.
The starting lineup for the Ambetter Health 302:
Brandon Jones
Cole Custer
Chandler Smith
Sam Mayer
Sammy Smith
Justin Allgaier
Riley Herbst
Jesse Love
AJ Allmendinger
Ryan Sieg
Parker Kligerman
Aric Almirola
Taylor Gray
Corey Heim
Jeb Burton
Shane van Gisbergen
Austin Hill
Anthony Alfredo
Jeremy Clements
Parker Retzlaff
Dylan Lupton
Kyle Sieg
Josh Williams
Matt DiBenedetto
Leland Honeyman Jr
Dawson Cram
Kyle Weatherman
JJ Yeley
Ryan Vargas
Daniel Dye
Garrett Smithley
Brennan Poole
Myatt Snider
Ryan Ellis
Blaine Perkins
Joey Gase
Akinori Ogata
Sheldon Creed
Stages one and two of the race are 45 laps each with stage three lasting 111 laps for a total of 201 laps around the mile and a half track.
While it is early evening and already dark on the east coast, the drivers preparing to race in Las Vegas are still in the daylight of later afternoon. But before the race is complete the drivers will be under the lights.
Kyle Weatherman will join Sheldon Creed at the back of the field after the crew made some unapproved adjustments to Weatherman’s car.
Brandon Jones brings the field down for the green flag start of the race with Cole Custer alongside. Jones jumps out in front for the lead as the drivers spread out three and four wide.
A windy day, there is a lot of stuff blowing around…even on the track.
Lap two, Brandon Jones leads the race with Cole Custer in second; Chandler, Sammy Smith, and Sam Mayer round out the top five.
Justin Allgaier is falling back in the field and is now in 10th and in danger of falling out of the top 10.
Dawson Cram is off the track with a transmission issue.
The caution flag comes out on lap five for JJ Yeley, slowed on the track after some on track contact with Leland Honeyman who also has some damage to his car.
A few drivers come down pit road for service.
Brandon Jones brings the field down for the green flag restart of the race from the inside lane on lap nine. The field gets three wide on the restart and Sammy Smith takes the lead with Cole Custer in second; Chandler Smith, Brandon Jones, and AJ Allmendinger round out the top five.
The drivers are having a great deal of difficulty seeing as they come off of turn four onto the front stretch due to the sun.
After being in danger of falling out of the top 10, Justin Allgaier has entered the top five.
Lap 13, Sammy Smith has just a tenth of a second lead on Cole Custer; Brandon Jones, AJ Allmendinger, and Justin Allgaier round out the top five.
Lap 14, Cole Custer passes Sammy Smith for the lead.
Lap 15, Sammy Smith moves up to try and retake the lead but Cole Custer held Smith off.
Dawson Cram has returned to the track five laps down.
Leland Honeyman is back on pit road.
Chandler Smith reports a very loose condition.
Lap 20, Leland Honeyman is back on the track, four laps down.
Cole Custer leads the race with Sammy Smith in second; Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, and AJ Allmendinger round out the top five.
Lap 23, Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier pass Sammy Smith.
Lap 27, Cole Custer has a second and a half lead on Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith, and riley Herbst round out the top five.
Lap 30, Cole Custer’s lead on Brandon Jones is down to under a second; Justin Allgaier, Riley Herbst, and Sammy Smith round out the top five.
There are 34 cars on the lead lap.
Shane van Gisbergen makes an unscheduled trip down pit road with the hood up. He reported that the engine died and he had no fuel pressure.
The drivers can run about 60 laps on a single load of fuel.
Lap 35, Cole Custer has a lead of less than half a second on Brandon Jones.
The caution flag comes out on lap 35 for Dylan Lupton who gets into the wall.
The crew of Shane van Gisbergen’s crew is pushing his car to the garage.
Leaders bring several drivers down pit road for service with Cole Custer winning the race off of pit road. Justin Allgaier reported a left side vibration just before the caution flag came out and his helmet hose came loose and he wasn’t getting any cool air.
Brandon Jones brings the field down for the green flag restart with just six laps remaining in stage one. Riley Herbst takes the lead with drivers three and four wied behind him.
The top five are Riley Herbst, AJ Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Aric Almirola, and Cole Custer.
Aric Almirola tags the wall but the track stays green.
With four laps remaining in stage one, Justin Allgaier has gained 10 spots in two laps.
Three laps to go in stage one, Riley Herbst leads the race with Cole Custer in second; Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, and Brandon Jones round out the top five.
Cole Custer passes Riley Herbst for the lead. Justin Allgaier passes Riley Herbst for second.
