Justin Allgaier rallied from losing a dominant run at Phoenix Raceway a week ago to earn a redemptive NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 15.
The reigning Xfinity Series champion from Riverton, Illinois, led three times for a race-high 102 of 200 scheduled laps. He qualified in sixth place and wasted no time quickly marching his way to the front. After assuming the lead for the first time on the 14th lap, Allgaier cruised to win the first stage period. Despite losing a handful of spots on pit road after the first stage break, he rallied to finish a close second place behind Almirola after the second stage period.
Restarting inside the top five to start the final stage period with 102 laps remaining, Allgaier reassumed the top spot from teammate Connor Zilisch with 73 laps remaining. Then, following a cycle of green flag pit stops with less than 60 laps remaining, Allgaier, who was being intimidated by Almirola prior to the pit stops, benefitted from lapped traffic. He overtook Almirola after the latter had cycled ahead of the former during the pit stops. Once Allgaier returned atop the leaderboard with 48 laps remaining, he never looked back. Fending off a late charge from Almirola, he claimed his first Xfinity victory of the 2025 campaign in Sin City and reaffirmed his quest to defend his series title.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, March 14, Sammy Smith notched his third Xfinity pole position of his career and first of the 2025 season with a pole-winning lap at 183.455 mph in 29.435 seconds. Joining Smith on the front row was teammate Carson Kvapil, the latter of whom clocked in his best qualifying lap at 183.038 mph in 29.502 seconds.
Before the event, several drivers, including Leland Honeyman, Brandon Jones and rookie Dean Thompson, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved, Sammy Smith jumped ahead with an early advantage from the inside lane as his teammate, Carson Kvapil, struggled to launch at the start from the outside lane. As Kvapil dropped to third place, teammate Connor Zilisch followed Smith through the first two turns.
Then, entering the backstretch, the event’s first caution flew when rookie William Sawalich, who was racing in the top 10, made contact with Jeb Burton as Sawalich veered to the right and pounded the outside wall, which left him with a mangled right side to his No. 18 Soundgear Toyota Supra entry. As the field scattered to avoid Sawalich’s incident, Parker Retzlaff made contact with both Austin Hill and rookie Daniel Dye, which got Retzlaff loose and spinning sideways through the backstretch. While both Burton and Retzlaff continued, the damage to Sawalich’s entry was enough to terminate his event without completing the first lap.
The start of the ensuing restart on the fifth lap featured Sammy Smith receiving another strong start from the inside lane as he had Kvapil pushing him entering the first turn. Through the first two turns and the backstretch, all four JR Motorsports competitors occupied the top four spots as the field fanned out. While Zilisch was trying to fend off teammate Justin Allgaier for third place, Smith led the following lap over Kvapil.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Sammy Smith was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Allgaier, while teammates Kvapil and Zilisch followed suit. Behind, rookie Taylor Gray trailed in fifth place as Aric Almirola, Sam Mayer, rookie Nick Sanchez, Jesse Love and rookie Christian Eckes were racing in the top 10 ahead of Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Sieg, Austin Hill, Sheldon Creed and Jeb Burton, respectively. By then, Anthony Alfredo, Jeremy Clements, Harrison Burton, Ryan Sieg and Blaine Perkins occupied the top-20 spots.
Four laps later, Allgaier used strong gains from Turns 3 and 4 to get underneath teammate Sammy Smith through the frontstretch and overtake him for the lead. Allgaier would proceed to stretch his advantage to more than two seconds over Smith by Lap 20 while Kvapil, Gray and Zilisch trailed in the top five, respectively.
At the Lap 25 mark, Allgaier added an extra two seconds to his advantage as he was leading by more than four seconds over teammate Sammy Smith while third-place Kvapil trailed by nearly six seconds. Meanwhile, Aric Almirola was in fourth place after he overtook Zilisch and Gray, while Mayer, Love, Eckes and Austin Hill trailed in the top 10, respectively.
Ten laps later, Allgaier’s advantage grew to seven seconds over the new runner-up competitor, Almirola, as Sammy Smith fell back to third place. By then, Kvapil was trying to gain ground on Smith for third place while Gray retained fifth place over Zilisch, Mayer, Love, Hill and Eckes, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Allgaier captured his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2025 season. Almirola trailed in the runner-up spot by more than eight seconds while Kvapil, Zilisch, Gray, Sammy Smith, Hill, Love, Mayer and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Under the stage break, Josh Williams, who was battling an illness despite competing throughout the first stage’s entirety, was relieved by Ty Dillon as the latter piloted the No. 11 Alloy Chevrolet Camaro entry for the remainder of the event. In addition, Jeremy Clements stalled his No. 51 First Pacific Funding Chevrolet Camaro entry below the track’s backstretch due to a fuel pump issue and for running out of fuel.
