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TALLADEGA, Ala. — AJ Allmendinger finally won his first race on a superspeedway with a last-lap pass that allowed him to beat Sam Mayer to the Talladega Superspeedway finish line by less than three feet.

Allmendinger’s fourth Xfinity Series win of the season locked him into the next round of the playoffs and afforded him the luxury to not hold back in next week’s elimination race on The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Allmendinger is 3-for-3 in his career.

But he’d never been as fortunate on superspeedways until Saturday, when he denied Mayer his first career Xfinity Series victory by 0.015 seconds. Allmendinger three previous times was the leader at a superspeedway at the white flag but could never close out the win.

He openly complains about the style of racing at superspeedways, and his feelings had not changed after Allmendinger drove from third to first on the final lap.

“Still hate it. Still hate it. Gosh, we’ve been so close to winning one and I feel like I keep giving them away,” Allmendinger said. “I just wanted to win a superspeedway, finally got it.”

Allmendinger credited the studying he’s done of past superspeedway races and his Kaulig Racing teammates, particularly Landon Cassill, who pushed him to the win. He said he was content sitting in third until it was time to make his move on Mayer and knew that Cassill would give him the assist.

Cassill and Daniel Hemric rushed to the frontstretch to embrace their teammate and douse Allmendinger with water in celebration.

“All credit to Landon Cassill. He kept shoving me. He stuck with me,” Allmendinger said. “Landon, I wish he could share it with me, well, he’s going to share it with me. But I wish we could both be the winner because he deserves it more than I do.”

Allmendinger’s victory snapped a streak of four consecutive Xfinity Series wins by Noah Gragson, who tied Sam Ard’s 1983 record of consecutive wins last week. Gragson, who finished 10th, is also locked into the next round of the playoffs.

Cassill finished third and was followed by Ryan Sieg, Josh Berry, Parker Kligerman, Ty Gibbs and Hemric as Kaulig put all three of its Chevys in the top eight.

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Georgia leading rusher Etienne ruled out vs. Vols

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Georgia leading rusher Etienne ruled out vs. Vols

No. 12 Georgia will be without leading rusher Trevor Etienne for Saturday’s showdown against No. 7 Tennessee.

Etienne was downgraded from questionable to out on Thursday night’s SEC availability report.

Etienne left Georgia’s win over Florida with an upper-body injury on Nov. 2 and did not return. He played limited snaps in last week’s 28-10 loss at Ole Miss, carrying the ball six times for 24 yards.

Etienne leads the Bulldogs with 477 rushing yards and seven touchdowns this season.

The loss is another blow to Georgia’s banged-up backfield. Cash Jones is also listed as questionable while Branson Robinson remains out after missing the past three games with a knee injury.

That leaves true freshman Nate Frazier as the only healthy Bulldogs running back who has played meaningful snaps this year. Frazier is second on the team with 333 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who lost his starting job earlier this week, will not be returning to the team, he announced Thursday night.

Castellanos, who started 12 games last season and retained the top job under new coach Bill O’Brien, wrote on X that “unfortunately, all good things come to an end, even though it’s sooner than I would like.” He did not mention the transfer portal in his departing message and has not officially entered it. The junior from Waycross, Georgia, started his career at UCF and appeared in five games in 2022.

O’Brien said Tuesday that Grayson James, who replaced Castellanos in last week’s win against Syracuse, will start Saturday when Boston College visits No. 14 SMU. Castellanos “wasn’t real thrilled” with the decision, O’Brien said, adding that the quarterback decided to step away from the team for several days.

Castellanos had 2,248 passing yards and 1,113 rushing yards last season under coach Jeff Hafley, passing for 15 touchdowns and adding 13 on the ground. He had 18 touchdown passes and only five interceptions this season, but his accuracy dipped in recent weeks, and he completed only 2 of 7 passes against Syracuse before being replaced.

In his statement, Castellanos thanked both coaching staffs he played for at Boston College and wrote that he had “some of the best experiences of my life in the Eagles Nest and I will truly cherish these memories forever.”

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Gators’ Lagway ‘ready to play,’ will start vs. LSU

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Gators' Lagway 'ready to play,' will start vs. LSU

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida quarterback DJ Lagway is “ready to play,” coach Billy Napier said Thursday on his weekly radio show.

Napier removed Lagway from the team’s injury report and penciled him in to start against No. 21 LSU in the Swamp on Saturday.

Lagway practiced every day this week while progressing from a strained left hamstring. The highly touted freshman was carted off the field against Georgia on Nov. 2. Tests revealed a “less significant” injury than initially feared, and now he’s back in time to face the Tigers.

The Gators (4-5, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) need him. They have to win two of their final three regular-season games to become bowl eligible.

LSU (6-3, 3-2) has struggled mightily against dual-threat QBs, including Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who ran for 185 yards and four touchdowns last week.

Lagway returns after walk-on and Yale transfer Aidan Warner started in his place against Texas. Warner threw two interceptions and was 12-of-25 passing for 132 yards in a 49-17 loss.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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