AJ Allmendinger won a two-lap sprint to finish Saturday night for his first victory of the season and an automatic berth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship finale.

Allmendinger will go for his first Xfinity title after beating Ryan Sieg by 0.156 seconds for the win. It was quite a turnaround for Allmendinger, who entered the Round of 8 seventh in the standings, 18 points below the cutline. Allmendinger became the 17th different winner this season.

It was the first NASCAR Xfinity Series trophy of the season for A.J. Allmendinger but the timing was on point, his Playoff win in Saturday’s Ambetter Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway punching his ticket into next month’s season finale Championship race.

Entering Homestead, joining Allmendinger above the cutline are Justin Allgaier, defending series champion Cole Custer and Chandler Smith. Austin Hill enters Homestead eight points below the cutline while teammate Jesse Love possesses a 13-point deficit. Sam Mayer and Sammy Smith are also below the cutline, 23 and 53 points, respectively.

After dominating for much of the evening, AJ Allmendinger held off Ryan Sieg in a two-lap shootout to score his first victory of the 2024 season. Sieg caught — and nearly passed Allmendinger — during the race's final green flag run, but a caution for a stalled Sammy Smith brought out the yellow flag and re-racked the field.

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AJ Allmendinger won a two-lap sprint to finish Saturday night for his first victory of the season and an automatic berth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series

AJ Allmendinger won a two-lap sprint to finish on Saturday night for his first victory of the season and an automatic berth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship finale, rolling at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by leading a race-high 102 laps.

Sieg by 0.156 seconds. Allmendinger started the race — the opener of the semifinal round of the Xfinity playoffs — seventh out of eight and below the cutline.