A.J. Allmendinger’s victory at the Charlotte Roval didn’t shake up the NASCAR Cup playoffs or help him in a quest to win a series championship, but it did provide something far more lasting.
The 41-year-old pulled off a flawless final stage, fought through five restarts in the final 31 laps and held the series’ top driver right now – William Byron – at bay to earn his first win of the 2023 season and just the third in his 15-year NASCAR career.
The victory didn’t advance Allmendinger to the next round of the playoffs – he didn’t qualify for the 16-driver field – and didn’t on its own alter the complexion of this year’s championship battle. What the Kaulig Racing driver’s win did – or more accurately what his raw, joyous, tearful response to the victory did – was serve as an important reminder how difficult this series is and what it means for drivers who don’t enjoy success on a regular basis to snatch that opportunity.
Sunday’s race for the most part wasn’t a nail-biter and passing was hard to come by, but five cautions in the final stage did provide some fireworks which ended with a one-on-one cat-and-mouse chase in the final laps between Allmendinger and Byron. Whatever one thought of the racing Sunday itself, however, felt dwarfed by the emotion which overwhelmed Allmendinger the moment he took the checkered flag.
He screamed over his team radio and could be heard crying throughout his cool down lap. He was still in tears when conducting a post-race interview on the frontstretch with NBC Sports. Before driving off to Victory Lane, he instead climbed through the crossover gate and spent several minutes celebrating with the fans in the grandstands – most of whom were wearing merchandise promoting other drivers.
It was captivating and riveting and real. And it was sorely needed.
With the system NASCAR uses now to determine its series champions, it’s easy to get caught up in the details of the points drivers accumulate or whether they win and automatically advance to the next round. A win seems almost just a piece of a much larger puzzle, one that only gets finished at the season finale at Phoenix. For one race at least, Allmendinger provided us a glimpse back to another time in NASCAR when each race seemed like a special event in and off itself.
Source: Autosport