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LEBANON, Tenn. — A.J. Allmendinger pulled away on the second overtime restart Saturday to win his second NASCAR Xfinity race this year and 17th of his career at the Nashville Superspeedway in the Tennessee Lottery 250.

“I spent a lot of years not winning anything, so I need wins just to make me mentally OK every week,” Allmendinger said. “And whether it’s Cup or Xfinity, this is why you go out here, do this is, to try to win races. … So I don’t take anything for granted.”

The 41-year-old Allmendinger pitted on lap 145 and used fresher tires to pass Parker Kligerman, taking the lead for good on lap 177. He seemed poised to cruise to his latest victory for Kaulig Racing in his No. 10 Bailey Zimmerman-Religiously Chevrolet until Chad Chastain spun off Turn 4 with five laps left.

That set up the first overtime. Chandler Smith spun out on the first restart attempt after contact with Josh Berry in Turn 2.

On the second restart, Allmendinger left everyone behind and cruised to the victory. As both he and his team celebrated, more cars started spinning and crashing in a haze of smoke. Allmendinger also finished second at the Xfinity Series’ inaugural race at Sonoma before NASCAR’s lone break of the season.

Allmendinger said he knew he just needed to get into Turn 1 clean with a chance to keep Hill off his bumper.

“Obviously, once I did that and I came off 2, as long as like we stay green, I knew they didn’t have a shot to run me down and we were going to be OK,” Allmendinger said.

Riley Herbst finished second, with Sam Mayer third, Austin Hill fourth and Josh Berry rounding out the top five in a race with 11 different leaders and 17 lead changes. John Hunter Nemecheck, who came in leading the series in points, was sixth.

With the temperature in the low 90s, drivers dealt with even hotter conditions inside the cars. The heat also left the 1.33-mile concrete oval slick, leading to 11 cautions overall, with 15 drivers involved in crashes through the first two stages.

The race got off to a crunching and chaotic start as drivers went three wide on the opening lap. Justin Allgaier, the defending champ, pitted three times in the opening laps trying to fix the left fender of his Chevrolet. He finished 15th and wound up treated at the care center.

Allmendinger said he was shocked on the initial start at how slick the track was.

“I went down and made it three-wide and thought nothing of it, like didn’t even drive in the corner that hard and I started wrecking,” he said. “Like it was really slick. And so that kind of raised my eyebrows, like, ‘OK, like, wow. This is a lot slicker than I expected.”

Some thought Allmendinger benefitted from damage to his car

Ty Gibbs won Stage 1 only to be taken out on the restart. He spun around and backed into Carson Hocevar’s Chevrolet, taking them both out on the 53rd lap. Both drivers went to the care center and were later released.

On the 68th lap, another crash left Sammy Smith’s No. 18 Toyota needing to be towed off the track.

Smith, who led a race-high 44 laps, took Stage 2 as one of seven different leaders through the first 90 laps. That set up a final run to a finish that needed extra laps on a sizzling day where 16 drivers finished all 196 laps.

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Journalism rallies in $1M Haskell Invitational win

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Journalism rallies in M Haskell Invitational win

OCEANPORT, N.J. — Journalism launched a dramatic rally to win the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

It was Journalism’s first race since the Triple Crown. He was the only colt to contest all three legs, winning the Preakness while finishing second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.

Heavily favored at 2-5 odds, Journalism broke poorly under jockey Umberto Rispoli and wound up trailing the early leaders. He kicked into gear rounding the final turn to find Gosger and Goal Oriented locked in a dogfight for the lead. It appeared one of them would be the winner until Journalism roared down the center of the track to win by a half-length.

“You feel like you’re on a diesel,” Rispoli said. “He’s motoring and motoring. You never know when he’s going to take off. To do what he did today again, it’s unbelievable.”

Gosger held on for second, a neck ahead of Goal Oriented.

The Haskell victory was Journalism’s sixth in nine starts for Southern California-based trainer Michael McCarthy, and earned the colt a berth in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1.

Journalism paid $2.80, $2.20 and $2.10.

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Heavy rain helps Elliott to pole for Dover Cup race

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Heavy rain helps Elliott to pole for Dover Cup race

DOVER, Del. — Chase Elliott took advantage of heavy rain at Dover Motor Speedway to earn the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.

