Following his victory at Dover International Raceway, Justin Allgaier was given a penalty that had the potential to alter his entire season. Due to the penalty, Allgaier and the JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro team did not receive the benefits of the win at Dover, including the five playoff points and an automatic entry into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. On Sunday, Allgaier rebounded in a big way to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Iowa 250 presented by Enogen.
“We had a great car today, these guys did a fantastic job,” Allgaier said. “Iowa is a great place and the fans here are incredible. It’s just one of those places that you’ve got to go to.
“We’re in the middle of corn fields — how could you not enjoy this? … Doing it on Father’s Day, it was really cool having my daughter here.”
Allgaier led 182 of 250 laps and won all three stages of the race. Allgaier chased down Austin Cindric – the polesitter and Sukup “First in the Field” Award winner – in the closing laps of Stage 1 for the stage win. He then did battle with Daniel Hemric for the bulk of Stage 2 before pulling away late in the 60-lap stage. In the final stage, Allgaier had repeated battles with Christopher Bell — who at times closed to within a tenth of a second of the lead —but was able to keep the Joe Gibbs Racing driver at bay for most of the final run.
“Man, I just needed to be in front of him (Justin Allgaier),” said Bell. “Our Rheem Camry was really good. It was really good on the bottom both corners, but I just didn’t have enough to clear him. Hopefully we put on a good show for the fans. We were side-by-side for half the race.”
Hemric was third, followed by Cole Custer and Brandon Jones. Riley Herbst was sixth in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut.
Points leader Elliott Sadler lost a tire at the end of Stage 1. He finished 28th and saw his lead dwindle to just four points.
Next up for Iowa Speedway is the ARCA Racing Series Fans With Benefits 150 and the Verizon IndyCar Series Iowa Corn 300 on July 7-8. Iowa Corn will celebrate its 12th year of partnership with The Fastest Short Track on the Planet and remains as the second longest running entitlement sponsor in INDYCAR competition. Along with the Verizon IndyCar Series, Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires will also be in action on July 8.
NASCAR PR/Photo Credit Matt Sullivan/Getty Images