Penske Racing's Justin Allgaier wraps up top rookie award for Nationwide Series

By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Penske Racing driver Justin Allgaier clinched the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award for the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Mike Laczynski
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HOMESTEAD, Fla. – This time a year ago, Justin Allgaier was happy to have 10 NASCAR Nationwide Series races for Penske Racing on his 2009 schedule. Instead, he ended up winning the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award for the series.

Sponsor Verizon Wireless joined the team before the season, allowing Allgaier to compete in all 35 races.

“Last year at this time I wasn't sure exactly what we were going to do,” Allgaier said after finishing 20th in the Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “I thought we were going to run about 10 races. And so to come out here with the rookie of the year means a lot.”

The 2008 ARCA Re/Max Series champion, Allgaier posted three top-five and 12 top-10 finishes in Penske’s first full season in the series. He also won his first career NASCAR pole.

Allgaier edged former Sprint Cup and Truck series driver Brendan Gaughan for top rookie honors.

“I think at the end of the day I've been able to accomplish some really cool things, and this definitely is right on the top of the list,” Allgaier said. “It means a lot. I mean, this sport is fun, and these guys come over from the [Sprint] Cup side and I get to race with them and have a good time. And at the same time it's still a job. It's still tough. I mean, if you ask them, they're having a good time, but it's still tough.

“I think that for me it means a lot. I think with Brendan being a multi‑time Truck racer and having Cup experience and some of the other talent that was involved, I feel good that we were able to come out on top, and it just really puts a period on the end of the season for us.”

Allgaier hopes to improve on his 2009 season next year when he continues in the No. 12 Dodge. The last three Nationwide rookies of the year didn’t compete in the series full time in the seasons following their rookie award: Landon Cassill, David Ragan and Danny O’Quinn.

“Hopefully we can [get] our program a little bit better,” Allgaier said. “They've done such a great job and they've worked so hard, we just feel like we're still missing a little bit, and I think part of that is probably myself, and there's things that we need to work on better. So I think once we get that accomplished, I think we'll be able to hopefully get up there with these guys and run a little bit more consistently.

“But it's good to get [the rookie award]. It takes a lot of pressure off. That was one of our main goals going into the beginning of the season. That's what we set out to do, and we were able to accomplish that, especially with six or eight of us that signed up to run for the rookie of the year. It means a lot to me, and hopefully we can come back next year and run that much harder and be that much more competitive.”