2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Twenty-Two Michigan

There is resin on the track as well as remnants of PJ1. MRN is talking about it, a lot. They say the teams don’t know what to expect from it. Austin Cindric (22) and AJ Allmendinger (16) are on the front row. The competition caution is scheduled for lap 15 since there was no practice and no qualifying. The stages are 30-30-65.

Cindric got loose and lost the early lead to Dinger. MRN made a huge thing of it. What I saw on the television broadcast didn’t look particularly exciting, nor interesting really.

Cup driver Tyler Reddick (23) picked up nine spots on lap one according to MRN.

They’re still, on lap 5 of 125, talking about Cindric getting loose in turn two on lap one.

Josh Berry (1) is subbing for Michael Annett (1). Annett attempted to return to the car last week at the Indianapolis Road Course, but continually ran off the course during practice. He competed at Watkins Glen the week prior, but has proven he returned too soon following his leg surgery leading to his being out of the car.

Caution on lap 15 of 125 – competition caution.

Tyler Reddick (23) missed his pit box and had to come back around. He said on the radio he was looking for the number 31 which he ran the last time he raced in the series.

Restarting on lap 20 of 125. Not many cars pitted.

Caution on lap 21 of 125 for a spin by Caesar Bacarella (90).

Ryan Sieg (39) is having engine issues that are keeping him in pit road.

A few of the lead lap cars pit including Justin Allgaier (7) and Jeb Burton (10).

Cup driver Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (61) is in the field today.

Just Allgaier had an uncontrolled tire. Bubba’s crew members were over the wall too soon. Both will have to start at the back as a penalty.

Restarting on lap 26 of 125.

Cindric wins stage one.

Most cars pit; the guys who pitted during the last caution stay out.

Sam Mayer (8) takes his car to the garage. His car won’t stay in gear. They will diagnose the transmission issu

Josh Berry (1), Matt Mills and Ryan Vargas all have to serve penalties for men over the wall too soon.

Restarting on lap 35 of 125 with Jeb Burton (10) and Tyler Reddick (23) up front.

Caution on lap 35 of 125.

A car gets loose on the restart, Brandon Brown (68), and drifts back through the field. Then a car, Myatt Snider (2), came up from the bottom and slammed into the Brandon Brown car before turning in front of the field.

The 61 of Bubba Wallace slams into the 22 of Cindric who was spinning in front of him. Daniel Hemric (18) spun alongside Austin Cindric (22) both hitting the outside wall. Joe Graf Jr (07), and Justin Haley (11) were also collected in the incident.

It was very difficult to see whom was involved in the incident due to NBCSN using the blimp camera shot so detail was lost due to the distance from the cars leaving them looking like ants.

Austin Cindric (22), Justin Haley (11), Daniel Hemric (18), Myatt Snider (2), Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace (61), Joe Graf Jr (07), Brandon Brown (68) were involved in the wreck.

Cindric, without a hood or front quarter panels is rolling around the track smoking under caution. He’s putting out a lot of smoke as he continues to go around. Steve Letarte of NBCSN in the booth is complaining about him putting down oil and delaying the race.

On the other hand MRN’s Alex Hayden likes that the 22 car is making laps on the cars that can’t continue. MRN’s Steve ‘Postman’ Post reports the team is concerned they they won’t be able to make minimum speed when the green flag falls. They’re trying to beat the damaged vehicle clock.

Two very differing opinions on the situation. The team says they think the oil will burn itself off since they bypassed the oil cooler.

The car continues to smoke. Dale Jr of NBCSN is now wondering how long NASCAR will allow that car to continue to circle while smoking. They’re on lap 42 of 125.

On lap 43 of 125 MRN reports NASCAR is telling the team to bring the 22 car onto pit lane. That was too long coming if you ask me.

Myatt Snider (2) has a 2 lap penalty for the gas man doing maintenance on the car.

The 22 team is finally rolling the car back to the garage. He gained 3 points in that scheme. As a result of that he finishes ahead of Brandon Brown (68), Daniel Hemric (18), and Joe Graf Jr (07). Those points should be disallowed since he can’t continue and should not have been allowed to make as many laps as he did with that level of damage and not meeting minimum speed and laying down smoke.

Restarting on lap 45 of 125 with Jeb Burton (10) and Tommy Joe Martins (44) up front.

Brandon Brown’s (68) tv interview was an entertaining retelling of the crash.

MRN reports on lap 54 of 125 that Caesar Baccarella (90) and Myatt Snider (2) have been sent to the garage for not meeting minimum speed.

AJ Allmendinger (16) wins stage two.

Watching IndyCar races immediately after or before Xfinity series races highlights how important drivers with talent and personality are to a series and to a racing event. There are very few drivers in the Xfinity series for whom I cheer. Of those drivers only a couple generally have a legitimate opportunity to win occasionally. As a result I rarely have a dog in the fight so to speak. The drivers aren’t interesting. The racing isn’t interesting. So I end up mostly watching cars driver around in circles hoping for something interesting to happen. On the other hand there are multiple drivers in the IndyCar field I cheer for and many of them are frequently up front, and most of the others have a legitimate opportunity to win on any given week. There appears to be greater parity in the series amongst the cars. There’s definitely greater parity in the series as far a personality for the series.

Astoundingly we’re stuck watching the 22 and 18 cars get loaded onto the haulers; talk about boring television. Then again…its mostly boring across the board.

