[autotag]Justin Allgaier[/autotag] was cruising to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season at Phoenix Raceway when the unthinkable happened. With five laps to go, Allgaier crossed the start-finish line, slightly went onto the dogleg, entered Turn 1, and that was all she wrote. The driver of the No. 7 car had a flat left rear tire, and his three-second lead to Chandler Smith was gone.
Allgaier crashed into the wall and was unable to continue. It was a breathtaking scene as the JR Motorsports driver was easily going to win the race at Phoenix. Following the accident, Allgaier talked about the accident in shock about what just happened.
“I definitely had to have run something over,” Allgaier said. “I mean, wear-wise, there’s no way we were wearing the left-rear far enough to do that. Going through the dogleg, I felt it wiggle a little bit — and I kind of knew what that already meant. But at that point, there’s quick (five) laps to go and you’ve got to hope that it holds on. And unfortunately, it just blew out. As soon as I soon as I lifted, it blew out. That was the end of it.”
Justin Allgaier goes around from the lead with just five laps to go after a left-rear flat. Wow. #NASCARonFS1 https://t.co/5XjrEH7tEk pic.twitter.com/HRa6XrxzcO
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 10, 2024
“I feel like we’ve had really good race cars here. It just seems like it’s stupid stuff like today happens. I wouldn’t have done anything different today. I felt like I was patient. I felt like I raced people really cleanly — and got raced not so clearly in some aspects — and just tried to do everything I could to manage the day well.”
It was a shocking finish for Allgaier, who brought the No. 7 car home in 29th place. Allgaier deserved much better and should have won the race on Saturday afternoon. Instead, the JR Motorsports driver must look forward to Circuit of the Americas in two weeks. Allgaier has an even bigger chip on his shoulder to win a race, so he could be a threat in the next event.
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