Allgaier’s Hope: Second Verse Not Same As First

Now that the second half of the NASCAR Nationwide Series season is officially underway, this is the time for Justin Allgaier to make sure he has plenty of gas in the tank to make a run at the championship. Pardon the pun, but it fits Allgaier’s season to a tee.

It’s not that he’s had a bad first half. He’s just not been able find the consistency that he – and many others before the year started – felt would have him challenging for the title by this juncture.
Allgaier, from Riverton, Ill., had a popular win at Chicagoland in this race last year when he coasted across the finish line ahead of Carl Edwards after both drivers ran out of fuel. But he wasn’t able to turn that momentum into a run at the points lead the rest of the way.

Currently fifth in the standings 73 points out of first, Allgaier is still in the mix but is close to being in a now-or-never scenario as far as his championship hopes. He’s on a streak of four consecutive top-10 finishes – seven in his last eight races – including his first top fives of the year, fifths at Dover and Kentucky. In four career races at Chicago, he has three top-10 finishes.