On Saturday, the NASCAR Xfinity Series returned to Michigan International Speedway with the Cabo Wabo 250. Nevada City native Matt DiBendetto delivered a solid race, finishing in 7th place.
“P7 today,” DiBenedetto told X. “The restarts were nice and wild and I’m glad we had JUST enough fuel to make it…my fuel gauge went crazy at the white flag so I prayed hard.”
Justin Allgaier, who started in 16th place, fought his way to first place and prevailed against Sheldon Creed in two overtime rounds.
“I just can’t thank this team and all the guys here enough,” Allgaier told nascar.com. “It’s been an incredible week. We weren’t as good as we wanted to be at (the last race at) Indianapolis and these guys have worked tirelessly during this break. It’s really special to win at Michigan.”
It was Allgaier’s sixth consecutive top-ten finish in as many races, a remarkable achievement. It was also the 25th of his career; Allgaier is now 10th on the Xfinity Series all-time wins list, overtaking his team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Allgaier and Creed were followed by John Hunter Nemechek, Anthony Alfredo and Sammy Smith to round out the top 5. Noah Gragson, DiBenedetto, Taylor Gray, Caesar Bacarella and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top 10.
DiBenedetto’s 7th-place finish was his second of the season; he finished 7th in the Hy-Vee Perks 250 in Iowa in June. The Viking Motorsports driver scored 30 points in the race, now has 249 points and has moved up to 25th in the Xfinity Series standings.
Cole Custer is the points leader with 768 points, followed by Allgaier (756), Austin Hill (698), Chandler Smith (684) and Allmendinger (646) who occupy the top five places.
In 16 races this season, DiBenedetto achieved three top-ten finishes.
The Xfinity Series moves to the famous Daytona International Speedway on Friday for the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola (4:30 p.m., on the USA Network and the NBC Sports app).
The Wawa 250 Powered By Coca-Cola is scheduled as a 250-mile race. The race began in 2002 when Joe Nemechek won the first Wawa250. Allgaier won the Wawa 250 last year in two hours, 12 minutes and 14 seconds. Earnhardt Jr. has won it three times and Justin Haley twice.
