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Defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier, who competes in the series for Dale Jr.-owned JR Motorsports team, has become the latest driver to win the NMPA Richard Petty Driver of the Year Award.
The National Motorsports Press Association announced Allgaier as the recipient of the 2024 award in a post on X. The 38-year-old was the first Xfinity driver to win the award since its inception in 1969. He also won the award by the closest membership vote in 29 years.
Allgaier debuted in the Xfinity series in 2008 and has collected 27 wins and 10 pole positions. He has been placed in the top five in the final standings for the last five years and claimed his first title last year after winning two races and a record 16 stages.
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"NMPA President [Deb Williams] presents Justin Allgaier with his 2024 NMPA Richard Petty Driver of the Year Award. It was the closest vote by the membership since 1986. Allgaier is the first #NASCAR Xfinity Series driver to receive the award," the association wrote.
F1 star Max Verstappen was awarded the honor in 2023.
Allgaier gave JR Motorsports, which is co-owned by Dale Jr. and his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller, its fourth drivers' championship in the Xfinity Series. After he won the title, his home state of Illinois, declared November 9 as Justin Allgaier Day.
"Just like we planned" - Justin Allgaier's first NASCAR Cup race for Dale Jr.'s JR Motorsports
Justin Allgaier also raced for JR Motorsports in the team's debut NASCAR Cup Series race earlier this season. He drove the No. 40 Traveller Whiskey Chevy for ninth place in the 2025 Daytona 500 with former Dale Jr. crew chief Greg Ives.
Allgaier, who had only made two previous starts at the Great American Race in 2014 and 2015, qualified the No. 40 team in top place among five other open teams to make it to the race.
"Good job...Just like we planned," Dale Jr. said following the race.
Meanwhile, Allgaier has already won two races in the 2025 Xfinity season. He has finished in the top five on seven occasions already this year.
The No. 7 Chevrolet driver recorded his second-worst finish of the year last week at Rockingham Speedway. The series returned to the 0.94-mile oval in Rockingham, North Carolina, for the first time since 2004 and of all the Xfinity drivers, only Kasey Kahne had raced there before.
The track was refurnished in 2022, so it felt new for most. However, Allgaier and two other drivers did participate in a Goodyear tire test at the track last November. Ultimately, the JR Motorsports driver finished 21st during Saturday's North Carolina Education Lottery 250.
