Choking up in tears while hugging his two beautiful daughters – that was how Justin Allgaier celebrated on Victory Lane at Phoenix Raceway. After that, how can his team owner waste one moment in thought about other goals? Dale Earnhardt Jr beamed with pride when Allgaier did a victory burnout in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. He saw the driver clinch an Xfinity race trophy 22 times since 2016, yet Allgaier came short of the title 6 times, finishing runner-up twice.

However, the 7th time was the charm as Justin Allgaier never gave up. A plethora of obstacles came hurtling down his path – ranging from a wrecked car in practice to grappling with a restart penalty. Yet Allgaier put his foot down and sped his backup car ahead of his rivals. Given his tremendous fight against daunting circumstances, Dale Earnhardt Jr. cannot help but shut out everything else.

Dale Earnhardt Jr puts the 7 on a pedestal

Until practice day, Justin Allgaier sported all the signs of a budding champion. Although inconsistent results were an occasional nuisance as shown by nine finishes of 25th place or worse, he held his own. Experience and talents resulted in one win and eight top-10 finishes between June and August, and Allgaier clinched four top-10 finishes from the Round of 12 finale through the entirety of the Round of 8. But then dismay set in when Dale Earnhardt Jr’s driver had to fall back on his reserve car due to a wrecked car in practice. Yet his unbridled determination showed on race day – as he drove from 37th place to the top-ten by lap 26.

After that, Allgaier smashed every rock in his path with a fierce drive. He withstood contact with Riley Herbst on lap 86, twin penalties on a restart on lap 101, and two cautions in the end which led to overtime. So Dale Earnhardt Jr was as overjoyed as him – and did not care if his team won the owner’s championship or not. “I’ll probably get in trouble for saying this, but I didn’t give one sh– about that owners championship. I wanted my driver to win the championship,” he proudly declared. Along with winning its 4th Xfinity driver’s championship, JR Motorsports did win the owner’s championship for the first time.

Then Dale Earnhardt Jr. went on to give the highest salute to the Xfinity veteran as he hailed Allgaier as the best. “He has worked so hard, he has given so much to our team…He’s done so much for us. If there’s an image in a dictionary of a model race car driver, it’s him – he’s been incredible for our drivers.” Indeed, slicing up the race field multiple times is no mean feat, as Dale Jr. mentioned Allgaier’s fighter mentality. “Anyone that’s worked with him on the partner’s side – loving – he goes above and beyond there. And he drives hard. Sometimes too hard, but I’d rather have a driver like that going forward all the time and pushing as hard as you can…I’ve badly, badly wanted him to get this championship ’cause he’s a champion, he deserves it.”

And Dale Jr. is equally glad that his Xfinity star is not leaving him soon.

Departure tickets chucked out for now

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Well, Justin Allgaier has been in the sport for a long time. The 38-year-old Spaulding, Illinois native began his NASCAR career in 2005 and jumped into the full-time Xfinity pool in 2009. Allgaier has started 471 races and won 26 races across 14 full-time seasons. Except for a two-year stint as a Cup Series driver from 2014-15, Xfinity has been his bread and butter. Allgaier joined hopped on Dale Earnhardt Jr’s bandwagon in 2016 and has been a thundering success since. Heading into Saturday’s race, he clinched 22 Xfinity Series wins in that number 7 and never finished lower than seventh in the final championship standings.

Two years ago, Allgaier had a tryst with Dale Earnhardt Jr. “I told him if we won the championship, I was retiring on the spot.” However, now that the feat has been achieved, the No. 7 driver is not so ready to hang up his firesuit. And Dale Jr. is relieved about that. “I wouldn’t blame him if he did, it’s the way to go out. But I know he’s got a little bit left in his tank – and we’re gonna have some more fun. We’re gonna win some more races. This is going to be a great, great celebration. I can’t wait to see the rest of the company. Everybody worked so hard at Junior Motorsports to be competitive. And this is a tough, tough series.” 

As bells of celebration ring out across the JR Motorsports team, Justin Allgaier looks back on a fruitful career. Now he can finally hoist the Xfinity Series’ silverware and call it his own.