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LEBANON, Tenn. (June 6, 2010) – Justin Allgaier, driver of the Penske Racing No. 12 Verizon Dodge in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, started Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts 300 from the pole position and rallied back from an untimely caution early in the race to record a fourth place finish at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday night. The finish matches the 24-year-old driver’s best at the 1.333-mile concrete oval.

After the 13th race of the 2010 season, Allgaier maintains the fifth position in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver point standings, trailing point leader and Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski by 295 markers.

Allgaier recorded the first and 10th-fastest times in Friday’s dual Nationwide Series practice sessions. Saturday afternoon, the Riverton, Ill. native ran a lap of 30.360 seconds, at an average speed of 158.063 mph, to record his first pole of the 2010 season, and the second of his young career.

Allgaier wasted little time checking out from the rest of the field once the green flag waved, leading the first 58 laps before giving up the position to come down pit road as the field began green-flag pit stops. The Verizon crew performed routine service of four tires and fuel. Unfortunately, as they completed their stop and Allgaier made his way back on the racing surface, the No. 81 car suffered a tire failure and hit the outside retaining wall forcing NASCAR to display the caution flag. As the rest of the leaders came to pit road for their scheduled stops and the field cycled through, the No. 12 Dodge was displayed 18th for the lap 67 restart.

Sound pit strategy and a strong Verizon Dodge allowed Allgaier to advance to fourth at lap 88 when the field pitted, under caution, to take on tires and fuel. Crew chief Chad Walter elected to take fuel only, gaining back much of their lost track position.

As the race neared the conclusion, Allgaier waged spirited battles with Paul Menard and Carl Edwards, the latter of whom made contact with the left front fender of Allgaier’s Dodge, leaving him with a tight-handling condition over the final laps. Despite the damage, Allgaier was able to hold onto the fourth position when the checkered flag was displayed.

Allgaier's teammate Keselowski earned his third victory of the 2010 season, and Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe won the IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway to give Penske Racing a clean sweep of Saturday’s racing events.

“It was a rough night despite finishing fourth,” said Allgaier. “The Verizon Dodge Charger was really fast early and, unfortunately, we got caught a lap down when we made a green flag pit stop only to have the caution come out. We fought back from 18th and moved all the way up to second with under 40 laps to go. I got bounced around out there pretty good tonight. Our fenders got beat in a bit and really changed the characteristics of the car. That’s just racing. It stinks that we lost some points to the guys in front of us in the standings. Congratulations to Brad and his team on the win. All in all, it’s a good, solid fourth-place finish for us.”

Next weekend, the NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to Kentucky Speedway for the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway. The race will be televised live on ESPN Saturday, June 12 beginning at 7:30 p.m.