South Point 400
AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Camaro ZL1
- AJ Allmendinger qualified 22nd for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- Allmendinger battled a loose handling No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevy from the start of the South Point 400. He reported early he was lacking rear grip. The team came to pit road for a scheduled green flag stop on lap 33 for four tires, fuel, an air pressure and wedge adjustment to help tighten up the car. When the first caution came out on lap 66, Allmendinger was running in 20th place. The No. 16 came back to pit road under caution for fuel, an air pressure adjustment and to put on qualifying tires. Allmendinger restarted in 19th and went on to finish the opening stage in 18th place.
- Under the stage break, the team came back to pit road for four fresh tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. On the restart on lap 87, Allmendinger received a penalty for an improper restart. He served a pass-thru penalty and came off pit road in 35th place, one lap down. When the caution came out on lap 112, the No. 16 was in the lucky dog position. The team came down pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment and Allmendinger restarted in 32nd on lap 118. Throughout the stage, Allmendinger continued to battle the handling of his Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevy and he went on to finish stage two in 24th.
- Under the stage caution, Allmendinger reported he was better on entry that run. The team made another air pressure adjustment in the same direction and Allmendinger restarted in 24th on lap 172. Spotter, Frank Deiny, continued feeding Allmendinger information on where to run to make passes and the team made adjustments throughout the stage to help with the handling of the No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevy. Allmendinger finished 21st in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“We struggled this weekend with our No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevy. We battled the handling of our car all day and just lacked speed. We’ll regroup and move on to Homestead.” – AJ Allmendinger
Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1
- Justin Haley qualified 20th for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- Haley’s No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1 fired off tight, forcing him to fall back to 25th. Haley worked his way back up to 21st as the No. 31 Chevy began freeing up and made his first green-flag pit stop on lap 32 for four tires and fuel. Haley made it up to 19th before the first caution of the day came out on lap 66. He pitted to put on his qualifying tires to finish out the stage. The green flag came out on lap 72, and Haley went on to finish the stage in 19th.
- Haley pitted during the stage break to put on sticker tires. He told the team he felt his No. 31 Chevy was definitely a better long-run car. After starting the second stage in eighth place on lap 87, Haley fell as far as 27th and radioing he felt an issue with his right-rear tire. Fortunately, a caution fell on lap 112, and Haley pitted under yellow for four fresh tires and fuel. He restarted 25th with 48 laps remaining in stage two. The next caution came out on 146, and Haley pitted for four tires and fuel before restarting 23rd with 16 to go in the second stage. Haley reported another issue with his left-rear tire and was forced to nurse his No. 31 Chevy to the stage end, finishing 34th.
- Haley took tires and fuel during the second stage break and started the final stage in 31st. The first caution of the stage came out on lap 210, and Haley radioed that his No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevy needed to be tightened up. He pitted under caution from 25th for tires and fuel and restarted 27th with 52 laps remaining. The caution flag came out right after the restart, and Haley stayed out. The green flag waved again with 45 laps to go, as Haley sat 26th. The race stayed green for the remainder of the race, and Haley went on to finish 22nd.
“We didn’t get the finish I feel like we could have had. We fired off way too tight today, but the car freed up as we ran. We definitely had a great, long-run car today. Unfortunately, a couple tire issues set us back, and we had to play catch-up and gain back some track position in the final stage. It’s disappointing, but we had good speed in our No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, so we will take everything we learned today and move on.” – Justin Haley
Alsco Uniforms 302
Chandler Smith, No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro
- Chandler Smith qualified fourth for the Alsco Uniforms 302.
- Smith moved up two positions on the opening lap and ran in second before a caution came out for fluids on track on lap five. He restarted on lap 11 from second but moved into the lead thanks to a strong shove from teammate, Daniel Hemric, coming to the green. Another yellow flew on lap 14, and Smith restarted from first place on the outside row on lap 19. With 11 laps remaining, the No. 00 passed Smith for the lead, dropping him to second, where he’d finish stage one.
- Smith came into the pits during the stage caution for tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment and restarted on lap 53 in fourth. After jumping into third on the restart, another caution came out, which led to a red flag that stopped the race momentarily on lap 55. The race restarted on lap 59 with Smith choosing the outside line in the second row to take the green. He fell back to sixth after getting pushed high on the restart lap, and he stayed there until the green-white-checkered flew at the end of the second stage.
- Smith came down during the second stage caution for tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. He restarted in sixth on lap 97 but quickly passed two cars to move into fourth on lap 102. He pitted for the final time on lap 142 for tires, fuel and a front packer adjustment and cycled into third after a quick stop by the No. 16 Quick Tie Products pit crew. With 34 laps to go, Smith passed the No. 00 for second but lost the spot three laps later to the No. 20 car after being held up by lapped traffic. With eight laps remaining, the No. 00 re-passed Smith, pushing him back into fourth place, where he finished the race.