When pit road became accessible for the field, the leaders, led by Allgaier, peeled off the track to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Almirola exited pit road first. He was followed by Kvapil, Hill, Gray, Zilisch, Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Ryan Sieg and Love, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Love was penalized for an uncontrolled tire that rolled out of his pit box.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Almirola and Kvapil occupied the front row. At the start, Almirola received a strong push from Hill from the inside lane, which enabled Almirola to muscle ahead of Kvapil and the field to lead through the first two turns. As the field fanned out, Kvapil and Hill dueled for the runner-up spot in front of Sammy Smith, Zilisch and Allgaier as Almirola led the following lap. Hill would then move into the runner-up spot and be challenged by Smith for the spot while Kvapil was battling Zilisch for fourth place. Amid the battles, Almirola led the Lap 55 mark.
Just past the Lap 60 mark, Almirola continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Sammy Smith as Zilisch, Allgaier, Hill, Kvapil and Gray followed suit as they were all trailing the lead by two seconds. Behind, Eckes, Mayer and Jones rounded out the top 10 ahead of Harrison Burton, rookie Daniel Dye, Kyle Sieg, Creed and Sanchez. As Love was trying to rally from his pit road penalty by climbing up to 19th place on the leaderboard, Zilisch and Allgaier overtook teammate Sammy Smith for second and third, respectively, on the track as Almirola extended his lead to more than a second by Lap 65.
At the Lap 70 mark, Almirola stabilized his lead to seven-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Allgaier while third-place Zilisch trailed by more than a second. Two laps later, Hill pitted his No. 21 Bennett Chevrolet Camaro entry from fifth place due to loose lug nuts on the left-rear tire area and lost a lap as a result of his unscheduled pit stop, Allgaier decreased Almirola’s advantage to two-tenths of a second by Lap 75 as the leaders were approaching lapped traffic.
By Lap 80, Almirola had retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Almirola. Then, a lap later, the battle for the lead brewed as Allgaier drove to Almirola’s rear bumper and followed in his tracks through every turn and straightaway. Despite Allgaier’s efforts, Almirola, who was approaching more lapped traffic, fended off the latter’s challenge. He maintained the top spot through the Lap 85 mark. By then, third-place Zilisch trailed the two leaders by more than two seconds as Sammy Smith and Mayer pursued in the top five.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Almirola, the winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Phoenix Raceway, fended off Allgaier to capture his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2025 season. Allgaier trailed in the runner-up spot by three-tenths of a second. Zilisch, Sammy Smith, Mayer, Kvapil, Gray, Jones, Creed and Love were scored in the top 10, respectively. Hill was awarded the free pass due to being scored the first competitor a lap down from the field.
During the stage break, the lead lap field, led by Almirola, returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Almirola retained the lead after he exited pit road first and he was followed by Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Jones, Gray, Love, Zilisch, Mayer, Kvapil and Creed, respectively. Amid the pit stops, Gray was penalized for a safety violation.
With 102 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Almirola and Sammy Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Almirola received a push from both Allgaier and Zilisch to launch his No. 19 Younglife Toyota Supra entry ahead of Smith entering the first turn. Then, through the first two turns, Zilisch got underneath Allgaier and battled with him through the backstretch for the runner-up spot. As Almirola led the following lap, Zilisch would muscle past Allgaier for the runner-up spot through the first two turns. Zilisch then used the outside lane to get alongside Almirola and edge him to lead with 100 laps remaining. With a strong run from the outside lane through the first two turns, Zilisch muscled his No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead and cleared Almirola for the lead.
With 99 laps remaining, Zilisch was leading ahead of Almirola as Allgaier, Mayer and Sammy Smith pursued in the top five. Behind, Love and Kvapil were racing in the top-seven mark while Creed and Jones fiercely battled for eighth place in front of Harrison Burton. Over the next four laps, Zilisch slightly extended his lead to six-tenths of a second over teammate Allgaier while Almirola fell back to third place.
Down to the final 85 laps of the event, Zilisch retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Allgaier while third-place Almirola trailed by two seconds. Behind, Mayer and Love were up into the top five while Sammy Smith, Kvapil, Creed, Jones and Ryan Sieg trailed in the top 10, respectively.