Cole Custer wins stage one.
The top 10 at the end of stage one:
Cole Custer/
Justin Allgaier
Riley Herbst
AJ Allmendinger
Sheldon Creed
Ryan Sieg
Jesse Love
Austin Hill
Brandon Jones
Sam Mayer
Drivers come down pit road for service. AJ Allmendinger reports a handling issue in his car. Riley Herbst wins the race off of pit road.
Cole Custer brings the field down for the green flag start of stage two and Justin Allgaier comes up to battle for the lead on lap 52.
Aric Almirola was charged with interference on pit road and will have to restart the race from the back of the field/
Lap 55, the top five are Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Sheldon Creed, Ryan Sieg, and AJ Allmendinger.
Lap 59, Justin Allgaier has pulled out to a lead of over two seconds on Cole Custer; Sheldon Creed ,Ryan Sieg, and AJ Allmendinger round out the top five.
Lap 63, Justin Allgaier now has a lead of over three seconds on Cole Custer.
Lap 70, Justin Allgaier continues to lead the race and is over three seconds out in front of Cole Custer; AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, and Chandler smith round out the top five with 33 cars on the lead lap.
AJ Allmendinger passes Cole Custer for second.
Lap 76, Justin Allgaier’s lead is now under three and a half seconds on AJ Allmendinger; Ryan Sieg, Cole Custer, and Brandon Jones round out the top five.
Austin Hill is reporting some major handing issues with his car; saying what adjustments they made must have been the wrong way.
Lap 85, Justin Allgaier has a two and a half second lead on AJ Allmendinger. Allgaier reports that the vibration is back. It is the second set of tires that Allgaier has reported a vibration after 35 laps.
Four laps remain in stage two, the top five are Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones, and Chandler smith with 28 cars on the lead lap.
Final lap of stage two, AJ Allmendinger is now less than a second behind Justin Allgaier who is stuck in traffic.
Justin Allgaier wins stage two for his 16th stage win this season!
The top 10 at the end of stage two:
Justin Allgaier
AJ Allmendinger
Ryan Sieg
Brandon Jones
Chandler Smith
Cole Custer
Aric Almirola
Jesse Love
Riley Herbst
Taylor Gray
Drivers come down pit road for service and adjustments with AJ Allmendinger winning the race off of pit road. Saying that he is fighting a bit of everything, Justin Allgaier was the second driver off of pit road.
AJ Allmendinger brings the field down for the green flag start of stage three with Justin Allgaier alongside on lap 97. Approaching the restart zone, drivers spread out and stacked up the field. Taylor Gray got spun out in the melee to bring out the caution flag.
Jesse Love, Corey Heim, and Austin Hill all came down pit road for repairs and fresh tires. Sammy Smith also has some damage to his car.
AJ Allmendinger brings the field down once again for the green flag restart on lap 103. AJ Allmendinger takes the lead after a bad start for Justin Allgaier.
Lap 104, Justin Allgaier is on AJ Allmendinger’s bumper challenging for the lead; Chandler Smith, Cole Custer, and Aric Almirola round out the to pfive.
Shane van Gisbergen has returned to the track 55 laps down.
Lap 106, there are 30 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 107, AJ Allmendinger has a near half second lead on Justin Allgaier, Chandler smith, Cole Custer, and Ryan Sieg round out the top five.
Sammy Smith restarted the race in eleventh and has fallen to 16th and falling.
Ryan Sieg passes Cole Custer for fourth.
Lap 112, AJ Allmendinger holds a near half second lead on Justin Allgaier.
Lap 115, AJ Allmendinger holds on to the lead; he is the only driver in the playoffs who does not have a win.
Justin Allgaier had some bad blistering on his last set of tires. There is some debris on his front grille.
Lap 120, AJ Allmendinger holds on to the lead on Justin Allgaier; Chandler Smith, Ryan Sieg, and Aric Almirola round out the top five.
Lap 124, Justin Allgaier has some debris on his front grille and is now reporting an alternator issue. Allgaier’s crew chief tried to make a deal with AJ Allmendinger’s crew chief to get the debris off, but the deal failed. Allgaier ended up using a lapped car to get the debris off.
AJ Allmendinger continues to lead the race.
Lap 129, the top five are AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, Chandler Smith, Ryan Sieg, and Aric Almirola.
Lap 134, AJ Allmendinger has pulled out to a lead of over a second and a half on Justin Allgaier with 28 cars on the lead lap.
Lap 138, Ryan Sieg passes Chandler Smith for third.
