NASCAR: Gibbs wins Pennzoil 150 Xfinity race at Indy
Ty Gibbs was victorious in the Pennzoil 150 NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the Indy Road Course, in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Allmendinger, the pole winner, used good pit strategy to take the stage wins, but Gibbs charged ahead after a restart with 16 of 62 laps left and beat Sam Mayer to the finish line by 7.959 seconds at the 2.439, 14-turn circuit. Mayer passed a disappointed Allmendinger for the runner-up spot on the penultimate lap.
The victory was the first of the season for Gibbs, who won last year’s Xfinity title before moving up to his full-time Cup ride. It was his first victory on the Indy road course and his 12th win in 58 starts in the series.
“Awesome car-great car-thank you, (crew chief) Jason Ratcliff,” exulted Gibbs, who will try to hold onto the final Playoff-eligible position in Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard Cup Series race.
“I raced go-karts down the street with a bunch of these kids… it’s really special.”
His strategy for Sunday is uncomplicated.
“Just have a good car, set the car upright and go win,” Gibbs said.
Mayer, who won the first Xfinity Series race of his career on July 29 at Road America, was satisfied with second on Saturday.
“That was all I had right there to catch the 10 (Allmendinger) and get us some more points,” said Mayer, who scored his fourth straight top-five finish. “I’m really proud of our guys here today. Our Chevrolet was really fast. But a lot of positivity going into the next couple of weeks because we are clicking off top fives like it’s easy.
“These road courses have been good to us the last couple of weeks-and the ovals are just as good. I’m looking forward to what we have going into (Watkins) Glen next week and then a bunch of ovals after that.”
Series leader Austin Hill finished fourth, followed by Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer and Parker Kligerman, Sheldon Creed, Kaz Grala and Brett Moffitt to complete the top 10. Allgaier clinched a spot in the Xfinity Series Playoffs.