AJ Allmendinger disqualified from NASCAR race at Watkins Glen

Allmendinger comments after being disqualified, again

Austin Cindric pitted from the lead late in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International. He had new tires and was on the chase to get back to the front.

With 2 laps to go, Cindric has a run on the inside off turn one. Allmendinger moved to the inside to block. He ran him toward the inside wall, stalled his momentum and held the lead into turn two.

Allmendinger blocked the inside line heading into the bus stop. That left no lane for Cindric to make a pass in that section.

Cindric locked onto the rear bumper of Allmendinger into carousel. He pushed him out of the primary groove and moved to the lead.

The wide run through the outside lane of the carousel gave Allmendinger a run into turn six. He climbed back to the bumper of Cindric and returned a shove. Cindric locked up the left front, ran wide and Allmendinger drove back to the lead on the bottom.

Heading into turn seven, Allmendinger got loose and ran wide all on his own. Cindric got a run and they raced even to the white flag.

Cindric took the lead back in the run to turn one. Allmendinger lost the nose in dirty air and Cindric drove off in the distance to take the race win in a thrilling race!

AJ Allmendinger - Kaulig Racing - Watkins Glen International
AJ Allmendinger – Kaulig Racing – Watkins Glen International

NASCAR Xfinity Series disqualification at Watkins Glen International

Allmendinger led 24 of 82 laps on the 2.45-mile course. That’s a race high for the former full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver.

However, cars must pass post-race inspection at Watkins Glen International. The No. 10 Kaulig Racing entry did not pass inspection.

Officials discovered that the No. 10 machine was too low on both the left rear and right rear corners of the machine. The infraction nets an automatic disqualification due to a new penalty process put in place at the start of 2019.

Minimum height doesn’t exist in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. However, both the Xfinity Series and Truck Series fields must meet minimum height marks.


AJ Allmendinger comments on disqualification

“I can go into a full description of why it was low from contact early in the race on a restart,” AJ Allmendinger stated via twitter shortly after the announcement of disqualification.

“The issues we struggled with after cause track bar mount was bent and oil tank getting hung on the coil of the spring the rest of the race. But just doesnt f***ing matter.”

“Still when you put ur heart into a race, the team works hundreds of hours to prepare and something like this happens doesnt make it any easier. Right or wrong still breaks my heart. I had nothing left when I got out of the car and it doesn’t even show as a result. Just hard. Sorry.”

Wayne Auton on Allmendinger’s disqualification

“The first thing that we do is we inspect the car fully. All the body panels of it,” says Xfinity Series managing director Wayne Auton.

“We didn’t see any foreseeable damage on the car. We can’t really get into the weeds as far as how much it was low and stuff like that because the appeal process is in place now.”

The team has an option to appeal the violation. However, they must submit the appeal by 12 o’clock Monday.

This marks the second post-race infraction for Allmendinger. He was also disqualified at Daytona just a few weeks prior.

The series director was asked if a second infraction would results in stiffer penalties?

“We’ll talk about it. But, I think anytime you get DQ’d, that’s a pretty big penalty in itself. We consider this race closed now. The other cars have passed inspection.”

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Watkins Glen Xfinity Series Race Results

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AJ Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Watkins Glen International | NASCAR

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