Cindric Gets Third Win at Texas Motor Speedway

Austin Cindric gets third win in the Xfinity Series Bariatric Solutions 300 after Kyle Busch fails post-race inspection on Saturday, July 18th at Texas Motor Speedway.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS – JULY 18: Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 22 MoneyLion Ford poses in Victory Lane after being awarded the victory when Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 54 Twix Cookies & Creme Toyota failed post-race inspection following the NASCAR Xfinity Series Bariatric Solutions 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on July 18, 2020, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Cindric gets third win in the Xfinity Series Bariatric Solutions 300 after Kyle Busch fails post-race inspection on Saturday, July 18th at Texas Motor Speedway.

Austin Cindric collected his third consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series win, Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway, after Kyle Busch’s No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota failed post-race inspection – the left rear on his car ruled too low.

The Top-Ten

The Team Penske driver Cindric, who swept a doubleheader weekend at Kentucky Speedway last week, originally finished less than a second behind Busch. But, the finishing order was corrected to show Cindric the winner and Xfinity Series championship leader Chase Briscoe the race runner-up.

Justin Allgaier, who led a race-best 98 of the 201 laps, rallied back through the field for a third-place finish after being penalized for a pit road exit violation with 30 laps remaining. The blend line penalty forced him to rally from two laps down, making his third-place effort that much more impressive.

Sunoco rookie Harrison Burton, a two-race winner in 2020, finished fourth, and Michael Annett was fifth. Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones, Kaulig Racing teammates Justin Haley, Ross Chastain, and Brandon Brown round out the top-ten. It marks the ninth consecutive top-ten finish for Chastain and is Brown’s fourth top-ten of the season.

Xfinity Series Point Standings

Cindric Gets Third Win

Cindric was dressed in a Texas winner’s traditional white cowboy hat when he showed up for a second media video-conference availability Saturday, after being officially declared the race winner. He conceded the Busch-DQ wasn’t how he liked to win races, but victories are hard to come by at this level.

“Obviously great to get the Money Lion Ford Mustang in Victory Lane no matter how it happens,” Cindric said. “Great points day.”

Cindric – only the ninth driver in NASCAR Xfinity Series history to win three straight races – said he was tipped off to the possibility of a change in finishing order after walking out of his team transporter and seeing Busch’s car and the team still undergoing inspection in the garage.

“You want to win it on track and I feel like we had a shot to do that today and maybe didn’t execute as well as we should have and that’s what kept us out, but fast race cars and being in position, that’s what counts,” Cindric said.

And, the ace road course racer laughed, acknowledging that he now has more NASCAR Xfinity Series oval wins at three than road course triumphs at two.

“I’ll take it,” he said. “It’s great to be able to capitalize on fast race cars. I said that last week and I’ll say that again. I didn’t think this weekend we were quite as good as what we had in Kentucky but overall being able to run up front all day and get great stage points was great and we’ve just got to keep building on that.”

Justin Allgaier

Justin Allgaier, the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, swept the opening two stages – the sixth time he’s done that in his career. But he’s only turned that early race dominance into a victory one previous time. And it was not to be on Saturday afternoon because of the late-race pit road penalty. It’s the second time this season he has led the most laps but not earned the trophy. He led 156 laps at Bristol, Tenn. in June but finished 18th.

Up Next

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will race next in the Kansas Lottery 250 at Kansas Speedway next Saturday at 5 pm ET on NBCSN, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

UPDATED: #54 – Disqualified – Failed Post-Race Inspection

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – 24th Annual My Bariatric Solutions 300

Texas Motor Speedway

Fort Worth, Texas

Saturday, July 18, 2020

               1. (3)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 201.

               2. (12)  Chase Briscoe, Ford, 201.

               3. (4)  Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 201.

               4. (7)  Harrison Burton #, Toyota, 201.

               5. (1)  Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 201.

               6. (2)  Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 201.

               7. (6)  Brandon Jones, Toyota, 201.

               8. (11)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 201.

               9. (8)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 200.

               10. (19)  Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 200.

               11. (22)  Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 200.

               12. (21)  Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 199.

               13. (23)  David Starr, Chevrolet, 199.

               14. (20)  Jesse Little #, Chevrolet, 199.

               15. (36)  Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 199.

               16. (15)  Brett Moffitt(i), Chevrolet, 199.

               17. (27)  Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 198.

               18. (26)  Stefan Parsons, Toyota, 198.

               19. (31)  Bayley Currey(i), Chevrolet, 198.

               20. (17)  BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 198.

               21. (25)  Joe Graf Jr #, Chevrolet, 198.

               22. (24)  Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 198.

               23. (35)  Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 198.

               24. (29)  Chad Finchum, Toyota, 197.

               25. (34)  Vinnie Miller, Chevrolet, Suspension, 193.

               26. (30)  Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 193.

               27. (10)  Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, Suspension, 191.

               28. (33)  Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 178.

               29. (18)  Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, Suspension, 130.

               30. (9)  Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, DVP, 125.

               31. (16)  Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 82.

               32. (32)  Kody Vanderwal #, Chevrolet, DVP, 78.

               33. (13)  Dexter Bean, Chevrolet, Power Steering, 64.

               34. (14)  Myatt Snider #, Chevrolet, Accident, 50.

               35. (37)  Stephen Leicht, Toyota, Transmission, 9.

               36. (5)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, DVP, 9.

               37. (28)  Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 201.

Bariatric Solutions 300 Stats

Average Speed of Race Winner:  126.918 mph.

Time of Race:  Two Hrs, 22 Mins, 32 Secs. The Margin of Victory:  0.949 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  Nine for 39 laps.

Lead Changes:  15 among seven drivers.

Lap Leaders:   M. Annett 0;A. Cindric 1-34;J. Allgaier 35-47;A. Cindric 48-51;J. Allgaier 52-92;A. Alfredo 93-96;R. Chastain 97-99;A. Alfredo 100-104;J. Allgaier 105-114;K. Busch(i) 115-118;J. Allgaier 119-152;A. Cindric 153-158;K. Busch(i) 159;H. Burton # 160-176;C. Briscoe 177-191;K. Busch(i) 192-201.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Justin Allgaier four times for 98 laps; Austin Cindric three times for 44 laps; Harrison Burton # one time for 17 laps; Kyle Busch(i) three times for 15 laps; Chase Briscoe one time for 15 laps; Anthony Alfredo two times for nine laps; Ross Chastain one time for three laps.

Stage 1 Top-Ten: 7,19,22,98,20,9,1,10,21,8

Stage 2 Top-Ten: 7,22,19,9,98,20,8,39,1,21