by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Justin Allgaier picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #7 BRANDT Chevrolet crashed after 24 of 124 laps.

The finish, which came in Allgaier’s 447th series start, was his first of the season and first in a XFINITY Series race since August 20, 2022 at Watkins Glen, 106 races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 15th for the #7, the 392nd from a crash, and the 639th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 56th for the #7, the 1,371st for Chevrolet, and the 1,937th from a crash.

Allgaier remains one of the most successful – yet unlucky – full-time drivers on the XFINITY Series circuit. Following his most recent feature on this site, he made his way to the Championship Four. He led 26 laps, but like his fellow teammates at JR Motorsports, had nothing for a dominant Ty Gibbs. Another four victories came last season – including two photo-finishes with RCR rival Sheldon Creed. The second of these came at the chaotic finale to Martinsville, again advancing him to the title race in Phoenix. This time, he didn’t lead any laps and finished runner-up to champion Cole Custer. Coming into this year, Allgaier has finished no worse than 7th in the point standings for his last 13 straight full-time seasons – excluding his two-year absence during a brief foray in Cup from 2014-2015.

Coming into Talladega, Allgaier had yet to score his first win of the season. This included a perplexing drought for the entire JR Motorsports team through the first eight races. Allgaier seemed set on breaking through at Phoenix this past spring, but while leading his 53rd lap with just five to go blew a left-rear tire and backed into the Turn 3 wall. It was instead teammate Sam Mayer who ended JRM’s drought last week in Texas, though in equally dramatic fashion after a photo finish with Ryan Sieg settled by just 0.002 second. Allgaier dominated that race as well, leading 54 laps this time, but finished a distant 3rd – just his second top-five finish of 2024.

For Talladega, Allgaier would run a slightly different version of his BRANDT Agriculture paint scheme. The car carried green door numbers in place of yellow, substituting corn graphics for soy leaves. With this car, he earned the 16th fastest lap with a speed of 179.494mph (53.350 seconds). His was one of 40 drivers on the preliminary entry list until midweek, when DGM Racing withdrew Natalie Decker’s #36 Chevrolet. When qualifying completed, the lone DNQ was originally Mason Massey in the #14 Fan Controlled Chevrolet. But 19th-place starter Garrett Smithley’s time was disallowed due to a roof hatch that came loose on his timed lap, sending Smithley’s #6 Trophy Tractor Chevrolet home and putting Massey into the 38th and final starting spot.

On race day, three teams joined Massey at the tail end of the field due to pre-race penalties for unapproved adjustments: 10th-place Sheldon Creed in the #18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and 13th-place starter Taylor Gray in the #19 Operation 300 Toyota, and 35th-place Jeb Burton in the #27 Puryear Tank Lines Chevrolet.

Soon after the start, Hailie Deegan took the 38th spot in her #15 AirBox Ford, which had lined up 31st on the grid. Deegan held the spot by Lap 2 to Lap 6, during which she remained just under four seconds back of the lead. Ryan Ellis took the spot on the 6th circuit in his #43 Four Loko Jungle Juice Chevrolet, but Deegan resumed the spot by the 11th lap, showing 5.65 seconds back of the lead with Ellis just ahead of her. By Lap 15, Ellis had opened up a two-tenths advantage over Deegan, and by Lap 21, Ellis dropped Massey’s #14 to 37th spot. Deegan was still running in 38th when trouble broke out on Lap 25, the final lap of Stage 1.

Coming off Turn 2, Allgaier was running 5th when he moved up off the corner, then was bumped in the left-rear corner by Riley Herbst’s #98 Monster Energy Ford. The contact sent Allgaier hard to the left, skidding helplessly toward the inside wall. He struck the barrier where it angled outward to allow for emergency equipment to enter the track, pushing in the left-front wheel and sending him spinning back up the track. By then, the rest of the field had pulled away, and Allgaier climbed from his car without serious injury. He immediately took over last place, the first driver done for the day.

Taking the 37th spot was Jeffrey Earnhardt, whose #26 ForeverLawn Toyota lost the engine just before the end of Stage 2. A pileup triggered by Ryan Sieg exiting the tri-oval on Lap 67 then completed the Bottom Five with Sam Mayer taking 36th with damage in front of the right-rear wheel on the #1 First Bank of Alabama Chevrolet, Jeremy Clements in the 35th spot after striking the wall head-on with his #51 One Stop / All South Electric Chevrolet, and Ryan Truex completing the group after fender damage to his #20 The Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota.

Talladega’s double-overtime finish comes just one car short of becoming a free-for-all for several series underdogs

Saturday’s race saw just two relatively minor pileups by Talladega standards – both near the front of the pack. Both before and after each, several underdogs were turning in impressive runs.

David Starr qualified Motorsports Business Management’s #66 GreenLightPP.com Chevrolet after a DNQ in the Daytona opener, making the most of a Hendrick engine under the hood. Starr led Lap 69 under caution, then charged as high as 12th in the closing stages, threatening for a Top Ten as he stayed in the outside lane. However, the second pileup with just two laps to go in regulation sent him spinning into the infield grass, leaving him a disappointing 24th.

Also eliminated in that wreck was Patrick Emerling, whose 32nd-place finish after heavy crash damage does not reflect his spirited charge to 2nd in the final stages, threatening to score the second-ever win for SS-Green Light Racing. Emerling’s #07 picked up sponsorship from BIG Studio Group earlier in the week and rewarded the sponsor with valuable camera time.