Elliott and the rest of the field never got to turn a scheduled practice or qualifying lap on Saturday because of rain that pounded the concrete mile track. Dover is scheduled to hold its first July race since the track’s first one in 1969.

Elliott has two wins and 10 top-five finishes in 14 career races at Dover.

Chase Briscoe starts second, followed by Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and William Byron. Shane van Gisbergen, last week’s winner at Sonoma Raceway, Michael McDowell, Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch complete the top 10.

Logano is set to become the youngest driver in NASCAR history with 600 career starts.

Logano will be 35 years, 1 month, 26 days old when he hits No. 600 on Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway. He will top seven-time NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Richard Petty by six months.

The midseason tournament that pays $1 million to the winner pits Ty Dillon vs. John Hunter Nemechek and Reddick vs. Gibbs in the head-to-head challenge at Dover.

The winners face off next week at Indianapolis. Reddick is the betting favorite to win it all, according to Sportsbook.

All four drivers are winless this season.

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Hamlin on 23XI trial: ‘All will be exposed’

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Hamlin on 23XI trial: 'All will be exposed'

DOVER, Del. — NASCAR race team owner Denny Hamlin remained undeterred in the wake of another setback in court, vowing “all will be exposed” in the scheduled December trial as part of 23XI Racing’s federal antitrust suit against the auto racing series.

A federal judge on Thursday rejected a request from 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to continue racing with charters while they battle NASCAR in court, meaning their six cars will race as open entries this weekend at Dover, next week at Indianapolis and perhaps longer than that in a move the teams say would put them at risk of going out of business.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell denied the teams’ bid for a temporary restraining order, saying they will make races over the next couple of weeks and they won’t lose their drivers or sponsors before his decision on a preliminary injunction.

Bell left open the possibility of reconsidering his decision if things change over the next two weeks.

After this weekend, the cars affected may need to qualify on speed if 41 entries are listed – a possibility now that starting spots have opened.

The case has a Dec. 1 trial date, but the two teams are fighting to be recognized as chartered for the current season, which has 16 races left. A charter guarantees one of the 40 spots in the field each week, but also a base amount of money paid out each week.

“If you want answers, you want to understand why all this is happening, come Dec. 1, you’ll get the answers that you’re looking for,” Hamlin said Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway. “All will be exposed.”

23XI, which is co-owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan, and FRM filed their federal suit against NASCAR last year after they were the only two organizations out of 15 to reject NASCAR’s extension offer on charters.

Jordan and FRM owner Bob Jenkins won an injunction to recognize 23XI and FRM as chartered for the season, but the ruling was overturned on appeal earlier this month, sending the case back to Bell.

Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, co-owns 23XI with Jordan and said they were prepared to send Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst to the track each week as open teams. They sought the restraining order Monday, claiming that through discovery they learned NASCAR planned to immediately begin the process of selling the six charters which would put “plaintiffs in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.”

Hamlin said none of the setbacks have made him second-guess the decision to file the lawsuit.

“Dec. 1 is all that matters. Mark your calendar,” Hamlin said. “I’d love to be doing other things. I’ve got a lot going on. When I get in the car (today), nothing else is going to matter other than that. I always give my team 100%. I always prepare whether I have side jobs, side hustles, more kids, that all matters, but I always give my team all the time that they need to make sure that when I step in, I’m 100% committed.”

Reddick, who has a clause that allows him to become a free agent if the team loses its charter, declined comment Saturday on all questions connected to his future and the lawsuit. Hamlin also declined to comment on Reddick’s future with 23XI Racing.

Reddick, one of four drivers left in NASCAR’s $1 million In-season Challenge, was last year’s regular-season champion and raced for the Cup Series championship in the season finale. But none of the six drivers affected by the court ruling are locked into this year’s playoffs.

Making the field won’t be an issue this weekend at Dover as fewer than the maximum 40 cars are entered. But should 41 cars show up anywhere this season, someone slow will be sent home and that means lost revenue and a lost chance to win points in the standings.

“Nothing changes from my end, obviously, and nothing changes from inside the shop,” Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith said. “There’s not typically even enough cars to worry about transferring in.”

Smith, 24th in the standings and someone who would likely need a win to qualify for NASCAR’s playoffs, said he stood behind Jenkins in his acrimonious legal fight that has loomed over the stock car series for months.

“I leave all that up to them,” Smith said, “but my job is to go get the 38 the best finish I can.”

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