Restarting on lap 66 of 125 with AJ Allmendinger (16) and Harrison Burton (20) up front followed by Justin Allgaier (7) and Jeb Burton (10).

Dinger(16) takes the early lead.

Harrison Burton pits on lap 73 of 125 for a vibration.

AJ Allmendinger (16) and Justin Allgaier (7) battle door-to-door for the lead on lap 87 of 125. Lap traffic is just ahead of them. Josh Berry (1) goes high on the outside and passes both them and the lap traffic to take the lead.

After more door-to-door racing Allgaier gets past Allmendinger on lap 90 of 125 for second position.

MRN reports Justin Allgaier will run the ARCA race tomorrow night in Illinois. The also report Ty Gibbs won another ARCA race last night.

Mike ‘Bagman’ Bagley of MRN started out talking about Josh Berry then began screaming about the car being sideways. NBCSN showed a replay. I saw a wiggle on the tail end, but nothing too exciting.

Harrison Burton (20) is trying to hold Josh Berry (1) off. Berry finally put Burton down a lap. Justin Allgaier (7) has closed the gap while Berry was subjected to Harrison Burton’s tactics.

Noah Gragson (9) pits from sixth position on lap 104 of 125 kicking off green flag pit stops.

Josh Berry (1) pits from the lead on lap 108 of 125.

Uncontrolled tire for Ty Gibbs (54). He will have to serve a pass-through penalty.

Justin Allgaier (7) pits from the lead on lap 109 of 125. The team decides to go fuel only.

Justin comes out of the pits ahead of Josh Berry.

The 36 car is sitting across his pit stall not moving.

Jeb Burton has not pit yet. he’s on the apron on lap 112 of 125 sharking the car to try to keep the fuel going to make it to the pits.

Riley Herbst (98) is out of fuel on entry to pit road.

Jeb Burton (10) is creeping around the track trying to get to pit road.

Josh Berry (1) is door-too-door with Justin Allgaier for the lead on lap 114 of 125. MRN reports Justin lost his momentum due to lap traffic allowing teammate Berry to catch up to him.

Caution for Jeb Burton who’s stopped near the entrance to pit road. MRN says he came up about 50 feet shy of pit road. He was past the opening in the wall, but not quite on pit road.

Justin Allgaier (7) is the leader as the caution comes out.

Allgaier (7) pits from the lead – alone.

Eventually Harrison Burton (20) and Riley Herbst (98) also pit.

Restarting on lap 120 of 125 with Josh Berry (1) and Allmendinger (16) up front followed by Brandon Jones (19), Justin Allgaier (7), Noah Gragson (9), Brett Mofffitt (02), Harrison Burton (20), Ty Gibbs (54), Riley Herbst (98) and Jeremy Clements (51).

Allgaier gives Allmendinger a big push to the lead.

Josh Berry takes it back before the end of lap 120.

Allmendinger gets the lead back off a push by Brandon Jones (19).

Caution on lap 121 of 125 for a wreck involving Jesse Little (99) and Bayley Currey (74). Little lost it, hit the wall and bounced into Bayley Currey.

Restarting in overtime with Allmendinger (16) up front.

Brandon Jones (19) is in second position. Where they line up will be determined with the choose rule.

The line up for the restart: Dinger, Berry, Jones, Moffitt, Gibbs, Herbst, Gragson, Clements, Allgaier.

Dinger is gimmicking the start bringing them down really slowly.

Dinger got a great push from Brandon Jones.

Caution comes out before they take the white flag.

Mason Massey (78) has spun and his car comes to a stop on the race track. MRN says he got turned coming to the green flag and made hard contact with the outside wall.

The lineup for the next restart: Dinger, Berry, Jones, Gragson, Gibbs, Herbst.

Berry gets the better push on the restart from teammate Gragson.

Allmendinger passes him in turn one for the lead.

Caution before the white flag for Ty Gibbs (54) losing the car and tagging the wall.

MRN reports that Jeremy Clements appears to be out of fuel on the apron as the cars circle under caution.

Restart lineup: Allmendinger (16), Gragson (9), Jones (19), Riley Herbst (98), Josh Berry (1), Justin Allgaier (7), Harrison Burton (20), Darrell “Bubba” Wallace (61), Brett Moffitt (02), Matt Mills (5).

Dinger is dragging them slowly toward the green flag.

Brandon Jones gives a strong push to Allmendinger giving him the lead again. Jones is nowhere near close to catching him.

White flag lap.

Allmendinger (16) wins. Gragson and Berry finish third and fourth.

Noah Gragson (9) said they lucked out with a third. Josh Berry’s team was hoping Noah would line up behind them to give them a big push.

Josh Berry lined up in the third row for the final restart. He said he could never get a good push when he lined up on the front row on the inside. He said he lined up on the outside just to try something different. He then said he probably should’ve lined up on the inside. Josh Berry (1) finished fourth.

Teammate Justin Allgaier (7) finished 6th.

JRM finished top six with the exception of Sam Mayer (8) who had transmission issues early and spent considerable time in the garage. Mayer finished 33rd 25 laps down.

Very, very disappointing finish. The Berry, Allmendinger, Allgaier battle was entertaining. I hope Brandon Jones (19) will get a great bonus from Matt Kaulig for consistently pushing Allmendinger to the lead without any hope of catching him; passing him was out of the question. There was actually some racing in the event which was a nice change.

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2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Twenty-Two Michigan

Next Race: Daytona

GO JRM!!!!