Drive for the Cure 250
As the season winds down, the intensity was at an all-time high in Charlotte. Four deserving drivers saw their championship hopes come to an end in the Drive For The Cure 250. Shane Van Gisbergen, who was below the cut line, started on the pole for the cutoff race for the round of eight. Sam Mayer, who was disqualified after the race at Talladega, needed a big day and started the race from the second spot. The race was 67 laps with the first and second stages being 20 laps a piece.
Early Mistakes
Sam Mayer got a great start but not without penalty. He was deemed to have jumped the start of the race and was forced to do a pass-through penalty. SVG assumed the lead with Allmendinger behind him. Mayer came out of the pits just inside the top twenty. Allmendinger used a big run into the front stretch chicane to take the lead from his teammate.
SVG made a rare mistake when he missed the bus stop chicane and performed his mandatory stop-and-go penalty in the designated area. Meanwhile, Mayer quickly recovered from his penalty, returning to the top ten. SVG also recovered from his error. He got himself back into the top three while chasing Josh Bilicki in second.
Sheldon Creed got spun around while running fourth. He had some help from Jesse Love coming out of the infield section. That dropped him out of the stage points for the moment. With the majority of the top fifteen drivers pitting before the stage end, Creed managed to climb back into the points contention. Allmendinger dominated early and snagged the first stage win of the day!
Issues For All
Bilicki got a great restart and snatched the lead from Chandler Smith to begin stage 2. Alex Labbe spun off of the bumper of Ed Jones in the bus stop chicane. C. Smith did not allow Bilicki to get away. He kept the leader within half a second while they pulled away from Aric Almirola in third.
After a caution was thrown for debris on the track, Sheldon Creed had transmission issues. The car was “bobbling between shifts, and then it got stuck in second gear.” His crew climbed into the car and fixed it but Creed was told to be more deliberate with his shifts.
The green flag came back out with ten to go in the stage. Bilicki took the lead back as C. Smith fought back. Mayer dove beneath Smith coming out of the infield section. He fought his way back to second place. The third caution came out when Matt DiBenedetto got stuck in a tire barrier.
Cooking with Grease Now
They restarted with eight laps left. Bilicki was not able to hold off Mayer who took the lead. Allmendinger and SVG were fast after taking the stage points instead of pitting before the first stage ended. A huge wreck on the front stretch brought out the next caution. Riley Herbst refused to give Anthony Alfredo any room exiting the front chicane. That jockeying for position left Herbst sideways on the track and cars piled into them.
Creed ended up with a ton of damage on his front bumper and hood. Herbst had damage on every corner of his car. Twelve cars total were involved with that caution but the two mentioned had the most damage. Justin Allgaier and Sage Karam restarted the race on the front row with three laps to go in the stage.
Allgaier snatched the lead on the restart. SVG aggressively made up positions to get back into the top ten. Creed said his car was blowing up so he limped around the track. Herbst also limped around the track with something broken on his car. The stage ended under caution giving Allgaier the stage win. Creed pushed as far as he could but ultimately he stopped on the backstretch.
Final Stage
Connor Mosack and Sam Mayer restarted the race on the front row. Mosack had a great restart and shot out in front of the pack. Allmendinger snuck beside Mayer but could not complete the pass. Mayer got inside of Mosack and took the lead back from his teammate. Almirola and Jeremy Clements spun around in the same turn but received no damage. They were able to get it turned back around and kept going.
SVG was told to stay safe and not make mistakes. He passed Allmendinger for second place with fifteen to go in the race. The sixth caution came when Thomas Annunziata drove into the tire barrier in turn one.
SVG and Austin Green restarted on the front row. While SVG raced away from the field, Love and Parker Kligerman got into second and third. Then, Kligerman passed Love exiting the bus stop chicane. Several cars got turned around in the front stretch chicane but kept rolling. Kligerman closed the gap to SVG in the lead.
Finally, Kligerman passed SVG coming out of the infield section. Mayer passed SVG for second and looked to retake the lead. Allmendinger also passed SVG for third. Mayer did not give up as he needed to win. He kept the pressure on Kligerman, who also needed to win to advance in the playoffs. Mayer passed Kligerman into the front stretch chicane but Kligerman took the lead right back. Mayer struggled to stay in second. Allmendinger closed the gap behind him but could not make the pass. Kligeman maintained his lead at a second with two laps left in the Drive for the Cure 250.
Controversy in Charlotte
With Kligerman passing the white flag, the caution was thrown when Leland Honeyman buried himself in a barrier of tires. NASCAR ruled that they threw the caution before Kligerman took the white flag. Because of that, the race was not over! NASCAR officials spent several minutes digging the Honeyman car out of the tire barrier. Honeyman was able to climb out.
Kligerman and Mayer started overtime on the front row. They both had great restarts. Kligerman took the lead in the infield section of the track. Mayer crossed Kligerman over coming out of the infield. Kligerman got a tire rub from the pass. Mayer pulled away and did not look back. He pulled away from Allmendinger and SVG behind him. Kligerman fell to fourth. Mayer, with a great overtime run, won the Drive for the Cure 250 and advanced his way to the next round. SVG missed the playoff cut by two points to Love. Creed, with a horrible day, missed the next round by seven points.
Marvin’s Moment:
I did not like the look of that ending to the Drive for the Cure 250. That was a horrible way to end the playoffs for Parker Kligerman. He was a foot away from the next round. NASCAR sitting on the caution button until the very last second is terrible. Was Honeyman being in the tire barrier a caution as soon as it happened? Yes. It was a caution the second he buried his way into it. Nothing changed until NASCAR inserted themselves into the race. Terrible officiating.
