Ty Gibbs wins Xfinity race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Hill entered the weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway tied for the points lead. Now Hill is 11 points ahead after a fourth-place finish at the road course.

Here are the points reports:

Click here for the driver standings l Click here for the team owner standings

Nemechek scored two fewer points than Hill in stage 2, but the biggest difference-maker was the final run to the checkered flag. He spun after contact from Kaz Grala, which knocked him out of the top 10.

Nemechek went on to finish 13th while Hill finished fourth. This further separated the two drivers as they approach the end of the regular season.

The battle on the playoff cutline took an equally interesting turn. Parker Kligerman and Sheldon Creed entered the race separated by 18 points. They left separated by 17 after a very eventful day.

Kligerman lost a lap after pitting twice for a flat tire caused by a broken valve stem, but he was able to work his way to seventh before the end of the race. Creed received a penalty for stopping when pit road was closed, but he recovered and finished eighth.

The two Chevrolet drivers can not get away from each other as the playoffs approach. Their battle for points will continue to be a prominent storyline at Watkins Glen, Daytona, Darlington and Kansas.

Here are some takeaways from a weather-delayed race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The final stage was a battle of attrition for Kaulig Racing

The Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway only featured three cautions — two for stalled cars and one for lightning. This stat does not fully highlight the adversity that some teams faced.

Kaulig Racing, in particular, had three cars that all dealt with issues. AJ Allmendinger was dominant during the first two stages, but he finished third after he lost the lead on a slow pit stop. Damage to the right front fender also caused handling issues.

Daniel Hemric started fifth, and he scored points in the first two stages. He finished 27th. Chandler Smith started 18th, scored points in the first two stages and finished 34th with a suspension issue.

The reason for the finishes outside of the top 25 was an incident late in the race. Connor Mosack hit Smith, which propelled him into Hemric. The collision caused significant damage to all three cars and took them all out of contention for strong finishes.

Sam Mayer continued his big moves

The driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet is heating up at the right time.

Sam Mayer has five top-five finishes and one win in the past six Xfinity Series races. He has delivered these performances at a variety of tracks — Atlanta, Pocono, Road America (win), Michigan and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Saturday’s race at Indy was only the latest example. Mayer finished second in stage 1, third in stage 2 and second as the checkered flag waved. He scored a race-high 52 points, 14 more than Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill.

Mayer now has 14 top-10 finishes through the first 22 races of the Xfinity season. This puts him on pace for 21, which would be a new career-high.

From the grass to a top-10 finish

The final stat sheet does not tell the full tale of the No. 26 Toyota.

Kaz Grala went off the track two different times at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he hit a sign and he had a collision with John Hunter Nemechek. He still finished ninth.

Grala’s first full-time season in the Xfinity Series started with struggles. He finished 30th or worse three times in the first five races. His only top-10 finish in the first 10 races was fourth at Richmond.

Grala and Sam Hunt Racing have turned the season around. He has scored four more top 10s while finishing 13 straight races. Grala remains below the cutline, but he is building momentum.

Next up is Watkins Glen International, a track where Grala has two Xfinity starts with one top-five finish. After that is Daytona International Speedway where Grala has two top-five finishes in three Xfinity starts.

Ty Gibbs won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after leading a race-high 28 laps.

Click here for where everyone finished at Indianapolis.

Click here for the cumulative race report.

Click here for the penalty report.

For the 12th time in his career, Ty Gibbs has reached Victory Lane in the Xfinity Series.

Pit road was the difference-maker for the Cup Series rookie. He took the lead from AJ Allmendinger after the No. 10 Kaulig Racing crew had a slower stop on Lap 43, and he built up a lead of more than seven seconds.

Sam Mayer finished second after passing Allmendinger with two laps remaining in the race. Austin Hill and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five.

Cole Custer, Parker Kligerman, Sheldon Creed, Kaz Grala and Brett Moffitt all finished inside of the top 10.

John Hunter Nemechek, who has the most wins in the series, finished 13th after contact from Grala sent him spinning.

Gibbs now has four road course wins in his Xfinity Series career. His first was the 2021 Daytona Road Course race in what was his first career start. He then won at Watkins Glen later that season.

Gibbs also won at Road America last season en route to the championship.

AJ Allmendinger swept the first two stages at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but he lost the lead during the final stage of the road course race.

The change took place during pit stops on Lap 43. Allmendinger gave up the lead and headed down pit road 2.995 seconds ahead of Ty Gibbs. He left pit road behind the Joe Gibbs driver after a slow stop.

Allmendinger lined up next to Gibbs after the caution flew for Andre Castro, but he was not able to take back the lead as the green flag waved. He fell to second and began dropping further behind Gibbs while dealing with a tight race car.

The caution has flown for the third time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This time, it was for Andre Castro’s No. 34 Chevrolet stopped in the runoff area.

Green flag pit stops were underway at the time of caution. Allmendinger pitted from the lead, but he lost a spot to Ty Gibbs after a slow stop. This set him up to restart second at a pivotal part of the race.

Sheldon Creed, who had inherited the lead during green flag stops, was heading toward pit road when the caution flew.

He did not beat the yellow light, so he received a penalty for pitting when pit road was closed. This dropped him to the rear of the field for the restart.

This penalty was significant considering that Creed is battling Parker Kligerman for the final playoff spot. Kligerman had fallen a lap down after pitting to fix a flat tire, but he moved back onto the lead lap.

AJ Allmendinger has swept the opening two stages at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Kaulig Racing driver pitted under caution on Lap 28, and he restarted inside of the top 10. He did not waste time before passing several cars on Lap 31. He then passed Sam Mayer for the lead on Lap 34.

