LVMS Xfinity playoff field set after wild Bristol finish

Make that men.

After a slam-bang-unforgettable finish at Bristol Motor Speedway that set the playoff field for Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 302 NASCAR Xfinity Series Race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, drivers will be hard-pressed to come up with an encore.

That might be OK with AJ Allmendinger, Tim Cindric and Justin Allgaier, whose nerves probably couldn’t handle a second dose of what came to pass at the Tennessee bullring.

Allmendinger, who chose the inside lane for the green-white-checker overtime restart, made contact with Cindric’s car coming to the white flag and emerged victorious when Cindric and Allgaier (and then Allgaier and Troy Herbst) banged together on the final circuit — but not until Cindric and Allmendinger tangled again and slid sideways across the finish line.

As he bounced off the wall and into oncoming traffic, Allmendinger absorbed another hit, from Kaulig Racing teammate Justin Haley. Allmendinger was checked out at the infield care center, delaying his victory celebration.

“It’s Bristol, baby. That’s what it’s all about,” he said after winning for the fourth time in 2021 and clinching the regular-season points title. He and Cindric, who had one more victory, will start the playoffs tied in points under NASCAR’s system.

This week, it’s Las Vegas — a 1.5-mile superspeedway where there’s more room to stay out of each other’s way.

When the smoke cleared in the regular season finale, Allmendinger, Cindric and Allgaier still were standing. Other playoff drivers include Las Vegans Herbst (third at Bristol) and Noah Gragson (winner of the two races before Bristol), with Haley, Daniel Hemric, Jeb Burton, Harrison Burton, Myatt Snider, Brandon Jones and Jeremy Clements completing the Round of 12 championship-eligible drivers.

Allmendinger set the tone for his first full Xfinity season by winning the spring race at LVMS in his fourth start of 2021. He led the final 12 laps and held off Hemric, who finished less than a second behind and led a race-high 74 of 200 laps.

It was an emotional victory for the 39-year-old California driver, who began his career in the IndyCar series.

“It’s emotional because you don’t know when you’re going to do this again,” Allmendinger said. “This could be the last one (win), you never know. I hope it’s not. I think we can do a lot more.”

It wasn’t the last one. He did do a lot more. And he’ll be hoping to add to his success on Saturday.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.