Solo leader Justin Allgaier slams into wall with 5 laps left in Xfinity race at Phoenix

Justin Allgaier is an experienced racer. He knows how to close out these things. However, today just wasn’t his day as he lost control late in this race. The good news, he could get redemption later this year by making the Championship 4 and winning his first Xfinity Series championship.

Chandler Smith would go on to take control of this race in overtime. He was able to bring it home in one piece despite helping cause a 13-car wreck earlier in the race. Smith picked up his second career win in the Xfinity Series.

Justin Allgaier lets victory slip through his hands

Nothing is going to make Justin Allgaier feel better about what happened tonight. After the wreck, he got out of the car, picked up the deck lid from the back of the car that was dangling off and threw it down.

Racing is unpredictable. Even at a track like Phoenix where winners can build big leads and gap their competitors. Just when everyone was going to accept Allgaier as the winner, it changed in the blink of an eye.

With limited tires in this race, teams ran out of stickers rather quickly. A few went back to their qualifying scuffs late. However, it didn’t really matter much without multiple restarts and multiple overtimes.

Good news for Justin Allgaier, he was fast. Keep that momentum and forget about the tire going down. As far as he should be concerned, it was a freak accident. Going into the next race, Allgaier will need to lock it in and compete at the level he’s capable of competing at.

As a veteran driver, I think Allgaier will be able to put this one behind him. There have been more disappointing results in his career and more heartbreaks than this.