NASCAR Xfinity Series: Justin Allgaier wins 2019 Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200

Justin Allgaier secured his first victory of the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series season to lock himself into the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier entered the third and final race of the round of 8 of the three-round, seven-race 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs having not won a race since last September when he took the fifth of his career-high five victories in the 2018 season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

He changed that in Saturday afternoon’s Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 at ISM Raceway, and in ending his 39-race win drought, he locked himself into the Championship 4 for the third time in four seasons. Ironically, last season is the only one of the last four seasons in which he did not advance to the Championship 4.

Allgaier started this 200-lap race around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) ISM Raceway oval in Avondale, Arizona in fifth place in his #7 Chevrolet, and he won it by 0.810 seconds over Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer, who is Championship 4-bound for the second consecutive season, in second in his #00 Ford.

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Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who is also Championship 4-bound for the second consecutive season, finished in third place in his #2 Chevrolet.

GMS Racing’s John Hunter Nemechek and JR Motorsports’ Zane Smith were the highest finishing non-round of 8 playoff drivers in this race. They finished in fourth and fifth place in their #23 Chevrolet and #8 Chevrolet, respectively.

Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe and JR Motorsports teammates Michael Annett and Noah Gragson rounded out the top 10 by finishing in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #22 Ford, #11 Chevrolet, #98 Ford, #1 Chevrolet and #9 Chevrolet, respectively.

The highest finishing Toyota driver was Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones. He finished in 11th place in his #19 Toyota.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell dominated the race from the pole position, leading a race-high 92 laps and winning both stage one and stage two, but a spin in stage three following a pit road speeding penalty resulted in him finishing in 16th in his #20 Toyota, the lowest position — and only non-top 10 position — among the eight round of 8 drivers.

With that being said, he had already locked himself into the Championship 4 for the second consecutive season with his victory at Texas Motor Speedway last Saturday afternoon and is set to join Allgaier, Custer and Reddick next Saturday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This race featured nine lead changes among six drivers. Allgaier led 85 laps. Aside of him and Bell, the only drivers who led the race were Custer, Reddick, Briscoe and Jeremy Clements Racing’s Jeremy Clements, who finished in 18th place in his #51 Chevrolet.

This race also featured four caution flag periods, and eight of the 38 drivers who started it failed to finish it. Of the 30 drivers who finished the race, 10 finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 at ISM Raceway.

NOTE: Round of 8 playoff drivers are listed in italics.

Race Results
1st – Justin Allgaier
2nd – Cole Custer
3rd – Tyler Reddick
4th – John Hunter Nemechek
5th – Zane Smith
6th – Austin Cindric
7th – Justin Haley
8th – Chase Briscoe
9th – Michael Annett
10th – Noah Gragson
11th – Brandon Jones
12th – Gray Gaulding
13th – Ryan Sieg
14th – Ray Black Jr.
15th – Josh Williams
16th – Christopher Bell
17th – Tommy Joe Martins
18th – Jeremy Clements
19th – Matt Mills
20th – Brandon Brown
21st – Stephen Leicht
22nd – Tyler Matthews
23rd – Josh Bilicki
24th – Joey Gase
25th – David Starr
26th – Ryan Vargas
27th – Garrett Smithley
28th – Bobby Earnhardt
29th – Mike Harmon
30th – Riley Herbst
31st – Vinnie Miller
32nd – Chad Finchum
33rd – Ronnie Bassett Jr.
34th – Joe Nemechek
35th – Dexter Bean
36th – Bayley Currey
37th – J.J. Yeley
38th – Landon Cassill

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The 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series season finale is the Ford EcoBoost 400, and it is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, November 16.

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