In the last turns of the closing laps Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, A.J. Allmendinger fell from a contender for a NASCAR Cup Series victory to a 33rd-place result.
Such is the sad tragedy that might befall a driver seeking his first career win in NASCAR road course racing.
Ross Chastain took the lead on the opening circuit of overtime, then had to battle off both Allmendinger and Alex Bowman on the closing laps to claim his maiden series triumph.
It had been a tumultuous day.
On the penultimate lap, Allmendinger knocked Chastain out of the lead in Turn 15 of the 3.41-mile road course. In Turn 17, Chastain collided with Allmendinger, allowing Bowman to pass both of them and take the lead.
Chastain subsequently collided with Allmendinger at Turn 18 of the 20-turn course, causing Allmendinger’s vehicle to collide with Bowman’s, sending both of them off course. Two turns later, Chastain took the lead and won the race.
“At the end of the day, we all have to look ourselves in the mirror. If you are okay with it, you’re okay with it. Each person is different,” Allmendinger said after the race.
“You know those moves are going to be made at times. Whether I’m OK with it or not doesn’t matter. Everybody’s got to look in the mirror and be comfortable with what they do, and you can’t judge anyone for that.
“Everybody’s got to be comfortable with the move they make.”
On Saturday at COTA, Allmendinger won his maiden Xfinity Series race of the season, and his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet was easily one of the best cars at the end of Sunday’s race.
Even though Allmendinger just dominated two of the 68 laps, he spent more than a dozen of them in the final phase battling Chastain for the lead.
Kaulig’s second Cup squad features Allmendinger, who races full-time in Xfinity.
“Everybody at Kaulig Racing, all the men and women, it’s just a lot of sleepless nights for them right now trying to just get these cars to the next race,” he said. “So, I was doing everything I could do to try to sweep the weekend for them. We were that close.
“At the end of the day we know we had a shot to win the race. It’s tough to win a Cup race, so when you put yourself in a position to legitimately run up front all day and have a shot to win it, it’s a pretty great day.
“Unfortunately, just we needed about two more corners.”
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A.J. Allmendinger, Daytona 500, Grand Prix, IndyCar, Nascar, NASCAR Cup Series, Ross Chastain, Xfinity