Boy, that race was wild wasn’t it? The remnants from Hurricane Delta played a huge factor in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at the Charlotte ROVAL, including determining the outcome of the race winner.
Chase Briscoe was leading the race on an Overtime restart, before spinning around on a wet racetrack in Turn 1, which ultimately cost him the race. He finished a forgettable 18th. Thankfully for the Indiana native, he was already locked into the Round of 8 with his Las Vegas victory a few weeks ago.
With Briscoe falling out of contention, insert AJ Allmendinger who is a master of racing in the rain. He took the lead after Briscoe spun and won for the second time this year, giving team owner Matt Kaulig his fifth win of the year.
But, the rain played a factor throughout the day and impacted several playoff drivers ending their championship chances.
Here are this week’s Power Rankings following the Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte ROVAL.
- Chase Briscoe – The results don’t show how strong the No. 98 team was throughout the race, but Briscoe certainly had the race wrapped up had he not spun in Turn 1 following an Overtime restart. After the completion of Stage 1, Briscoe’s car came to life and dominated Stage 2 giving him the stage victory. When Stage 2 was completed, the battle for the win was between Briscoe and road course expert Allmendinger. Unfortunately for Briscoe, he missed out on gaining maximum points by spinning out of the lead, giving Allmendinger the victory. However, the Indiana native was already locked into the Round of 8 which begins this weekend at Kansas Speedway.
Previous Week Rankings – First - Noah Gragson – That was a hard-fought second place for Noah Gragson and company. There were multiple times when the Las Vegas native spun around, going off the racetrack. In addition, Gragson might have made a new rival, as he and Riley Herbst made contact with each other multiple times throughout the 68-lap race. The first incident occurred on Lap 28, when the two had an incident in Turn 5, while other moments saw hard racing between the two. Aside from the hard racing with Herbst, Gragson spun off track a couple of times out of the lead. Even though Gragson spun, he came back to finish second, earning his 14th top five of the year.
Previous Week Ranking – Second - Ross Chastain – It was a fifth-place finish for Ross Chastain despite his windshield wiper not working for the majority of the race. He led no laps but had strong finishes of sixth in Stage 1 and second in Stage 2 which was enough for the Floridan to move onto the Round of 8 in the Playoffs.
Previous Week Ranking – Fourth - Alex Labbe – It was a feel good story for Alex Labbe’s No. 36 Mario Gosselin owned team. The Canadian earned his first ever top-five finish Saturday afternoon after placing fourth in the running order. Before coming home fourth, Labbe had finished third in both stages. It was certainly a great day for Labbe and his finishing position should give this team some momentum.
Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked - Austin Cindric – It was an uncharacteristic-like finish for Cindric and the No. 22 Team Penske team, finishing sixth in the final results at a track that should have played into Cindric’s favor. In the past few years, Cindric has managed a third in 2018 and third in last year’s race before winding up with his 23rd Top 10 finish of the 2020 Xfinity Series season. Should Cindric finish sixth to 10th this week at Kansas, he’ll match last year’s top 10s with 24 to his credit.
Previous Week Ranking – Third
Fell Out
- Justin Haley – Unfortunately for Haley, a crash on Lap 35 ended his race early and he was credited with a 35th place finishing position.
Previous Week Ranking – Fifth
