Seven years of pent-up emotions poured down Justin Allgaier’s cheeks. The weight of every missed opportunity, every close call, had built up over time, but this moment was different. As a seasoned Xfinity veteran under Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s banner, Allgaier had waited what felt like a lifetime for this chance. The battle ahead was like no other—his car wrecked, a restart violation threatening to derail his hopes, and his fate seemingly sealed among the backmarkers. But in the face of adversity, Allgaier dug deep, summoning every ounce of strength, his heart pounding with determination.

With a roar of resilience, he stormed back to the front, refusing to let anything—past or present—hold him down.“Jim Pohlman told me two weeks ago, ‘We’re going to go win Phoenix. It’s just a matter of whether you race for a championship or not,” the 38-year-old had said.

• Nobody expected much of Justin Allgaier and his crew’s buoyant hopes. Especially after the No. 7 car’s misery in practice, the car skidded into the wall due to Brennan Poole’s leaking No. 44.
• Relegated to 37th place in a backup car, Allgaier had more obstacles coming. Then, on lap 87, Riley Herbst contacted his left rear tire.

But, right after changing to a fresh set of tires for the final stage, Allgaier was hit with a restart penalty. On top of that, he was fastest on pit road. Later, two cautions stuttered his progress further, and Allgaier had to contend with championship contenders Austin Hill and Cole Custer.

Despite these hindrances, Justin Allgaier fulfilled his heart’s wish. In the end, he finished runner-up to Riley Herbst, officially clinching the 2024 Xfinity Series championship. With tears of joy running down Allgaier’s cheeks, he hugged his family, two beautiful daughters, in an emotional moment. While revealing how many times chaos blocked his path, the 2024 Xfinity Champion said, “Yeah, like ten times.”

Allgaier continued to thank his compatriots with a lump in his throat. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and these people standing around me … there’s no words…The whole Brent crew…all of our partners…what an engine this weekend. Chevrolet – it is understated what they have done. My wife and my kids, they’ve given up so much of me to do this job. God’s good … He’s got a reason for everything and tonight is truly that. It’s mind-blowing.”

The JR Motorsports driver has waited just shy of a decade for this precious moment, and why shouldn’t he be proud of it?

Allgaier joined JRM in 2016 and has accumulated 22 Xfinity race wins since then. But now he finally clinched the championship for his team owners, whom he also hailed. What an emotional moment on the pit lane as he was heard saying, “Dale Jr, Kelley Earnhardt Miller…everybody at Jr Motorsport, all the men and women, all five of our race teams – just the effort that we put in. I’m at a loss for words. We’re gonna celebrate this win for sure, it’s unbelievable. I cannot say thank you enough to everybody who helped me get to this point…7 times in the championship 4 and we finally got it done.”

And we all know how many times doubts flooded Allgaier’s windshield over the years, and even today.

Crossing a mountain of misgivings

The 7th time did the trick, but the last few times were agonizing. In the previous seasons driving for Dale Jr., Justin Allgaier has never finished lower than 7th in the championship standings and narrowly missed the title twice (runner-up last year and in 2020).

This interminably long wait prompted one fan to dub Allgaier as the ‘Denny Hamlin’ of Xfinity as the final face of the Xfinity season preceded in Phoenix—the Cup Series driver is crossing his 19th full-time season without a championship title. Some other fans harshly attacked him for a tumultuous day: “LMAO when is Jr gonna fire this talentless losers a–? Dude is 20 years older than everyone else in the series and has the composure of a 7-year-old.” NASCAR relegated him to the back of the field several times, but Allgaier never gave up.

Allgaier snuffed out all those doubts with a heart filled with hope and a team sweating it out till the last minute. He lived up to his crew chief Jim Pohlman’s words, and on Victory Lane had no dearth of gratitude for him. “This team never gave up. Jim Pohlman – his leadership skills are second to none. He told me all weekend that we were going to have a chance. We tried to give it away every which way we could. I was just fast as the Xfinity internet. I just wanted to make it exciting for the fans I guess, I don’t know … I’m at a loss for words, it’s unbelievable. I cannot say thank you enough to everybody who’s helped me.”

We all know that it is going to be a blast inside JR Motorsports today. A fabulous journey and an extraordinary fight for the championship—how else can we better describe the perfect NASCAR race?