Justin Allgaier’s racing career has been one of high-speed peaks and hard-hitting valleys. Peaks of speed and strength on the track marked by valleys caused by pit road mistakes and troubles on track sometimes of his own doing, and sometimes not.
Saturday’s Xfinity Championship race at Phoenix Raceway was Allgaier’s career in microcosm. The race began with him in a slump, climbed to a hopeful high, and then fell into a pit seemingly carved by the devil himself. But by the end, Justin Allgaier clawed his way to the summit, finally reigning atop the mountain. After 14 years and multiple heartbreaks in the championship, this seventh attempt was indeed the charm. Allgaier was king of the hill.
“I don’t think I have a voice left because I was yelling,” Allgaier rasped. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and these people that are standing around me, I can’t — there’s no words.”
In a double-overtime showdown, Allgaier clinched his first NASCAR championship, surviving a melee with championship contenders Cole Custer and Austin Hill to finish second behind race winner Riley Herbst.
Allgaier’s troubles began Friday when he crashed his primary car in practice, forcing his JR Motorsports team to dig out a backup and start at the tail end of the field.
Saturday, it was all about Riley Herbst, who swept the stages, led 167 laps, and built up a lead so big he might as well have been in another zip code. Custer, the reigning champ, seemed ready to repeat as the strongest contender for the title. But from the back, Allgaier was surging; he muscled into the top 10 by lap 27, hassled Custer for seventh by lap 38, and zipped past him for sixth by lap 40.
Then, on lap 82, things nearly fell apart. In a gutsy split-second move, Allgaier threaded the needle between Herbst and AJ Allmendinger—another contender throwing Hail Marys on pit strategy—through the dogleg, tagging Herbst in the process and picking up a slow tire leak.
With just a few laps left in the stage, Allgaier held on to finish 10th but was forced to pit for fresh rubber. Worse still, a restart violation on lap 101 sent him through pit road on a pass-through penalty. Somehow staying on the lead lap, he was immediately penalized again for speeding. Within minutes, he was back in 35th, one lap down, as Herbst began lapping the field, leaving Allgaier’s title hopes dangling by a thread.
Then came the fifth caution of the night—a lifeline. As the green-flag cycle played out, Anthony Alfredo spun, putting Allgaier back on the lead lap. During pit stops, Custer stayed out, but Allgaier and Hill pitted, restarting in 13th and 14th. As laps ticked down, Custer held the top Playoff position, but Allgaier and Hill closed in. Seven laps to go, and Allgaier passed Custer, but the drama was far from over. Herbst, with a healthy 6-second lead, had the win locked, while Allgaier held a shaky grasp on the title. Then, on lap 199 of 200, Leland Honeyman spun, bringing out a caution and setting up overtime.
In the pits, strategy gambles erupted. Hill had only two scuffed tires, but with a two-tire stop, he beat everyone off pit road, followed by Jesse Love, Herbst, Custer, and Allgaier, who spun his wheels leaving his stall. Love led the field as chaos unfolded behind him, and a quick yellow waved for another spin, setting up a second overtime attempt. This time Herbst snatched the lead, while Allgaier held second. Herbst claimed his third career victory, with Allgaier a mere .247 seconds behind him, but he finally had his first championship after 14 relentless years.
“I just cannot say thank you enough to everybody that’s ever helped me in my career to get to this point,” a choked-up Allgaier said. “Seven times in the Championship 4 and we finally got it done. We’re forever a NASCAR champion, and there’s no words like that.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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