RELATED: Dash 4 Cash 101
RELATED: Results
RICHMOND, Va. — Being handed an oversized check that ticks the six-figure mark stands as a heck of a consolation prize, but there was still a bittersweet feeling Saturday afternoon for Justin Allgaier, who stood oh-so-close to Victory Lane.
Allgaier finished second in Saturday’s ToyotaCare 250 for the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Richmond International Raceway, snagging the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus offered by the series sponsor. His finish was tops among the three other eligible drivers — pole-starter Daniel Hemric (third place), points leader Elliott Sadler (seventh) and rookie Kyle Benjamin (32nd in his series debut).
But it was Allgaier who seemed to absorb the most disappointment, leading three times for 157 of the 254 laps but coming up just shy of his second victory of the season behind eventual winner Kyle Larson.
MORE: 2017 NXS winners
Allgaier led with Sadler closing in second for a lengthy green-flag run in the final stage, but when BJ McLeod’s engine expired to unfurl the caution flag with 10 laps before the scheduled end, strategies and the running order were thrown into disarray. Allgaier’s JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet restarted second, but a pair of chaotic restarts that included leader Ty Dillon’s jump (later penalized) shuffled both him and Sadler back behind Larson.
“For what these guys did to bring a great race car, I mean we had a lights-out race car today,” said Allgaier, who won the Dash 4 Cash prize for the second time this season. He also moved up one position to second place in the XFINITY standings. “In hindsight, maybe we would’ve been better off if it would’ve gone green to the end, but at the end of the day, this happens. We’re dejected, but I can promise you that next week, we’ll be ready to go — fire in our bellies and ready to go win one that we should’ve gotten this weekend.”
Sadler held on for his seventh top-10 finish in eight races, leaving Richmond with a sizable 41-point edge in the standings. Hemric led the opening 26 laps after posting the first Coors Light Pole Award of his XFINITY career. Benjamin didn’t get the result he aimed for in his series debut, but made a strong showing before a crucial miscue during the final round of pit stops.
Benjamin, a 19-year-old product of the NASCAR Next youth initiative, started an impressive second, then logged stage finishes of fifth and sixth — the last of which clinched his spot in the Dash 4 Cash field. But during the final pit-stop exchange, his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota rolled off the jack — the result of what he said was a clutch not fully engaged — and Benjamin exited his pit stall with loose lugs.
The extra pit stop to remedy the issue mired him back in the pack, and he was sidelined by a six-car stack-up on the traffic-packed restart that forced the final caution period. Still, Benjamin said his first start in the series was productive, leaving him eager for his next XFINITY appearance, scheduled for June 10 at Pocono Raceway.
“It was definitely educational,” said Benjamin, the 2016 runner-up in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. “I learned a lot today. Just wish I hadn’t made that mistake there at the end, but other than that, we had a really consistent day. A lot of positive things happened. Got to race around some really good guys and learned from them.”