Amidst the anti-climactic finish and late theatrics, Xfinity’s Focused Health 250 race saw a late tangle between AJ Allmendinger and Cup Series regular Ty Gibbs at the COTA track.
This bump at the turn spun out the Cup Series regular, Gibbs, who unleashed a fiery reaction at the veteran road racer for this. However, after the race, AJ Allmendinger came out to rev his mouth with some ‘surprising’ words for Gibbs.
AJ Allmendinger gets why Ty Gibbs got mad after bump
In the recent Xfinity race at COTA, a safety caution was brought on after a multi-car pileup following the second restart of the Focused Health 250 race. In that pileup, Kaulig’s AJ Allmendinger and JGR’s Ty Gibbs bumped their No. 16 Camaro and No. 54 Camry XSE onto each other at the turning corner.
As a result, both of their runs were halted by a few seconds, which heavily affected their results in the leader’s board of the Xfinity race: Allmendinger managed a top-ten finish, while Gibbs fell short with a P24 spot.
AJ Allmendinger is NOT pleased with Ty Gibbs for this. pic.twitter.com/y2YX8RK9fK
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) March 23, 2024
In the post-race events, AJ Allmendinger opened up on his ‘bumping’ moment with Gibbs, claiming that he had no ‘hard feelings’ over the JGR racer’s fiery reaction.
Speaking to Pockrass, he reflected on the incident by saying, “He [Ty Gibbs] just needs to watch the replay. “I got no chance in getting into turn 1 there and got sent, unfortunately”, he explained.
AJ Allmendinger said he understands why Ty Gibbs was mad at him but when Gibbs watches the replay, he will see that Allmendinger got hit into him. pic.twitter.com/CxJXOVNbrd
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 24, 2024
“I get why he is mad, but he needs to watch the replay because we were 3 wide and I got sent and he’s on the outside of me so, from his perspective, it looks like I drilled him, but he knocked the steering wheel out when I got hit,” he concluded on the matter.
This ‘unintentional’ bump between AJ Allmendinger and Gibbs heavily affected the running positions of the racers at that instant, which, as a result, led to great changes in the final leader’s board of the 2024 Xfinity COTA.
NASCAR Xfinity COTA standings
In the aftermath of the race at COTA, the leader’s board of the 2024 Xfinity Series’ Focused Health 250 race was also hit with a bump, as it endured massive ‘ups and downs’ during the final laps.
As the white flag of the race was raised, the leader board read HMS’ Kyle Larson clinching the pole position with his No. 17 Chevy Camaro with a 1.354s lead over 2nd-seater Austin Hill. JGR’s J. Nemechek and Haas’ Cole Custer, who is the reigning Series Champion, ran off with the P3 and P4 spots at COTA.
| POSITION | RACER | START | LED | GAP |
| 1 | K. Larson#17 | 1 | 1 | Winner |
| 2 | A. Hill#21 | 11 | 1 | 1.354 |
| 3 | J. Nemechek#20 | 20 | 0 | 3.298 |
| 4 | C. Custer#00 | 8 | 0 | 5.632 |
| 5 | P. Kligerman#48 | 12 | 4 | 5.640 |
| 6 | J. Love#2 | 14 | 0 | 7.319 |
| 7 | A. Green#32 | 25 | 0 | 8.668 |
| 8 | C. Smith#81 | 4 | 0 | 8.896 |
| 9 | S. Mayer#1 | 10 | 0 | 9.635 |
| 10 | A. Allmendinger#16 | 5 | 20 | 9.739 |
| 11 | P. Retzlaff#31 | 17 | 0 | 9.937 |
| 12 | A. Alfredo#5 | 30 | 0 | 10.712 |
| 13 | J. Allgaier#7 | 15 | 0 | 11.601 |
| 14 | R. Sieg#39 | 27 | 0 | 13.687 |
| 15 | B. Poole#44 | 29 | 0 | 13.706 |
| 16 | B. Jones#9 | 18 | 1 | 13.917 |
| 17 | S. Karam#26 | 6 | 0 | 14.431 |
| 18 | B. Perez#45 | 31 | 0 | 15.822 |
| 19 | J. Clements#51 | 24 | 0 | 16.628 |
Among all the participating teams, only Richard Childress Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing saw all their drivers secure a top-ten finish, while AJ Allmendinger earned a P10 for Kaulig Racing.
The P11 to P29 positions managed to cross the chequered flag with a gap time less than 1 minute; the racers above the P30 spot suffered the heaviest of defeats.
| POSITION | RACER | START | LED | GAP |
| 20 | L. Honeyman#42 | 34 | 0 | 16.826 |
| 21 | D. Kvyat#07 | 22 | 0 | 17.247 |
| 22 | B. Perkins#29 | 36 | 0 | 17.721 |
| 23 | H. Deegan#15 | 35 | 0 | 17.724 |
| 24 | T. Gibbs#19 | 3 | 1 | 18.992 |
| 25 | P. Gallagher#4 | 33 | 0 | 19.013 |
| 26 | A. Labbe#35 | 26 | 0 | 20.000 |
| 27 | S. Van Gisbergen#97 | 2 | 20 | 31.215 |
| 28 | R. Enerson#14 | 37 | 0 | 45.843 |
| 29 | K. Weatherman#91 | 32 | 0 | 55.892 |
| 30 | J. Burton#27 | 21 | 0 | 1 Lap |
| 31 | J. Bilicki#92 | 23 | 0 | 2 laps |
| 32 | S. Creed#18 | 7 | 0 | 3 laps |
| 33 | R. Ellis#43 | 38 | 0 | 5 laps |
| 34 | R. Herbst#98 | 19 | 2 | 5 laps |
| 35 | E. Jones#24 | 16 | 0 | 8 laps |
| 36 | S. Smith#8 | 13 | 0 | 14 laps |
| 37 | T. Dillon#6 | 28 | 0 | 17 laps |
| 38 | J. Williams#11 | 9 | 0 | 26 laps |
The 30+ spots on the leader’s board saw the racers behind over at least one lap, while the racers in the ‘P36-to-P38’ margin were behind ‘table-topper’ Larson by an embarrassing 10+ laps.
AJ Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs will again race against each other at the Richmond Raceway on March 30 at the ToyotaCare 250 event.
Is Allmendinger lying about bumping into Gibbs unintentionally? Can Gibbs finish ahead of the Kaulig racer at Richmond? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