Ten laps later, the battle for the lead started to brew as Allgaier trailed teammate Zilisch by a tenth of a second while both were mired in lapped traffic. A lap later, Allgaier got beneath Zilisch through Turns 3 and 4 and would lead with 73 laps remaining. Amid dueling with Zilisch, the latter would muscle back ahead before Allgaier used the frontstretch to get beneath Zilisch and lead with 72 laps remaining. Compared to his previous attempt, Allgaier then managed to muscle his No. 7 Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead and retain the top spot for the following two laps while Zilisch gave chase.
With 60 laps remaining, Allgaier extended his advantage to more than a second over a new runner-up competitor, Almirola. Zilisch fell back to third place and trailed by nearly two seconds. Meanwhile, Mayer and Love pursued in the top five while Sammy Smith, Kvapil, Hill, Jones and Ryan Sieg were in the top 10.
A few laps later, select drivers, including Sanchez, Gray, Ryan Sieg, Mayer and Creed pitted their respective entries under green. Then, with 56 laps remaining, the leader, Allgaier, pitted along with Almirola, Love, Sammy Smith, Jones, Harrison Burton, Eckes and Jeb Burton as Zilisch pitted with 55 laps remaining. As more names pitted over the ensuing laps, Almirola managed to blend back onto the track ahead of Allgaier. Amid the pit stops, Sammy Smith, Sanchez and Zilisch were all penalized for speeding on pit road. Jeb Burton would also be penalized for dragging his gas can out of his pit box.
With 48 laps remaining, Allgaier, who overtook Almirola on the track a few laps earlier after Almirola was held up by lapped traffic, cycled back into the lead after the initial leader, Kyle Sieg, pitted under green. As more names pitted, Almirola cycled back into second place while Love, Mayer and Hill moved up into the top five ahead of Jones, Kvapil, Ryan Sieg, Creed and Gray.
Down to the final 40 laps of the event, Allgaier was leading by one-and-a-half seconds over Almirola while third-place Love trailed by nearly 11 seconds. By then, Gray, who was racing within the top-10 mark, made an unscheduled pit stop, which cost him multiple laps, as Mayer and Hill filled out the top-five spots.
Ten laps later, Allgaier continued to lead by more than a second over Almirola. By then, only 11 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. The competitor who was racing at the tail end of the lead lap category was Zilisch, who trailed the lead by 29 seconds as he had Harrison Burton, Creed, Ryan Sieg, Kvapil, Jones, Hill, Mayer and Love all trailing the lead by double digits.
Another six laps later, Almirola started to shave off Allgaier’s advantage as he trailed by exactly a second. Almirola continued to make big gains on Allgaier’s lead and with 20 laps remaining, he trailed by only four-tenths of a second. Amid Almirola’s big gains over the next five laps, Allgaier retained the lead by four-tenths of a second with 15 laps remaining.
As the event reached its final 10-lap mark, Allgaier navigated through lapped traffic and maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Almirola. By then, Love trailed in third place by 10 seconds as Mayer and Hill remained in the top five, respectively.
Another lap later, Kvapil, who was racing in seventh place, pitted under green for fuel. Amid Kvapil’s late pit stop, the leaders approached more lapped traffic. Allgaier led a hard-charging Almirola through every corner and straightaway. With Allgaier racing on the inside lane through the turns, he continued to lead Almirola’s challenge with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier, who stretched his advantage over Almirola after Almirola went up the track and lost crucial ground for the lead three laps earlier, remained in the lead by a second over Almirola. With Almirola unable to regain the ground lost earlier, Allgaier was able to smoothly cycle his entry around the Vegas circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by a second over Almirola.
With the victory, Allgaier, who led a race-high 102 laps, captured his 26th career win in the Xfinity Series level, his first at Las Vegas and the 90th Xfinity victory for JR Motorsports.
Overall, the 2025 season marks Allgaier’s ninth consecutive year where the Illinois veteran has captured at least one victory, which placed him in a tie with Kyle Busch and Mark Martin for the longest winning streak all-time. In addition, Las Vegas Motor Speedway became the 19th track that has been won by Allgaier.
“It feels amazing,” Allgaier said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “This whole team, I cannot say enough. The fans that are here, thank you. I hope we put on a great show for you. Aric [Almirola] and I were going at it and hats off to him. He raced a heck of a race. Just so proud of everybody on this Jarrett Camaro. To see the speed we had since we unloaded off the truck, I was really sad with the sixth-place qualifying effort.
