Last Saturday, March 15, the NASCAR Xfinity Series took on Las Vegas Motor Speedway for “The LiUNA!” for 300 grueling miles in Sin City. JR Motorsports was fast off the trailer on Friday and immediately, everyone knew they weren’t messing around, as they swept the Top-3 during qualifying. Sammy Smith captured the Pole with a time of 29.435.
Smith led the field to the Green Flag with teammate Carson Kvapil on his outside and Connor Zilisch on his bumper. Coming out of Turn 2, William Sawalich’s day came to an early end, slamming the outside SAFER barrier, after Jeb Burton got him aero loose. Parker Retzlaff spun out in the process, but both him and Burton were able to keep going.
Once the field was able to get a consistent Green Flag run, JRM once again showed strength up front. Smith was joined by teammate Justin Allgaier in the battle for the lead on Lap 15, as their Rookie teammates, Kvapil and Zilisch trailed behind them. The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates of Aric Almirola and Taylor Gray came to play in the Top-5, proving they had long-run cars.
With less than ten-to-go in Stage 1, it wound up being last week’s winner, Almirola and Allgaier, duking it out for the Stage win, with Allgaier ultimately prevailing. Rounding out the Top-5 behind the duo were Kvapil, Zilisch and Gray.
Prior to Stage 2, Kaulig Racing’s #11 Chevrolet had a driver swap, with Josh Williams stepping out of the car for Ty Dillon, since Williams was under the weather.
When the Green Flag came out for Stage 2 on lap 56, Almirola had the advantage after having the fastest pit stop, with Kvapil alongside. Ryan Sieg didn’t get a good start, while the rest of the field charged ahead. Almirola had a swarm of Chevrolets on his tail, as Austin Hill got to second place, prior to JRM flexing their muscles once again.
With one-to-go in Stage 2, Allgaier got a run on the high side of Turn 3, attempting to catch Almirola for the stage win. He was unsuccessful, as Almirola wound up collecting the Stage 2 win and Allgaier ended up second. Rounding out the rest of the Top-5 respectively were Zilisch, Smith and Sam Mayer, who had a fairly quiet afternoon thus far.
The final stage would be a 100-lap dash to the finish, with Almirola leading the pack. Allgaier layed up on the JGR driver’s bumper, eventually prevailing after having to battle his rookie teammate of Zilisch. Allgaier was looking to build momentum early in his quest to win back-to-back NXS titles.
During Green Flag pit stops, there were no major issues and Allgaier was able to reclaim the lead with under 50-laps-to-go. Almirola was still his toughest competition, but Allgaier proved to be dominant in Las Vegas. This was Allgaier’s 26th-career NXS victory and he walked out of Sin City with a first-place spot in the Championship Standings, +19 above Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love, heading into Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Hard Rock Bet 300 will take the Green Flag at 4:00PM EST/1:00PM CST on the CW and you won’t want to miss 38 drivers taking on the worn-out surface of the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Catch all of the action today on the CW!
Every Man on Every Crew, LLC. 
Leave a comment