Justin Allgaier ties all-time record in dominant but tough Texas race
FORT WORTH, Texas — Justin Allgaier had a tough end to a dominant Saturday but tied an all-time record in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Allgaier claimed stages one and two, leading four times for 117 of the first 174 laps. However, by lap 174, he was slipping.
Riley Herbst had run Allgaier down when Allgaier approached Leland Honeyman Jr. who was wheeling the lap car in front of him.
“When we got the big run off of four, I tried driving it in turn one to make sure I could get clear. Then he drove as deep if not deeper than me. It’s kind of, you’re just hanging on. It’s so difficult running side-by-side with these cars. I don’t think we ever made contact but he got the worst end of the deal,” Allgaier said.
Honeyman slammed the outside wall, bringing out a caution. The caution shuffled Allgaier behind teammate Brandon Jones who had a tough restart on two fresh tires compared to others’ four.
“The 9 just didn’t get going in front of us in the top line. I got out of the groove and I feel like I never got the tires back once I got up high,” Allgaier said.
Allgaier had a front row view for the photo finish between Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg.
“I felt like if they were side-by-side going into three, it was going to benefit me. Coming to the line, they were beating and banging and I thought the 39 won. He did until a few feet from the start-finish line,” Allgaier said.
While Sieg came up short by 0.002 seconds to Mayer, Allgaier was a half-second in rears, finishing third.
“This place never fails to come down to a late-race restart. I know the fans like it. I just wish we were part of it,” he said. “I’ll take a bad car and win here after having so many good cars and never winning here. This one is gonna hurt for a while but we can rebound and turn it around.”
Despite the loss, Allgaier tied Kyle Busch for most top-10 finishes all-time in the Xfinity Series (266). Had he won, he would’ve tied boss Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the all-time NXS wins list at 24 wins.
Allgaier was disappointed that he didn’t do it. However, he said, “I’m gonna look at this tomorrow and enjoy it.”
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com