Lap 141, leader AJ Allmendinger passes Sammy Smith to put Smith one lap down.
Leland Honeyman makes a stop on pit road and Shane van Gisbergen is off the track.
Lap 144, Chandler Smith is the first driver to come down pit road for his green flag pit stop with 58 laps remaining in the race. Cole Custer also comes down pit road.
Justin Allgaier reports that the temperatures have come down.
Lap 147, more drivers make their green flag pit stops.
Josh Williams makes his green flag pit stop and gives the lead back to AJ Allmendinger with 50 laps remaining in the race.
Lap 154, AJ Allmendinger leads the race with Justin Allgaier in second.
Sammy Smith makes his trip down pit road for repairs and normal service. Smith ran out of fuel.
With 42 laps remaining in the race, AJ Allmendinger has a near three second lead on Justin Allgaier; Chandler Smith, Ryan Sieg, and Riley Herbst round out the top five.
When making his pit stop, Josh Williams’ gas man was losing large amounts of fuel after the fuel cap came off.
With 37 laps to go, AJ Allmendinger has pulled out to a three second lead on Justin Allgaier; Ryan Sieg, Chandler Smith, and Riley Herbst round out the top five.
With 33 laps to go, there are just 14 cars on the lead lap.
AJ Allmendinger continues to extend his lead on Justin Allgaier and is now over three seconds out in front.
The caution flag comes out with 31 laps to go when Kyle Sieg spins out and has two flat tires.
Ryan Sieg gets around Justin Allgaier for second.
The teams have four sets of tires for the race.
Drivers come down pit road for adjustments and fresh tires. AJ Allmendinger wins the race off of pit road; Justin Allgaier comes out in fifth.
AJ Allmendinger brings the field down for the green flag restart with just 26 laps remaining in the race with Ryan Sieg alongside. Eight drivers took the wave around. Allmendinger jumps out in front for the lead with Chandler Smith taking second.
The top five are AJ Allmendinger, Chandler Smith, Ryan Sieg, Parker Kligerman, and Justin Allgaier with 23 cars on the lead lap.
Ryan Sieg passes Chandler Smith for second with AJ Allmendinger nearly a second out in front.
Twenty to go! AJ Allmendinger has a near one second lead on Ryan Sieg; Chandler Smith, Justin Allgaier, and Riley Herbst round out the top five.
Justin Allgaier passes Chandler Smith for third with 17 laps to go.
Ryan Sieg is just half a second behind leader AJ Allmendinger.
Just 15 laps to go, Ryan Sieg has closed the gap on leader AJ Allmendinger to a third of a second; third place driver Justin Allgaier nearly two seconds back.
Leland Honeyman and Shane van Gisbergen are out of the race.
Ten to go! Ryan Sieg has caught leader AJ Allmendinger and is looking to pass for the lead; Justin Allgaier, Chandler Smith, and Cole Custer round out the top five.
Nine to Ryan Sieg and AJ Allmendinger battle for the lead but Sieg got loose and falls back to half a second behind.
Sammy Smith is slowed on the track and reports that he can’t make it back to pit road. He brings out the caution flag with seven laps remaining in the race.
Sammy Smith reports a voltage issue and gets the car refired.
Drivers who took the wave around come down pit road for that final set of fresh tires.
AJ Allmendinger brings the field down for the green flag restart with Ryan Sieg alongside; there are only two laps remaining in the race. Allmendinger gets out in front after a push from Justin Allgaier.
AJ Allmendinger takes the white flag with Ryan Sieg on his bumper.
AJ Allmendinger finally gets his race win of the season and secures a spot in the final four in Phoenix. After a big burnout, AJ gets lots of hugs from his crew members. And it is boss man Matt Kaulig’s birthday.
The unofficial results of the Ambetter Health 302:
AJ Allmendinger
Ryan Sieg
Justin Allgaier
Chandler Smith
Parker Kligerman
Jesse Love
Riley Herbst
Cole Custer
Sheldon Creed
Austin Hill
Corey Heim
Daniel Dye
Aric Almirola
Sam Mayer
Josh Williams
Matt DiBenedetto
Brandon Jones
Jeremy Clements
Anthony Alfredo
Kyle Weatherman
Brennan Poole
Parker Retzlaff
Myatt Snider
Jeb Burton
JJ Yeley
Kyle Sieg
Dylan Lupton
Ryan Ellis
Garrett Smithley
Joey Gase
Blaine Perkins
Sammy Smith
Taylor Gray
Ryan Vargas
Akinori Ogata
Dawson Cram
Leland Honeyman
Shane van Gisbergen