“At the very end of the race, we got the car to be pretty solid. We’re going to have to go back to the shop to get a bit more speed out of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevy for Homestead-Miami next weekend, but it was overall a decent day even if we dropped some points to the cutline.” Chandler Smith
Daniel Hemric, No. 10 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro
- Daniel Hemric qualified sixth for the Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- Hemric was up to fourth before the caution came out on lap five. He reported under the caution laps that his car had good stability. The team stayed out under caution and restarted as the second car on the inside on lap 10. Hemric was running fourth when the caution came out again on lap 14. He restarted from fourth on lap 18 and maintained his track position to finish the opening stage in fourth position.
- Hemric came down pit road at the stage break for four tires and fuel. After gaining one position off pit road, he restarted as the first car on the inside on lap 52. Hemric had nearly been pushed to the lead by teammate Chandler Smith when the caution came out on lap 55, which then turned into a red flag. He restarted as the first car on the inside on lap 59 but slipped back to fifth on the restart. Hemric went on to finish the second stage in fifth position.
- The team came down pit road under the stage break for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. After gaining two positions off pit road, Hemric restarted in third on lap 97. After Hemric had fallen back to eighth by lap 122, the No.10 Chevy was the first car to start the green flag pit cycles, as the team gave him four tires and fuel with 61 laps to go. While running 10th, Hemric reported that he was struggling with rear grip. He went on to finish the race in ninth place.
“We had a promising weekend going with the No. 10 Cirkul Chevrolet. We thought we had the ability to run solid inside the top five the first two stages of the race, but we just lost the balance there the last 100 laps of the race. I’m glad we were able to salvage a top 10 out of it. We look forward to trying to be better next week in Homestead.” – Daniel Hemric
Layne Riggs, No. 11 Infinity Communications Group Chevrolet Camaro
- Layne Riggs qualified ninth for the Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- Under caution on lap five, Riggs reported he needed to be freed up on the first pit stop. The team stayed out under caution and restarted in 10th on lap 10. The caution came out on lap 14 while Riggs was running 11th. He told his team he learned something on that run of where he needed to make moves and block on the track. Riggs restarted from 11th on lap 18 and continued to fall back as the stage went on while battling a tight-handling race car. Riggs finished the opening stage in 16th place and reported his race car felt unstable. The team came to pit road under the stage break for four tires, fuel, an air pressure and chassis adjustment to help with the stability of the car.
- Riggs restarted in 13th on lap 52. When the caution came out on lap 55, the No. 11 Infinity Communications Chevy had taken over 12th place and Riggs reported he was happy with how the car fired off following the previous adjustments made. The field took the green on lap 59 and by lap 67, Riggs had fallen to 14th reporting he was too free and was lacking security. Riggs went on to finish the second stage in 15th place.
- The team came down pit road under the stage break for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. Riggs exited pit road in 12th place where he restarted on lap 97. On lap 128, Riggs took over 10th place telling his team he was too free, especially in turns three and four. The No. 11 Chevy came to pit road on lap 141 for a scheduled green-flag pit stop, and Riggs cycled back to 11th place, just behind teammate, Daniel Hemric. on lap 156, Riggs took over 10th place where he went on to finish in the Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning a career-best NXS finish.
“We finished the race, we had no damage, and we stayed on the lead lap. All of our goals were accomplished today and a little bit more. I couldn’t be more thankful to Infinity Communications, Kaulig Racing, Chris Rice and Matt Kaulig for giving me this opportunity. I had so much fun out there being able to not only race, but race hard and really get comfortable with the car while racing around a lot of competitive guys. I couldn’t be more happy with our weekend with the No. 11 Infinity Communications team, and I’m excited to be back with the team for Martinsville.” – Layne Riggs
About Kaulig Racing™
Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started and has won back-to-back regular-season championships. Before becoming a full-time NCS team, Kaulig Racing made multiple starts in the 2021 NCS season and won in its seventh-ever start with AJ Allmendinger’s victory at “The Brickyard” for the Verizon 200 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The team expanded to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 with Justin Haley piloting the No. 31 Camaro ZL1, and an all-star lineup featured in the No. 16 Camaro ZL1. Haley will continue to drive the No. 31 full-time in 2023, alongside AJ Allmendinger, who will drive the No. 16 Camaro ZL1. The team will continue to field three, full-time NXS entries; the No. 10 Chevrolet driven by Daniel Hemric, the No. 11 Chevrolet driven by an all-star lineup, and the No. 16 Chevrolet driven by Chandler Smith. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.
