Justin Allgaier was among the fastest drivers in Saturday’s (April 13) NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, leading a race-high and season-high 117 laps.
Allgaier started sixth but quickly rocketed to the front of the field by lap 28. When Chandler Smith got behind thanks to a slow pit stop, it seemed like Allgaier would go unchallenged for the victory at Texas.
That was before Riley Herbst and Brandon Jones had something to say about that.
Herbst and Jones, both winless in 2024, began to reel Allgaier in during the third stage. The No. 98 got to the back bumper of the No. 7, with Jones in tow, when the final cycle of green flag pit stops commenced. But Allgaier managed to pull away from the duo.
However, Herbst was able to fight his way back to Allgaier and was poised to strike on the No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet Camaro when it was held up by the No. 42 of Leland Honeyman.
Then Allgaier got loose underneath Honeyman, sending the No. 42 into the slick PJ1 compound and into the wall hard, bringing out the caution.
“Unfortunately, it was the big turning point for the whole thing,” Allgaier said. “I don’t know if we would’ve been able to hold the [No.] 98 off. […] When we got the big run off of [turn] 4, I thought we we’re going to be okay. And I drove it in there pretty good to try to make sure I was clear, and he drove it in as deep or deeper than I did.
“At that point, you’re just hanging on. These cars side-by-side is so difficult. I don’t think we ever made contact. […] I’m pretty confident we never touched obviously, he ended up getting the worse end of the deal.”
Herbst had a different take on the contact.
“I don’t know why we decided to dump a lap car when we needed a caution,” Herbst said.
However, the caution ended up hurting Allgaier.
The pit stops sent Allgaier down to fourth after Parker Kligerman stayed out, Jones took right-side tires and Austin Hill, who took right-side tires a few laps before the caution flew, took left-side tires and filled into the inside of row two.
That left Allgaier on the outside of him for the lap 180 restart. Allgaier slid to eighth and Herbst incurred a critical tire rub that knocked him out of contention. Herbst would finish 27th a lap down.
“It all started on the restart when we pitted and the [No.] 48 was on no tires and the [No.] 21 and the [No.] 9…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …