Justin Allgaier during practice and qualifying at Portland International Raceway. (Photo: Myk Crawford | The Podium Finish)
PORTLAND, Ore. — After finishing second at Portland in 2023, Justin Allgaier looked to do one position better this season and earn his second victory of the season.
Unfortunately for Allgaier, despite controlling the majority of the race, a late-race restart with four laps to go gave Shane van Gisbergen an opportunity to take the win away and he did just that.
“I don’t know,” said Allgaier when asked what he could have done differently at the end. “On those restarts, we were so free taking off, and the car was just struggling to get grip.”
Allgaier swept the stages and led a race-high 46 laps, totaling 55 points on the day, but was not able to take home the checkered flag. Before two cautions came out in the final 12 laps, Allgaier had a lead of almost three seconds on the field and even held off SVG on the second-to-last restart.
Justin Allgaier racing during the Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Raceway. (Photo: Myk Crawford | The Podium Finish)
It was on the final restart that van Gisbergen was able to get around Allgaier. SVG was able to stay on the rear bumper of Allgaier through the first four turns allowing van Gisbergen to pounce when Allgaier got loose in Turn 5.
Van Gisbergen then pulled away from Allgaier and the rest of the field to win by over nine seconds.
“I think that’s the hardest part, once he got by me there, I probably overdrove it trying to get back to him and probably didn’t help my cause any,” Allgaier said. “Really proud of this team. All the effort this team puts forward is incredible. To come in second two years in a row stings a little bit, but at the same time, really proud of everybody.”
The second-place finish is Allgaier’s fourth top five, and sixth top-10 finish of the season. The finish put him back in the regular season championship battle, now only 23 points behind Cole Custer.
Justin Allgaier at Portland International Raceway racing in the Pacific Office Automotive 147. (Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)
Sweeping both stages also increased Allgaier’s stage win total to 10, the most in the Xfinity Series.
This was also the second straight week that Allgaier swept the stages and was unable to claim the win, doing the same at Charlotte. That along with the finish at Phoenix has left Allgaier “so close, but so far” away from multiple victories in the young season.
With the success at Portland, Allgaier will have another opportunity to go road course racing at Sonoma next weekend.
“Just all in all, it was a rough day,” said Allgaier.