Parker Retzlaff had one of the day’s most daring escapes when he mashed the gas pedal on the apron of Turns 1 and 2, allowing his #31 Easy Care Chevrolet to squeak past a wrecking Sam Mayer. Retzlaff worked the inside lane up to the lead draft, only to suffer an ignition failure in overtime, leaving him 30th. Making his first Talladega start in over a year dating back to the Truck Series accident that left him with serious burns, Retzlaff’s team owner Jordan Anderson was also very strong in the opening stages, charging from 32nd to the lead in his #32 Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolet. But heavy nose damage in the wreck with two to go dropped him to 31st.

Parker Kligerman had one of the only cars that seemed capable of competing with both his fellow Chevrolets from Richard Childress Racing and the Fords from Stewart-Haas Racing, and was a fixture in the Top Five for most of the day. It was his #48 Spiked Lite Coolers Chevrolet that narrowly avoided disaster when then-leader Austin Hill spun off Turn 4. But it was also Kligerman who was collected in the next pileup on a restart, dropping him to 29th at the finish.

Both Ryan Ellis, whose #43 briefly held last place in the early laps, and Blaine Perkins in the #29 Ollie’s Ford found themselves among the surprising Top 10 as the race reached overtime, but each dropped back in the order. Ellis finished 26th after he was spun entering Turn 1 on the final overtime finish. Perkins ran as high as 10th and was a frequent sight among the leaders throughout the race before he plummeted to 23rd, one lap down.

The final laps saw a mad dash among several unheralded drivers, all of them trying to defeat the fleet Richard Childress Racing entry of rookie Jesse Love. Hailie Deegan, who held last place for most of the opening run, clawed her way to 4th for the restart, but plummeted to 12th at the finish – still a new career-best, improving on her 13th-place series debut in 2022. Joey Gase marched his way to 2nd on the final lap in his #35 Fireside RV Rental Chevrolet, but was spun within sight of the finish line, dropping him to 18th in the blink of an eye. This was still Gase’s best finish since he ran 14th at Daytona last summer.

Then there were the many underdogs who still earned strong finishes behind race winner Love. None came closer than Brennan Poole, who ran a “throwback” scheme to the DC Solar Chevrolet that was denied victory by a technicality in 2016. Poole’s #44 CW & Sons Infrastructure Chevrolet pulled to Love’s outside, but had no drafting help, dropping him to 5th at the finish. This was Poole’s 10th career top-five finish and second in a row in this race.

Anthony Alfredo had a lightning-fast #5 Dude Wipes Chevrolet that made several daring moves among the leaders. Despite right-front damage suffered in Austin Hill’s wreck, he had a massive run coming off the final corner and ducked to the outside of Poole to finish in 3rd spot – tying his career-best from Texas back in 2020, when he himself drove for RCR. In these first nine races, Alfredo has already scored four top-ten finishes, tying his mark from the entirety of the 2022 season, when he ranked a career-best 15th in points.

One spot ahead of Poole came a stunning Leland Honeyman, Jr., whose #42 Mezrano Injury Lawyers Chevrolet – the result of another last-minute sponsorship – earned a career-best 4th. This was Honeyman’s first top-five finish in just his 17th series start, and the first for Randy Young’s new XFINITY team. All this occurred in Honeyman’s first-ever start at Talladega.

Caesar Bacarella joined teammates Poole and Ellis among the Top 10 in the final laps and came home 7th in his #45 Prime Bites Chevrolet – just one spot shy of tying his career-best 6th-place performance in this race last year, and coming in his 30th series start.

Matt DiBenedetto also showed impressive speed in his #38 Viking Motorsports / “The Girl Who Recycled 1 Million Cans” Ford, particularly in the closing laps as he threatened for a Top Ten or even a Top Five for most of the distance. He ultimately crossed the line a career-best 8th just behind Bacarella, his first top-ten finish in a XFINITY Series race since 2010, when he ran 9th as a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing at Iowa. This, combined with Ryan Sieg’s “Dash For Cash” bonus of $100,000, helped salve the wounds for RSS Racing. Sieg led seven laps and was in the battle for the lead all day until he cut down a tire after bumping the frontstretch wall in the final laps, leaving him 17th. Ryan’s brother Kyle Sieg also distinguished himself in 13th, besting his 14th last week in Texas for his top run of 2024 in the #28 North Country Ford-sponsored Ford.

And then there was Mason Massey, whose “Fan Controlled” car nearly missed the race entirely, then ran as low as 37th in the opening stages. Massey managed to avoid all the day’s wrecks and finish 11th in his first series start of the year. This is his third finish of 16th or better in his last four series starts.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #7 in a XFINITY Series race at Talladega.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #7-Justin Allgaier / 24 laps / crash

37) #26-Jeffrey Earnhardt / 46 laps / engine

36) #1-Sam Mayer / 65 laps / crash

35) #51-Jeremy Clements / 65 laps / crash

34) #20-Ryan Truex / 65 laps / crash / led 1 lap

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Jordan Anderson Racing, JR Motorsports (2)

2nd) DGM Racing, Joey Gase Motorsports, Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management (1)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (6)

2nd) Ford, Toyota (1)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP