Justin Allgaier Dashes to Las Vegas Victory

Justin Allgaier celebrating in Victory Lane after winning The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Justin Sheldon | The Podium Finish)

LAS VEGAS — It was another dominating performance for Justin Allgaier, who was able to seal the deal and win The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday for his first victory of the 2025 season.

Following a heartbreaking defeat after dominating last week’s race at Phoenix Raceway, Allgaier led a race-high 102 laps and won Stage 1 en route to the race win, holding off last week’s winner Aric Almirola, who had an unsuccessful late-race charge.

“It feels amazing, this whole team, just I can’t say enough,” Allgaier said post-race. “Just so proud of everybody on this Jarrett (Logistics) Camaro, just to see the speed we had since we unloaded on the truck, and I was really sad with the sixth-place qualifying effort and to be able to get here (to a race victory).”

Justin Allgaier burning it down after scoring his first victory of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. (Photo: Justin Sheldon | The Podium Finish)

Allgaier may have qualified last of the JR Motorsports cars, but it was clear that he had the car to beat, passing teammate Sammy Smith for the race lead on Lap 14. Despite dominating, the win did not come easily after Almirola mounted a late race effort to try to run down the No. 7 car.

Allgaier cited discipline and hitting his marks as a key reminder that helped him claim the win.

“Today the word of the day was discipline, not missing the bottom (lane),” said Allgaier. “Aric (Almirola) had a fast car and we kind of flipped-flopped back and forth there a few times and I got lucky. After the pit cycle, I got lucky and I was able to get by him with some lapped traffic and that was really the difference maker for the race.”

Justin Allgaier scoring the victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Justin Sheldon | The Podium Finish)

Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been a track at which Allgaier has run well and just has not been able to “strike gold” in the past, but Saturday was his lucky day.

The close calls at Las Vegas mixed with the tough defeat at Phoenix Raceway a week ago made the win a special one for Allgaier.

“I’ve been lucky enough to win a lot of races in my career and this one means a lot because I feel like we’ve been so close and last week I was right there,” Allgaier said. “Just so proud of this team.”

Almirola had a close second-place finish at Las Vegas and has now finished in the top five in all three of his starts thus far in 2025. Almirola believed that he and Allgaier had equal race cars, but he needed clear air at the end of the race to score the win.

“Clean air,” Almirola said on what he needed at the end of the race. “We were evenly matched. I felt like he (Allgaier) was just so much better than me on the short run and then I would kind of run him back down on the long run.”

Justin Allgaier (No. 7) racing side-by-side with Aric Almirola (No. 19) during The LiUNA!. (Photo: Justin Sheldon | The Podium Finish)

The pass for the lead that Allgaier made during the green flag cycle was a big momentum swing and a game-changer that Almirola brought up post-race.

“I thought my best shot was to cycle in front of him on the green flag stop, which we did,” he said. “Our guys did a great job on pit road and I just misjudged some slower-lapped traffic and he was able to get back by me. Honestly, that was the difference maker.”

Following Almirola inside the top five were Jesse Love, Austin Hill and Sam Mayer, who all qualified along with Allgaier for the first Dash 4 Cash event of the season next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Justin Allgaier
2. Aric Almirola
3. Carson Kvapil
4. Connor Zilisch
5. Taylor Gray
6. Sammy Smith
7. Austin Hill
8. Jesse Love
9. Sam Mayer
10. Ryan Sieg

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Aric Almirola
2. Justin Allgaier
3. Connor Zilisch
4. Sammy Smith
5. Sam Mayer
6. Carson Kvapil
7. Taylor Gray
8. Brandon Jones
9. Sheldon Creed
10. Jesse Love

The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Finishing Results