Justin Allgaier Wins 5th NASCAR Xfinity Series Race of 2018 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

“I know this weekend didn’t go as planned,” Allgaier said. “I used to come here all the time. I’d sit in the grandstands watch the Indy 500. I sat for the first however many Brickyard 400 up there in [Turn 1]. That’s why I wanted to do a burnout down there. This one is for my dad, because at the Brickyard Crossing up there, he drove me up here every Wednesday night during the winter so that I could take classes to be the best I could be, as not only a good driver inside the car but outside the car. That’s about [3.5 hours]. Hats off to him.”

The win was Allgaier’s fifth of the 2018 season and led a JR Motorsports one-two finish, as teammate Tyler Reddick finished second.

John Hunter Nemechek and Daniel Hemric were stage winners, with Nemechek running up front at the end of the first stage at lap 30 and Hemric leading the way at lap 60. Allgaier led 24 of the first 30 laps, but a restart with one lap remaining in the stage led to a four-wide stage finish in which Allgaier wound up fourth to Nemechek, Ryan Preece, and Cole Custer.

Nemechek ran near the front throughout most of the race, but he hit the wall and his car caught fire in the closing laps.

After Matt Tifft and Reddick led laps early in the second stage, Hemric took a lead on lap 38 that led to his stage win.

Tifft also led laps early in the final 40-lap stage of the race, as did Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell, before Allgaier took his final lead soon after the final restart of the race with 17 laps remaining.

Pole sitter Ryan Blaney finished third.

“You can’t pass anybody,” Blaney said. ”You can give it the best charge you want, but you don’t have a train there. It’s not really a lot of fun, but I’m proud of the Menards team. I sped on pit road the last stop, and that sealed our fate, so I thought I lost it for us. I had a good enough car to drive back up through there, but you get to a place running wide-open, and you stall out, and you can’t do anything.”

LILLY DIABETES 250 RESULTS:

1. Justin Allgaier, No. 7 Chevrolet

2. Tyler Reddick, No. 9 Chevrolet

3. Ryan Blaney, No. 22 Ford

4. Chase Elliott, No. 23 Chevrolet

5. Daniel Hemric, No. 21 Chevrolet

6. Matt Tifft., No. 2 Chevrolet

7. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota

8. Austin Dillon, No. 10 Chevrolet

9. Chase Briscoe, No. 60 Ford

10. Brandon Jones, No. 19 Toyota

11. Ryan Reed, No. 16 Ford

12. Ross Chastain, No. 4 Chevrolet

13. Ryan Sieg, No. 39 Chevrolet

14. Jeremy Clements, No. 51 Chevrolet

15. Joey Gase, No. 35 Chevrolet

16. B.J. McLeod, No. 15 Chevrolet

17. Vinnie Miller, No. 01 Chevrolet

18. David Starr, No. 52 Chevrolet

19. Alex Labbe, No. 36 Chevrolet

20. Garrett Smithley, No. 0 Chevrolet

21. Chad Finchum, No. 40 Toyota

22. Ryan Truex, No. 11 Chevrolet

23. Caesar Bacarella, No. 8 Chevrolet

24. Josh Williams, No. 90 Chevrolet

25. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Chevrolet

26. Mike Harmon, No. 74 Chevrolet

27. Tommy Joe Martins, No. 78 Chevrolet

28. Ryan Preece, No. 18 Toyota

29. Cole Custer, No. 00 Ford

30. J.J. Yeley, No. 38 Chevrolet

31. Michael Annett, No. 5 Chevrolet

32. Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Chevrolet

33. Ty Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet

34. Austin Cindric, No. 12 Ford

35. Elliott Sadler, No. 1 Chevrolet

36. Spencer Boyd, No. 76 Chevrolet

37. Brandon Hightower, No. 66 Dodge

38. Josh Bilicki, No. 45 Toyota

39. Bayley Currey, No. 55 Toyota

40. Jeff Green, No. 93 Chevrolet

UP NEXT: The NASCAR Xfinity Series will put a period on its 2018 regular season Sept. 15 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race will mark the first time the series has raced twice in a year at the track. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular Kyle Larson won an Xfinity Series race at LVMS in March.