By: Mitchell Breuer

After a frustrating weekend at the Daytona International Speedway that led to televised argument with AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier was able to bounce back in the first NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the weekend at Dover International Speedway.

Starting fifth, Allgaier proved to be one of the favorites early, as he quietly moved up to third by the end of Stage 1. The driver of the No. 7 continued his move forward, as the return of the choose rule allowed him to take the high line to start the second stage. That decision would allowed him to get to second and be right behind then-leader, Noah Gragson.

For the majority of the stage, his JR Motorsports teammate held steady; however, with 15 to go Allgaier was able to take the lead and eventually win the stage. Throughout the rest of the race, the No. 7 continued to hold the lead,choosing the high lane again through cautions that flew with under 50 to go, eventually ending his winning his first race of the season.

Austin Cindric may not have been a winner Saturday, but he continued his strong summer run. The driver of the No. 22 started from the lead and ended the first stage there, gaining even more playoff points.

He would lose the top spot during the pit stops that occurred under the stage break, but continued to be a factor throughout the race, never letting Allgaier get too far away. Cindric ended the day with a second-place finish, his seventh consecutive top-two, which allowed him to extend his lead in the standings over Chase Briscoe to 72 points.

Speaking of Briscoe, it looked like it was going to be a good day for the No. 98 team, but a late spin in stage two foiled all momentum.

After this the Indiana-native eventually fell a lap down, which he recovered from to rebound to tenth. While Cindric continues to be the guy to beat in the series, Briscoe has seemingly fallen off after scoring five wins in the first 13 races, only capturing one top-five in the last four events.

The playoff battle continued to get closer Saturday, as Jeremy Clements was able to decrease the gap between him and Brandon Brown, who currently holds the final playoff spot. Clements also continued to his midseason improvement with a 13th place finish, his eighth top-15 in the last ten races.