“To be able to get here, to have the Jarrett folks here,…every man and woman that works at JR Motorsports, [I] just cannot say thank you enough and how proud I am of what we have here. It’s been special and God is good, man. I’ve been lucky enough to win a lot of races in my career and this one means a lot because I feel like we’ve been so close. Last week, [I] was right there and we battled with Aric.”
“Today’s word of the day was discipline,” Allgaier added. “[It involved] not missing the bottom. Aric had a fast car. We kind of flip-flopped back and forth there a few times. After the pit cycle there, I got lucky and I was able to get by him with some lap traffic and that was really the difference maker for the race…Really proud of the effort.”
Almirola, who led 51 laps, settled in second place for his third consecutive top-three result in his third of nine scheduled Xfinity starts in Sin City. Amid the disappointment of being one position shy of notching back-to-back victories, Almirola was also left pleased with his strong performance.
Almirola’s next Xfinity event on his schedule will be at Martinsville Speedway on March 29 as Justin Bonsignore returns to pilot Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota entry next Saturday, March 22, at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“[I needed] Clean air,” Almirola said. “[Me and Allgaier] were evenly matched. I felt like he was just so much better than me on the short run and I would run him back down on the long run. He added, “I thought that might play into our favor if it went green. I thought my best shot was to cycle in front of him on the green flat stop, which we did. Our guys did a great job on pit road.
“Then I just misjudged some slower lapped traffic and [Allgaier] was able to get back by me. That, honestly, was the difference maker. I felt like if I could’ve stayed in front of him and held him up for a while, I would’ve been able to set in and drive back off from him in the long run. He was just able to build such a gap on the short run. Their car was so fast. Just came up short. I burned the front tires up trying to run him back down.”
Meanwhile, Jesse Love rallied from his early pit road penalty to finish in third place, while teammate Austin Hill rallied from losing a lap after making an unscheduled pit stop prior to the conclusion of the second stage period to finish in fourth place. Sam Mayer, who nearly overtook Hill on the final lap, came home in fifth place for his third top-five finish of the year.
Overall, Justin Allgaier, Jesse Love, Austin Hill and Sam Mayer are the first four competitors to qualify for the first Xfinity Dash 4 Cash round of the 2025 season, which will occur next Saturday, March 22, at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Brandon Jones, Ryan Sieg, Harrison Burton and rookie Connor Zilisch finished sixth through ninth, respectively, as they were the final four competitors to be scored on the lead lap. Sheldon Creed, who was the first competitor scored a lap down, completed the top 10.
Notably, pole-sitter Sammy Smith ended up in 14th place following his late pit road speeding penalty, Carson Kvapil fell back to 17th place after he pitted for fuel with eight laps remaining and Taylor Gray settled in 19th place in front of Nick Sanchez following his late pit road service. In addition, Ty Dillon, who relieved Josh Williams following the first stage period, came home in 29th place while six laps behind the leaders.
There were seven lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 18 laps.
Following the fifth event of the 2025 Xfinity Series season, Justin Allgaier leads the regular-season standings by 19 points over Jesse Love, 30 over Sam Mayer, 40 over Austin Hill and 44 over Sammy Smith.
Race Results:
1. Justin Allgaier, 102 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Aric Almirola, 51 laps led, Stage 1 winner
3. Jesse Love
4. Austin Hill
5. Sam Mayer
6. Brandon Jones
7. Ryan Sieg
8. Harrison Burton
9. Connor Zilisch, 28 laps led
10. Sheldon Creed, one lap down
11. Kyle Sieg, one lap down, six laps led
12. Daniel Dye, one lap down
13. Christian Eckes, one lap down
14. Sammy Smith, one lap down, 13 laps led
15. Dean Thompson, one lap down
16. Matt DiBenedetto, one lap down
17. Carson Kvapil, one lap down
18. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down
19. Taylor Gray, two laps down
20. Nick Sanchez, two laps down
21. Parker Retzlaff, two laps down
22. Brennan Poole, two laps down
23. Jeb Burton, two laps down
24. Jeremy Clements, three laps down
25. Kris Wright, four laps down
26. Blaine Perkins, five laps down
27. Garrett Smithley, six laps down
28. Patrick Emerling, six laps down
29. Josh Williams, six laps down (*relieved by Ty Dillon)
30. Leland Honeyman, six laps down
31. Josh Bilicki, seven laps down
32. Dawson Cram, eight laps down
33. Joey Gase, nine laps down
34. Ryan Ellis, 19 laps down
35. Greg Van Alst, 21 laps down
36. Austin Green – OUT, Alternator
37. Mason Massey – OUT, Suspension
38. William Sawalich – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, for the Hard Rock Bet 300. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, March 22, and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network.
