Tuesday
Justin Allgaier, No. 12 Verizon Dodge Charger – Gateway International Raceway Preview
Press Release
No. 12 Verizon Dodge Charger
Gateway International Raceway – Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250
July 17, 2010
Verizon Team News and Notes
This Week’s Verizon Dodge …
Justin Allgaier will pilot Penske Racing chassis PRS-017 in Saturday night’s Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway. This is the same Dodge Charger that Allgaier used to record his first career Nationwide Series pole at Memphis Motorsports Park in October, 2009. It most recently raced at Richmond International Raceway in April, where the 2009 Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year started ninth and finished 15th.Welcome Home, Justin … Allgaier, a native of Riverton, Ill., grew up just over 100 miles northeast of Gateway International Raceway. He began his career racing quarter midgets in his home state at the age of five. Since then, he has claimed two poles, one win, eight top-five and 22 top-10 finishes in 57 Nationwide Series starts; two poles, eight wins, 31 top fives and 45 top 10s and the 2008 championship in 86 ARCA Series starts; and two top-25 finishes in eight Camping World Truck Series races.
Mid-Year Report … At the midpoint of the 2010 season, Allgaier has accumulated one pole, one win, five top-five and 10 top-10 finishes, an average starting position of 11.9 and an average finish of 10.9. Allgaier has led 131 laps of competition and has completed 99.4 percent of the laps contested (3,283 of 3,304) over the first 17 races.
Get to the Points … Allgaier is currently ranked fourth in the championship point standings, 454 markers behind leader and Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski, and 29 points behind third-place contender Kyle Busch.
Best in Class … Allgaier’s fourth-place position in the point standings is best among full-time, Nationwide Series-only drivers. Allgaier leads fellow Nationwide-only driver Steve Wallace, currently ranked eighth, by 408 points.
Allgaier at Gateway … In his only previous NASCAR Nationwide Series start at Gateway International Raceway in July of 2009, Allgaier recorded an 11th-place finish.
Are You Experienced? … In addition to his one previous Nationwide Series start at the 1.25-mile venue, Allgaier has competed in four ARCA Series races at Gateway, posting his track-best finish of fourth in August of 2007.
Start Your Engines … Allgaier will join the race fans in attendance at Gateway International Raceway on Saturday night in giving the field the command to start their engines.
Last Time Out … Allgaier had a strong showing in last Friday night’s Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola at Chicagoland Speedway, overcoming an untimely caution and late-race skirmish to record a 10th-place finish.
Penske Racing in 2010 … With 18 races completed in the 2010 season, Penske Racing’s two NASCAR Nationwide Series entries have recorded five poles, four wins, a combined 19 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes. Penske Dodges have completed 6,586 of 6,608 laps contested, and have been atop the leaderboard for 760 laps with drivers Allgaier and Keselowski.
Meet the Press… Allgaier will be available at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill. to field questions from the gathered media on Thursday, July 15 at noon CDT.
Meet the Driver … Fans can meet Allgaier on Friday, July 16 from 3:15 – 4:45 p.m. when he participates in the NASCAR Nationwide Series group autograph session on pit road at Gateway International Raceway. The following day, he will sign autographs for fans at the Penske Racing souvenir trailer, located in the midway at Gateway International Raceway, from 12:45 – 2:00 p.m. Immediately following the autograph session, he will head to the Dodge display, also located in the midway, to participate in a question and answer session from 2:05 to 2:25 p.m.
Happy Birthday, Josh … Jack man Josh Pech will celebrate his 23rd birthday on Wednesday, July 14.
“Gateway has always been cool for me because it’s the first speedway that I raced on. It has long straightaways and tight corners, and that makes it a lot of fun because you really have to drive the race track. You’re only going to be good at one end of the track, and you’ll have to compromise at the other. We ran pretty well at Gateway last year; we felt like we could have contended for the win but we got beat on pit strategy. The guys did a great job, it was just unfortunate that we got caught when the caution flag came out.”
Justin Allgaier on racing at his home track
“I think my wife, Ashley, has about 1,200 tickets sold to Justin Allgaier fans, so I’m expecting a big cheering section. I’ll be honest with you, I feel that I perform better when there’s something big at stake, and having all of those people in the grandstands probably drives me that much more. I don’t want to let them down. I’m a crowd pleaser; I want to make them happy. So, we’ll do what we can to make sure they’ve got something to cheer about Saturday night.”
Crew chief Chad Walter on Gateway International Raceway
“Gateway is a challenging track with very different corners at each end. It’s like a paperclip in Turns 1 and 2, and has long, sweeping turns at the other end of the track. Getting our Verizon Dodge loose enough to turn in 1 and 2 while still being able to put the power down through Turns 3 and 4 is what will make our race a lot more enjoyable. This track means a lot to Justin, it’s one of his favorites, so we know that he’ll be up on the wheel to get a good finish for his hometown crowd.”
- Penske Racing Press Release
Article Tags: Ashley Allgaier, Brad Keselowski, Chad Walter, Chicagoland Speedway, Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola, Gateway (Ill.) International Raceway, Josh Pech, Justin Allgaier, Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park, Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, NCWTS, NNS, No. 12 Verizon Wireless Dodge Charger, Penske Racing, Richmond (Va.) International Raceway
