AUTO RACING: Justin Allgaier races to Nationwide Series win at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Roger Penske began his Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway involved a high-profile morning meeting in the NASCAR hauler.
Saturday afternoon, the man nicknamed “The Captain” was in Victory Lane celebrating one of his biggest achievements as a NASCAR owner.

Penske Racing drivers Justin Allgaier and Brad Keselowski swept the top two spots in the Nationwide Series Scotts Turf Builder 300.

It was the first career win in 43 Nationwide starts for Allgaier, a 23-year-old former ARCA Series competitor from Riverton, Ill.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better than this,” Penske said.

Allgaier began his climb to the elite levels of NASCAR at age 5. With the support of parents, Allgaier learned the basics of racing through open-wheel car and
Late Model stock cars. Allgaier displayed instincts and aggression Saturday en route to his landmark victory.

Weaving past slower cars with precision and checking every move by Keselowski, Allgair led the final 27 laps.

“This is an unbelievable day,” Allgaier said. “That battle with Brad at the end was awesome. I couldn’t be happier than to see two Penske [cars] up there
battling for the win.”

Allgaier qualified 30th, then quickly worked his way to the front.

“We had a great car in practice and I screwed up in qualifying,” Allgaier said. “My crew chief [Chad Walter] told me that if I pushed really hard that I could still
get in Victory Lane, and here we are.”

Keselowski, who led 72 laps, appeared to have several chances to pass his teammate, but was unable to make the decisive move.

“I got back to Justin and had the opportunity, but I just erred on the side of caution,” said Keselowski, who has been in a high-profile dispute with Carl Edwards
the past two weeks. “The last thing I need to do is to wreck either one of us.
“I’m happy to see Justin win a race. It’s always good to see a first-time winner. I’m really proud of the entire Penske team.”

With five laps remaining, Penske offered some instruction to the always-aggressive Keselowski.

“I just told Brad to take care, and obviously Justin was doing same thing,” Penske said. “I wanted to see them both kind of work together to get way from the field.”

Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five finishers.

Just as Allgaier was crossing the finishing, Harvick appeared to deliberately spin out Logano.

A furious Logano rushed to confront Harvick following the race before being held back by his crew.

“I just raced and raced with [Logano] and he kept chopping and chopping me,” Harvick said. “I got in there and just got into the back of him a little bit. You got
to do what you’ve got to do.”

Allgaier, the 2009 Nationwide Series rookie of the year, became the sixth driver to collect his first Nationwide Series win at Bristol.

“I hope this is the first of many to come,” Allgaier said.

Busch paid credit to the Penske teammates.

“We made some good changes and got the car to where it was decent,” Busch said. “[Allgaier] and [Keselowski] were just too strong up front for us to contend with. We were better than the rest.
“We’ve always been one of the fastest cars here at Bristol, but this time we missed out on just a little something. Maybe we’ll find it and come back here in August and get back after it.”

For the first time since the April event in 1997, there were no cautions over the first 31 laps.

The race was halted for 12 minutes on lap 90 after a fiery accident involving drivers Steve Wallace, Colin Braun, Scott Wimmer and Brian Scott. None of the
drivers were injured

One of the big questions entering the race was whether extension of the SAFER barriers in Turn 2 and 4 would make a difference in the racing.

“It doesn’t make a big difference,” Edwards said. “You can’t tell it’s there.”

Since BMS underwent a resurfacing and widening project in 2007, the average number of cautions for Sprint Cup races has dropped from 9.4. The number of
lead changes has also declined but Saturday’s event featured a total of 11 cautions for 61 laps.

Eric McClure, from Abingdon, Va., finished 24th in the No. 24 Ford owned by Ed Rensi.

Southwest Virginia native Danny O’Quinn completed just 21 laps before retiring from the race. O’Quinn finished 42nd.

Scott Riggs, Dennis Setzer, Parker Kligerman and Brad Teague, of Johnson City, Tenn., were among the seven drivers failing to qualify. Kligerman, who drives
for the Smith-Penske Racing team, is working with Bristol native Chris Carrier as his crew chief. Carrier, former crew chief for the Abingdon-based Morgan-
McClure Motorsports, said Saturday afternoon that Kligerman will likely enter half the Nationwide races this season.

agregory@bristolnews.com I (276) 645-2544.