Sammy Smith, Austin Hill capitalize on rare Darlington off-night for Allgaier

DARLINGTON, S.C. – A rare off night for Justin Allgaier in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 tightened the race for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship as the postseason opened Saturday with the Fleetio 200 at Darlington Raceway. Allgaier started on the front row and won the first stage, but his car handled poorly over the final third of the race, and he fell through the field on a steady backpedal, finishing 17th on a night when Sheldon Creed easily won the race. Creed scored for the second time in his career and the first at Darlington. RELATED: Unofficial results | At-track photos: Darlington Perhaps more importantly, the victory, coupled with Allgaier’s stumble, moved Creed, second in The Chase standings, to within seven points of Allgaier’s series lead. Creed started the night 35 points behind Allgaier. Similarly, other Chase drivers picked up ground on Allgaier. Carson Kvapil, in third in the standings, finished 12th but gained six points on Allgaier. Fourth-place Austin Hill gained nine points, and Corey Day, who finished second after an eventful night on the track, also gained nine. Sammy Smith had a strong second half, finished fourth and gained five points on the series leader. It was Smith’s best finish since the Talladega race in April. "We gained five on the leaders, gained a (point) position and just kind of slowly chipped away at it," Smith said. "That’s kind of what it’s going to take. Hopefully, we can go get another good run. It’s a little bit of a reset now." Hill raced around Allgaier part of the night and said it was obvious the point leader was fighting his car over the closing miles. "He just looked like he was extremely loose at the end of the race," Hill said. "He was really good, obviously, in Stage 1 and then I noticed in Stage 2 that he started losing the handle of the car and was sliding around on the rear tires. I’m guessing they weren’t able to get it tight enough for him at the end of the race." Hill ran a steady race and avoided some of the adventurous driving exhibited by other drivers. The finish was his fourth top five at Darlington. "I felt like some guys were making a lot of moves on the restarts," he said. "I would say some guys were making some really big moves that were kind of low-quality moves. There was one or two that I tried to make and then thought better of it. But I think that’s just what The Chase brings. If you can gain one position, you’re going to do it. And I think that’s what’s awesome about racing in The Chase." Day rallied from a controversial mid-race encounter with William Sawalich to finish second. His car had right-front damage from that meeting. The finish was Day’s best since his win at Dover in May. Asked what happened with Sawalich, Day said, "I don’t really know. It’s been an ongoing thing all year long of him racing me a little harder than I feel like he should." Day and Sawalich had a short conversation on pit road after the race. "I was able to make a lot of speed," Day said. "I was able to do a couple things that some guys weren’t and go lower in Turn 1 and 2 early in runs and build a gap."