Allgaier Has Impressive Run, Finishes Eighth in California
October 10, 2010
FONTANA, Calif. (October 9, 2010) – Justin Allgaier, driver of the Penske Racing No. 12 Verizon Dodge in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, had a strong showing in the CampingWorld.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday afternoon where he recorded an eighth-place finish.
With the result, Allgaier remains in the fourth position in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver point standings. With five races remaining in the 2010 season, Allgaier trails point leader and Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski by 826 markers, and third-place contender Kyle Busch by 341 points.
After starting the 150-lap event from the 11th spot, Allgaier began posting consistently fast lap times and settled into the sixth position as the field spread out on track. As the field approached the first round of green-flag pit stops, Allgaier radioed that the No. 12 machine was strong but had developed a slight tight-handling condition. He came to pit road on lap 41 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. When pit stops cycled through, Allgaier was running in the eighth position.
Allgaier was once again running in the sixth spot when the caution flag was displayed just after the halfway point of the race for a spin on the frontstretch. He reported that the Verizon Dodge had developed a tight-handling condition from the center of the turns through the exit of the corners. Allgaier came to pit road for four tires and fuel on lap 87, and after an impressive pit stop by the Verizon crew, he lined up for the race restart from the fourth position.
When the caution flag waved once again on lap 101, Allgaier had raced his way into the second position. He came to pit road for service and lined up for the restart from the same spot. During the following run, Allgaier reported that the Verizon Dodge was tight-handling in the middle of the corners. On lap 124, Allgaier came to pit road for service under caution for the team’s final pit stop of the race while running in fourth place.
Allgaier positioned himself to contend for the win in the final laps of the 300-mile event opting not to make pit stops during the final two caution periods of the race. Following a lap 145 restart, while racing hard for position with five laps to go, Allgaier received contact from a fellow competitor and slipped in the running order to secure an eighth-place finish. The result marks the 17th top-10 finish for Allgaier and the Verizon Dodge team in 2010.
“The Verizon Dodge guys were awesome all day. My pit stops were just awesome,” said Allgaier. “We had a fast race car. We weren’t quite as good as some of these guys, but we felt like if we could stay up there that we could maintain our position and have a shot at the win at the end of the race. I had a good run on the No. 99 and the No. 33 had a run to the top. I got my right side destroyed and didn’t have enough right-front fender to stay up front. It was a frustrating finish for us because we ran all day. It was another top-10 finish and we’ll head to Charlotte next week and try to get a win.”
Allgaier and the Verizon Dodge team head to Charlotte Motor Speedway next weekend for the Dollar General 300 on Friday, October 15, 2010. Racing action will air live on the ESPN2 television network beginning at 7:30 p.m. EDT. The race will also be broadcast live on PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio.