Justin Allgaier clawed his way back to the front of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series field in Saturday’s GOVX 200 after a pit road issue and held off defending series champion Jesse Love to score his first Phoenix win.
Allgaier got around Love for good with 11 laps to go, and despite Love’s best efforts, drove into the desert night. The win comes on the birthday of Allgaier’s crew chief, Andrew Overstreet.
“So proud of this team,” Allgaier told CW Sports. “Andrew Overstreet has done a great job taking over. We had an issue on that first pit stop, and these boys rebounded. Never gets old winning.”
The victory is the 29th of Allgaier’s NOAPS career.
Notable Phoenix results
Jesse Love, Carson Kvapil, Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer rounded out the top five, with Sammy Smith, Jeb Burton, Rajah Caruth, Corey Day and Anthony Alfredo completing the top 10.
“I think the only real misstep we really had was just tightening up there [at] the beginning of Stage 3,” Love told CW Sports. “Just frustrated. If I show up to run second and collect points, obviously not why I’m here. Just beyond frustrated with myself.”
Love led 114 laps and won a stage, while Smith took the other stage victory.
Jeremy Clements finished 11th after running inside the top five and top 10 for much of the race.
Other notable finishers include Austin Hill in 12th, William Byron in 13th, Brent Crews in 18th, Harrison Burton in 23rd and Patrick Staropoli in 26th.