It seemed like Austin Cindric was primed to add another Xfinity championship to his name but AJ Allmendinger regular-season championship win changes the dynamic of the competition.
In the dramatic end of the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season, Allmendinger won the regular season champion title ahead of Cindric, courtesy of his regular season finale race win at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Having seen Allmendinger pursue the win, Cindric is now sure that the fight will go down the wire.
“It certainly confirmed for me the lengths that he would go to in certain racing situations,” Cindric said. “I don’t think it changes how I race, I intend to race for a championship in a certain way. I’m not going to marry myself to this comment, but I don’t intend to change that right now.”
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It has been a remarkable year for Allmendinger who not only won the regular season championship but also won a Cup race for the first time on the road course at Indianapolis. Having recorded a career-best five wins already this season, Allmendinger is going to race fearlessly in the upcoming seven playoff races.
“As we saw coming to the checkered at Bristol, I’m willing to do whatever it takes — put my body on the line, you know, risk making a pass, whatever I have to do to go win this championship,” Allmendinger said. “I got nothing to lose.”
The first race of the 2021 Xfinity playoffs will be on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Allmendinger and Cindric are tied at the top of the standings with 2044 points going into the playoffs.