Slideways to the line

No,that title was not a typo. The Xfinity Series struck again with another great finish,this time at Bristol Motor Speedway,a half mile short track. However,there’s more than meets the eye with this one.

This was the last race of the regular season for the Xfinity Series,basically meaning they would have the Top 12 in points race to the title after this. Whats relevant is that the regular season champion(whoever is 1st after this Bristol race) wins 15 extra points to help them out (drivers are seeded at 3,000 points,1 extra for a stage win,5 for a race win,so this is like winning 3 extra times). A.J Allmendinger,the white and black car,was leading this battle by just a few points over Austin Cindric in the yellow car. Because winning gives you 5 more points than 2nd (40 for a W,35 for 2nd) Austin Cindric would be guaranteed to win the regular season title if he won,as he would tie Dinger,and a tie would go to him. However,if Allmendinger won,Cindric would have no chance at the title.And with 2 laps to go,they were 1-2 coming to the finish. Allmendinger leapt ahead,but slid off turn 3,opening the door for Justin Allgaier in the red car. Allgaier slid up the track in Turns 1 and 2,letting Allmendinger go by. Riley Herbst,the completely black car,made a move under Cindric and Allgaier,but Allgaier slammed into Herbst,letting Cindric get away. In the final turn,Cindric dove in,clipped the fender of Allmendinger and they slid to the line. Allmendinger would win the race,the regular season title,and a car ready for the scrapyard. After sliding across the line and getting hit hard by teammate Justin Haley,Allmendinger said “I haven’t had a lot of chances to get a win at Bristol,so you know what? When you have a chance to do it,you’ve got to go do it. If I don’t take that chance,I don’t belong in a race car,because my team deserves the win.” Cindric,who finished 2nd both in the race and point standings,said after the race “I thought we had a great battle all season long up to this point,so congratulations to Kaulig and AJ. Those guys didn’t want us to win really bad,and I hate that it completely destroyed our Ford Mustang.”