Gibbs finished the stage second. Mayer, Sheldon Creed and Riley Herbst rounded out the top five. Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Hemric and Jeremy Clements all earned stage points as well.

Cole Custer restarted second on Lap 31 as he continued the pursuit of his third road course win this season. He fell to third after AJ Allmendinger passed him and then he dropped further after contact from Ty Gibbs.

The situation grew worse for Custer. He and Justin Allgaier made contact while battling for fourth, which sent him spinning around in Turn 5. He was able to get moving once again, but he fell to 27th in the running order.

The caution has flown for the second time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The first was for lightning. The second was for Brad Perez in the No. 53 Emerling-Gase entry.

Perez was not on the track when the caution flew. He had actually pulled onto the oval part of the track by Turns 12, 13, and 14. However, the crews had to extinguish a fire behind the right-front tire.

Perez had mentioned a lack of brakes prior to the caution. The replay showed that the brakes were on fire.

This caution meant that the field would line up for only the second restart of the day. They would go back to the double-file format after utilizing a single-file format on Lap 12.

AJ Allmendinger has won the first stage at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after restarting on slicks instead of grooved tires.

The Kaulig driver was more than 30 seconds behind the leaders on Lap 12, but he erased this deficit. He moved past leader Ty Gibbs and Cole Custer when both drivers pitted for slicks, and he continued working his way through the field.

Allmendinger moved past Parker Kligerman with two laps to go and then he passed Daniel Hemric. He went on to win the stage as the race remained green. There are no breaks between stages.

Sam Mayer, who also restarted on slicks, finished the stage second. Hemric, Kligerman and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five.

The Xfinity Series race is green again on Lap 12 after the red flag for lightning in the area.

Ty Gibbs led the field to the green flag with Cole Custer behind him. NASCAR made the choice to go with a single-file restart.

Two contenders gambled before the race went green again. AJ Allmendinger and Sam Mayer both headed down pit road to put slicks back on their cars while the rest of the leaders remained on the wet-weather tires.

Will this move pay off? Allmendinger acknowledged that he didn’t have the answer.

The lightning hold has been lifted, the engines have been re-fired and the cars are back on the track.

The length of the red flag for lightning was 43 minutes and 51 seconds.

The race will restart with the entire field on wet weather tires as drivers try to determine when to put the slicks back on their respective cars.

The sun is shining, so it will help the track dry after the race goes green once again.

The Xfinity race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is close to a return. NASCAR officials have given the all-clear and called the drivers back to their cars.

While the teams uncovered the cars, the track crews took part in drying efforts. They did not have to completely drive the road course at Indianapolis. They just had to clear the standing water.

With the water on the track, NASCAR told the teams to put the wet weather tires on all of the cars ahead of the restart.

The red flag was displayed on Lap 7 after lightning struck within eight miles of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

10 minutes later, another lightning strike was reported. The clock reset to 30 minutes as teams and drivers waited to hear when they could return to the track. A third strike then reset the clock once again.

While the clock counted down, the weather continued to worsen. The light rain changed to a downpour. The cars can race in some wet weather conditions, provided there aren’t safety concerns due to the lack of visibility.

The Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway has come to an early halt. The reason is lightning within eight miles of the Indiana track.

Lightning means that the race must come to a stop for a mandatory 30-minute period. Teams can not work on their cars under this break.

Prior to the lightning strike, there were reports of light rain falling in sections of the track. This led to crews pulling out and prepping the grooved tires they use for wet weather conditions.

Ty Gibbs is the leader after seven laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. AJ Allmendinger is second. Cole Custer, Josh Berry and Austin Hill round out the top five.

One driver to watch when the race returns to action is Riley Herbst. He complained about brake issues early in the race.

The green flag has waved at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and AJ Allmendinger has led the first lap after starting from the pole.

The Kaulig driver led the field to the new restart zone between Turns 13 and 14, and he jumped to the front of the pack after starting from the pole.

Ty Gibbs quickly challenged entering Turn 1 as he attempted a crossover move. He did not complete the pass, so Allmendinger was able to pull back ahead. Gibbs ultimately took the lead at the start of Lap 3.

The start of the race was calm overall as NASCAR utilized its new restart zone. The field was more spread out entering Turn 1, so there were no pileups.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers are ready for 62 laps of action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Pre-race ceremonies are complete, and the engines are fired for the Xfinity Series’ fourth race at Indy. Will AJ Allmendinger win his second straight race at the road course, or will another driver celebrate in Victory Lane?

The only things standing between NASCAR fans and the answer to that question are the pre-race pace laps around Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the waving of the green flag.

INDIANAPOLIS – The Xfinity Series returns to the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a Saturday evening race.

The 62-lap event at the 2.439-mile track is one of the five remaining races before the playoffs begin. There are four spots open to new winners.

AJ Allmendinger is the only previous winner entered in Saturday’s race. He will try to go back-to-back at the Brickyard after winning the Xfinity race last season. Cup regulars Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain are also in the lineup.

Allmendinger makes his final Xfinity start of the season at Indianapolis. He will start from the pole after being the only driver to complete a lap in less than 95 seconds. He has two wins and four top-10 finishes in his first four Xfinity starts this season, and he will try to cap off his limited schedule with his second consecutive win at Indianapolis.

If Allmendinger wins, it will mark his 18th trip to Victory Lane in the Xfinity Series. He will remain 18th on the all-time series wins list, but he will break his tie with Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin.

The Xfinity Series coverage will begin with Countdown to Green at 5 p.m. on USA Network. The pre-race coverage will continue on USA at 5:30 p.m.

Follow along below for updates throughout Saturday evening from the racetrack.