Dale Earnhardt Jr. recalls the “toughest part” during the Xfinity Series showdown and it was not Justin Allgaier’s pit stops or penalties

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently touched upon the "toughest" part of his Xfinity Series Championship with JR Motorsport and Justin Allgaier at Phoenix Raceway. The former NASCAR driver said it wasn't the #7 driver's penalties or pit stops at Phoenix, but the hardest part was how he temporarily lost his bag.

Allgaier of JR Motorsport, a team co-owned by Dale Jr., claimed the Xfinity Series victory at Phoenix last week. The #7 man finished the Championship race in second place behind race winner Riley Herbst. However, he was able to claim the trophy, thanks to his superior point cushion over Cole Custer, AJ Allmendinger, and Austin Hill.

As Justin Allgaier was into the final, Dale Jr. and his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller were present at the track to support him. While they watched and enjoyed the race with excitement and curiosity, the former lost his bag, which he remembered after the race.

Speaking on the Dirty Mo Media podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently said it was the toughest moment for him at Phoenix, even more than Allgaier's re-start violation penalty on Lap 101, followed by the same penalty for speeding on the way out of the pit lane.

"The toughest part of the night even more nerve wrecking then when we got the two out road penalties back-to-back was when I lost my bag right at the end of the night," Dale Jr. said. "So I had my backpack because I had my NASCAR hoodie in it. I had my backpack; I had my iPad; it had a couple of snacks, my NASCAR hoodie, and some charging cables. It was on the pit box with me when we won the race, so we go do everything we gotta do, go over to the victory lane; I mean, this is a couple of hours."

He added:

"We get done with the media center, and Kelley, and I were like, 'All right, y'all ready to go?' 'Naww!' we gotta get use a room at Scottsdale, and I kept needling Kelley, and LW there, old and they wanna go home, getting late I'm like we gotta go over to the car, they're tearing the car down. We gotta go over and see the team. We had another beer, and I said finally, let's go. So we start walking to the rental car and I'm like freaking a**, 'where's my bag?'"

Justin Allgaier clinched the 2024 Xfinity Series Championship with 4035 points, ahead of Cole Custer who finished in runners-up position with 4029 points. The other two Championship 4 drivers — AJ Allmendinger and Austin Hill — managed 4028 and 4027 points, respectively.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals how he finally found his bag

Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrates JR Motorsport's victory - Source: Imagn

On the same podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed how he found the bag. He unraveled how Rick Brandt (CEO and President of BRANDT, a sponsor of Justin Allgaier) and the company helped him find the bag.

"I'm doing that find my phone, and we can't hear. It's not doing nothing, but I keep seeing that it's at the tunnel on the inside of the racetrack. We're looking for it for about an hour, and finally, this car pulls up, some folks were there with Brandt. We got your bag, Junior, then I was so relieved." (0:56-)

Dale Earnhardt Jr., during his NASCAR Cup Series career, took part in 631 races in over 19 years, where he raked up 26 wins, 15 pole positions, and 260 Top 10s. He retired from full-time racing in the series in 2017 after the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami.