Allmendinger grabs spot in NASCAR Xfinity Series championship finale with 1st victory of season

By JENNA FRYER The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — AJ Allmendinger won a two-lap sprint to finish Saturday night for his first victory of the season and an automatic berth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship finale. Allmendinger won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by leading a race-high 102 laps in the No. 16 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, then holding off Ryan Sieg in a final sprint. A caution with six laps remaining gave Sieg a late chance to snatch the win from Allmendinger, but he got a huge shove from Justin Allgaier on the restart and pulled away to beat Sieg by 0.156 seconds. Allmendinger started the race — the opener of the semifinal round of the Xfinity playoffs — seventh out of eight and below the cutline.