Junior Motorsports racer breaks through for his first national title
AVONDALE, Ariz.— Justin Allgaier had no chance – until he did.
Allgaier had to start last, fight his way to the front, get penalized twice after a re-start, go one lap down, and was back in the back of the pack with 97 laps to go.
It appeared there was no way he would win the championship – until he did.
In his seventh try, in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet with a lucky horseshoe painted on his helmet, the 38-year-old Allgaier staged a remarkable comeback to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway.
It is his first national championship in any of the top NASCAR Series.
“This team never gave up,” said Allgaier. “I tried to give it away any which way I could. I’m at a loss for words. Seven times in the Championship 4 and I finally got it done. I’m forever a series champion.”
Allgaier didn’t win the race – he didn’t have to.
All he had to do was finish first among the Championship 4 – himself, Cole Custer, AJ Allmendinger, and Austin Hill.
Allgaier almost won the race – in double overtime – but that checkered flag went to Riley Herbst, who beat Allgaier to the finish line by 0.247 seconds.
Aric Almirola finished third, followed by Connor Zilisch, Chandler Smith, Jesse Love, Sheldon Creed, and the other three Championship 4 contenders, in order, Custer, Allmendinger, and Hill.
Allgaier’s troubles started well before the race began – a day before.
Four laps into Friday’s practice session, Allgaier drove over some oil on the track, oil that came from a different car. He lost traction, and crashed, destroying his car.
That forced him to use his team’s backup car and that sent him to the back of the field, in 38th place, for the start of Saturday night’s race.
Last place – no problem.
Allgaier throttled his way up to 10th place on Lap 25 and was back in the hunt.
He passed Allmendinger along the way and was closing in on Custer (in 8th) and Hill (in 4th) with plenty of laps left in the 200-lap race over the raceway’s 1-mile tri-oval.
But as they say – the best-laid plans…
Allgaier committed a re-start violation on Lap 101 and had to do a pit road pass-through as his penalty. He compounded that error by speeding on his way out of pit road and had to make a second trip down pit road.
When he finally got back on the track, he was one lap down and in 35th place.
Again, Allgaier moved forward.
He got a break when a caution was called after Anthony Alfredo went into the wall on Lap 155.
Allgaier pitted from 12th place and got four new tires while the leaders stayed out on the track.
With 37 laps to go, and with fresher tires, Allgaier moved into 10th.
He was in third place with seven to go when another caution flag flew.
That forced the first of two overtimes.
He drove up to second place in the first overtime when another caution was called.
He took the lead in the second OT but was passed by Herbst, in his Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 98 Ford, with about one-half mile to the finish line.
The second-place finish was good enough for Allgaier’s first career championship.
“I said all weekend, I don’t know what the plan is, but HE has a reason for everything and tonight is true of that, this is mind-blowing, it really is,” said Allgaier. “This team never gave up. (Crew chief) Jim Pohlman and his leadership skills are second to none. He told me all weekend that we were going to have a chance and we tried to give it away every way we could.”
It was the third career win for the 25-year-old Herbst who led 167 laps on the night, winning both Stages 1 and 2 along the way.
“I knew we were going to have a fast race car, these guys have been working on this race car and I knew we were going to be really really fast,” said Herbst, whose Stewart Haas Racing team is closing at the conclusion of the season. “It’s been a really tough week at the shop, really emotional time. I’m forever grateful to every man and woman at Stewart-Haas Racing they gave me a really fast car today and I can’t thank everyone enough.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship
Phoenix Raceway
Avondale, Arizona
Saturday, November 9, 2024
- (started 3) Riley Herbst, Ford, 213 laps completed.
- (37) Justin Allgaier (P), Chevrolet, 213.
- (38) Aric Almirola (P), Toyota, 213.
- (21) Connor Zilisch, Chevrolet, 213.
- (4) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 213.
- (6) Jesse Love #, Chevrolet, 213.
- (2) Sheldon Creed, Toyota, 213.
- (7) Cole Custer (P), Ford, 213.
- (9) AJ Allmendinger (P), Chevrolet, 213.
- (5) Austin Hill (P), Chevrolet, 213.
- (8) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 213.
- (17) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 213.
- (1) William Sawalich(i), Toyota, 213.
- (31) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 213.
- (15) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 213.
- (16) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 213.
- (13) Daniel Dye(i), Chevrolet, 213.
- (33) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 213.
- (24) Dylan Lupton, Ford, 213.
- (22) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 213.
- (32) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 213.
- (25) Blaine Perkins, Ford, 213.
- (23) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 213.
- (28) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 213.
- (20) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 213.
- (11) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 213.
- (34) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 213.
- (30) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, 212.
- (29) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 212.
- (36) Garrett Smithley, Ford, 212.
- (26) Leland Honeyman #, Chevrolet, 210.
- (27) Dawson Cram(i), Chevrolet, 209.
- (19) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 208.
- (10) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, Accident, 204.
- (18) Jeffrey Earnhardt(i), Toyota, Engine, 169.
- (12) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, Accident, 152.
- (35) Greg Van Alst, Chevrolet, Suspension, 108.
- (14) Stefan Parsons(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 61.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 88.545 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 24 Mins, 20 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.247 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 53 laps.
Lead Changes: 21 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: W. Sawalich(i) 0;S. Creed 1-6;R. Herbst 7;S. Creed 8-9;R. Herbst 10-49;J. Allgaier (P) 50;R. Herbst 51-54;C. Custer (P) 55-59;R. Herbst 60-78;J. Allgaier (P) 79;S. Creed 80-89;R. Herbst 90-145;C. Custer (P) 146-147;S. Creed 148-149;D. Dye(i) 150-151;P. Kligerman 152-153;R. Herbst 154-199;J. Allgaier (P) 200;A. Hill (P) 201-205;J. Love # 206-211;J. Allgaier (P) 212;R. Herbst 213.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Riley Herbst 7 times for 167 laps; Sheldon Creed 4 times for 20 laps; Cole Custer (P) 2 times for 7 laps; Jesse Love # 1 time for 6 laps; Austin Hill (P) 1 time for 5 laps; Justin Allgaier (P) 4 times for 4 laps; Daniel Dye(i) 1 time for 2 laps; Parker Kligerman 1 time for 2 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 98,81,18,21,1,7,00,19,20,2
Stage #2 Top Ten: 98,18,20,2,00,88,16,1,19,7