NXS Race Recap: Tennessee Lottery 250

William Sawalich was on the pole for the Tennessee Lottery 250 in Nashville. Austin Hill joined him on the front row. Sam Mayer and Justin Allgaier sat right behind them. Aric Almirola and Ross Chastain started the race in eighth and ninth, respectively. The stage lengths were 45 laps for the first and second stages, with the final stage being 98 laps.

Fresh Tires

Sawalich got a good jump and was able to clear Hill to take the lead into turn one. Hill stayed on his bumper to keep him honest. Allgaier and Hill stayed within striking distance of the leader. Allgaier tried to pass for second but bobbled underneath Hill in turn four. Mayer closed the gap to third. The jockeying for second allowed Sawalich to scamper away by over half a second.

Allgaier gathered himself and began pushing Hill for second. He used a big run on the top line to take the position and set his sights on his teammate. Sawalich was able to keep his lead comfortably at about a second.

With ten to go in stage one, the first caution of the night came when Kyle Sieg got loose and slid into Parker Retzlaff. Retzlaff backed his car into the outside wall. Retzlaff was able to limp his car to pit road. Sieg was able to get away with very minimal damage. A majority of the lead lap cars used this opportunity to pit for tires and fuel. Hill won the race out of the pits with Sawalich and Allgaier following.

Brandon Jones and Daniel Dye brought the field back to green. Dye got tight into turn one and slid up the track. Jeremy Clements snatched the lead with Matt Dibenedetto in second. Allgaier, on new tires, used the fresh rubber to take back the lead after restarting on the fourth row. He would lead the field to a yellow flag, which ended the stage. Allgaier got the stage win.

The caution was thrown after Corey Day got turned around.

Someone Brought the Broom

Allgaier and Hill took the green flag on the front row. They got equal restarts, but Allgaier had the preferred line and took the lead back. He scampered away, quickly building his lead to almost a second. Hill and Sheldon Creed would settle behind him in second and third.

Sam Mayer made contact with the wall but was able to keep it pointed forward and keep going. He was battling Sammy Smith and ran out of race track fighting for the position. They continued to race hard lap after lap.

The third caution came out when Blaine Perkins got turned around and slid through the front stretch infield. He had some help getting turned by Thomas Annunziata.

Hill and Allgaier restarted the race out front. Allgaier got the better jump, but Hill did not give up and raced hard into turn one. Allgaier would hold serve as he muscled his way back into the lead. Creed used the low line to get past Hill and into second.

Chastain began showing his skill, moving up four positions since the restart. He bumped Smith into turn three and forced his way past his JRM teammate. He continued to look forward, but did complain about being too loose. Chastain and Connor Zilisch caught Hill and were able to make the pass.

Allgaier would go on to win the stage to set himself up for the race sweep. He had a lead of almost three and a half seconds before the caution. Sheldon Creed, Almirola, Zilisch, and Chastain would round out the top five.

The Big One?

Creed and Allgaier brought the field back to green. On the restart, a huge pileup would collect nine cars. A check up from the front would accordion through the entire field. Brandon Jones, Christian Eckes, Ryan Ellis, Josh Williams, Kyle Sieg, Anthony Alfredo, Corey Day, Thomas Annunziata, and Kris Wright all sustained damage from the incident.

Creed and Allgaier got the race restarted on the front row. Creed got a huge jump and was able to take the lead out of turn two. Zilisch used a run on the inside to drive Allgaier into turn three to clear for the second spot. He caught the back of Creed and began his campaign for the lead.

Zilisch took the lead after diving underneath Creed coming out of turn four. Allgaier used the chance to also pass Creed for second.

William Sawalich brought out the next caution after spinning on the back stretch. He was racing Smith and Taylor Gray for eleventh. He got into the side of Smith and turned himself around. Jones, who took fuel only, won the race out of the pits with Zilisch and Creed following.

Allgaier, Allgood

With 50 laps to go, Jones and Zilisch brought the field back to green. Allgaier easily passed Jones to retake the lead. Zilisch followed Allgaier, and they quickly scampered away from Almirola in third. Creed split through the middle of Mayer and Almirola to take third. Zilisch did not let Allgaier get away and stayed on his bumper. They built a lead over third of more than a second and a half.

They caught lapped cars with Zilisch still on the rear bumper of Allgaier. Allgaier was able to cut through the traffic a bit better and pulled away by a tenth or more. Zilisch did not give up, though. He kept his deficit behind the leader at under half a second.

Sawalich had to retire his car and brought it to the garage.

The leaders continued to catch lapped traffic, which allowed Allgaier to pull away from Zilisch. He quickly pulled away to a second over his teammate. Allgaier put several lapped cars between him and Zilisch. While they sorted the lead out, Mayer got by his Haas Factory teammate in Creed for the third position. Chastain was also able to pass Almirola for fifth.

Coming to the checkered flag, Gray began to smoke and limped his car to the finish.

Allgaier would set sail to the checkered flag and sweep the Tennessee Lottery 250! He dominated most of the race by leading the most laps. Zilisch, Mayer, Creed, and Chastain would round out the top five.

Marvin’s Moment:

This was a very typical Justin Allgaier win. He dominated in all stages with only his teammate as a real threat. He should be the favorite to win the championship as he is the steadiest and most consistent driver in the field.

What a race from start to finish for JRM. The Xfinity series takes a week off and then will go international as their next race is at Autodromo Hermano Rodriguez.