Justin Allgaier has always been a beast when it comes to Phoenix Raceway, and on Saturday, the JR Motorsports driver proved it once again with a slick victory in the GOVX 200.
The Riverton, Illinois-native wasn’t the dominant driver of the evening by any means, but throughout most of the race, found himself running anywhere from third to 10th.
At the end of Stage 2, though, the 2024 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion faced some adversity with a very, very slow pit stop that drop-kicked the No. 7 BRANDT Fresh Agriculture Chevrolet Camaro outside the top-20.
RACE RESULTS: NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series GOVX 200 at Phoenix
It definitely took some time, but by the closing stages of the event, Allgaier had returned to the top-10 courtesy of a fast racecar and a solid green-flag pit stop cycle, and as the laps wound down with late-race cautions, the No. 7 was in position to strike.
Just after a restart, with 11 laps to go in the event, Allgaier was able to drive around the defending NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion (and defending Phoenix race-winner) Jesse Love, to get the lead of the race, and despite the No. 2 Chevrolet looking faster at times, the veteran driver never looked back.
The victory marks the 29th in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for Justin Allgaier, tying him for eighth on the all-time wins list with Matt Kenseth.
“Just so proud of this team,” Allgaier said in victory lane. “Andrew Overstreet has been doing a great job taking over, and he’s been telling me all week, ‘This is our house, we’re going to go take it,’ and it wasn’t for lack of adversity. It seems like those are the ones that are really great for us. But really proud of this team, everybody on the 7 team, we had an issue on that first pit stop, and these boys rebounded, and did a great job.”
With his victory Saturday, Allgaier has now been to Victory Lane three times in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Phoenix Raceway, and has done so for the first time since 2019. In 32 starts at the racetrack, Allgaier has now led an impressive 824 laps.
Jesse Love dominated the event on Saturday, leading a race-high 114 laps around the one-mile racetrack, but ultimately fell victim to Allgaier’s supremacy at the Avondale, Arizona-based racetrack.
Love could not be consoled, post-race, about the fact that it was a good points day for the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing team.
“Yeah, if I show up to run second, and just collect points,” Love responded when asked by The CW if the points lessened the pain of the loss, “but obviously not why I’m here. And yeah, just beyond frustrated with myself. Yeah, I just don’t know what to say. I’m upset with myself.”
Carson Kvapil was in position to collect his first win in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series on Saturday, but couldn’t hold onto track position during a string of late-race restarts, dropping him back to third. Sheldon Creed also led late, but faded to fourth. Sam Mayer, after starting at the rear of the field, rounded out the top-five.
Sammy Smith brought his No. 8 Chevrolet home in sixth, with Jordan Anderson Racing teammates Jeb Burton and Rajah Caruth finishing seventh and eighth. Corey Day and Anthony Alfredo rounded out the top-10.
With his victory at Phoenix Raceway, Justin Allgaier jumps to the points lead in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, with a three-point advantage over Jesse Love. Austin Hill is third in points with Carson Kvapil and Sheldon Creed rounding out the top-five.
Next, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, taking place on Saturday, March 14 at 5:30 PM ET on The CW, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
