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LOUDON, N.H. (June 26, 2010) – Justin Allgaier, driver of the Penske Racing No. 12 Verizon Dodge in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, started fifth and was a mainstay inside the top 10 for all 200 laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway en-route to recording his career-best finish at the Magic Mile, sixth, in Saturday’s New England 200.

Allgaier’s ninth top-10 finish of the 2010 season allows him to maintain the third position in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver point standings. With 16 races complete in the 2010 season, Allgaier trails point leader and Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski by 440 markers.

Allgaier recorded the ninth and eighth-fastest times, respectively, in Friday’s dual Nationwide Series practice sessions. Saturday morning, the Riverton, Ill. native ran a lap of 29.671 seconds, at an average speed of 128.368 mph, to earn the fifth starting position for the feature later that afternoon.

Allgaier ran inside the top five for the first half of Saturday’s race, only relinquishing his position once, at lap 78, to take on four tires and fuel as part of a scheduled green-flag pit stop. When the cycle of stops completed a handful of laps later, the Verizon Dodge driver showed fifth on the scoring pylon.

Crew chief Chad Walter called for adjustments that kept the Verizon Dodge in tune over the second half of the event, and flawless work on pit road helped Allgaier maintain his position inside the top 10 as the conclusion of the event neared. 

An aero-tight handling condition plagued Allgaier as he found himself mired back in traffic as the laps wound down. The 24-year-old driver was able to best off two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Kevin Harvick for the sixth position when the checkered flag waved.

“Our Verizon Dodge was strong,” said Allgaier. “Unfortunately we got some right-front fender damage early in the race and that slowed us a bit all race. We made an adjustment to free the car up and it just got too free on one of the restarts. We lost a couple spots and just kind of rode there all day. It was a solid top-10 finish, and we’ll take that. It’s good for points and a nice rebound from last weekend. We move on to Daytona next weekend with the new car, the Dodge Challenger. I’m really excited to get to Daytona and drive our No. 12 Verizon Challenger.”

Next weekend, the NASCAR Nationwide Series heads south to Daytona International Speedway for the first race featuring the new NASCAR Nationwide Series cars. The Subway Jalapeno 250 powered by Coca-Cola will be televised live on ESPN Friday night, July 2 beginning at 7:30 p.m.