AVONDALE, Ariz. — Finally.
After 25 wins, 471 starts and seven appearances in the Championship 4, Justin Allgaier is a NASCAR Xfinity Series champion at last.
He went to hell and back the entire night, yet defied all the odds and stormed through the field twice to claim his first Xfinity championship in such improbable fashion that not even Hollywood could’ve dreamt it up.
“When I sit down 10 years from now and I’m no longer driving, tonight is going to be one that you’re going to laugh at wholeheartedly,” Allgaier said post-race. “And it is going to be one that will make this night that much more special.”
For most of the weekend, Allgaier’s experience was personified by Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Brennan Poole‘s blown engine in Friday practice (Nov. 8) caused Allgaier and several other cars to crash and lose control in the oil, leaving the No. 7 team’s brand-new, purposefully-built Phoenix car junked after four laps. Then, after roaring from 37th to sixth in the first 40 laps, contact with a frustrated Riley Herbst following a near-wreck at the end of stage two dropped Allgaier to 10th with a softened left-rear tire that looked ready to blow at a moment’s notice.
Allgaier and Herbst make contact late in the stage! #Championship4 pic.twitter.com/eTdZeMPrKz
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) November 10, 2024
From there, everything fell apart at the start of the final stage. Allgaier drew a restart violation on lap 99 by moving out of line to pass before the start/finish line, which drew a pass-through penalty under green. Next, to add insult to injury, Allgaier was penalized for speeding on pit road while serving said restart penalty.
The No. 7 was issued an additional penalty for speeding on pit road.
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) November 10, 2024
By this point, his title hopes were on life support. Allgaier fell off the lead lap to 35th, and it appeared that his seventh Championship 4 appearance could result in yet another disappointment.
“I was ready to pull down pit road, to be honest, just park the car in the pit stall and get out,” Allgaier said. “Because if it could go wrong this weekend, it went wrong.”
That is, until lap 156.
A caution came out unexpectedly for Anthony Alfredo’s hard crash, a lucky break for Allgaier. He was running 12th, had yet to make a green-flag pit stop at the time and the cycle left him back on the lead…
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