"Steve Letarte called me after Indy": When Justin Allgaier reflected on media backlash after his Indy struggles

Justin Allgaier once responded to harsh criticism following a rough day on the racetrack back in 2017 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The driver of the #7 Jr. Motorsports Chevrolet said in an interview that the comments made by NBC analyst Steve Letarte sparked much of the backlash.

During the race broadcast, Allgaier was criticized by Letarte, who called out the driver for several incidents, including hitting a crewman during a pit stop and leaving the pit lane with his right front tire tightened. According to savannahnow.com, Letarte described this mistake as "unacceptable" for a driver of Allgaier's talent.

After reading the backlash across social media platforms, Allgaier took to X to post a lengthy message addressing his difficult day at Indy. He penned a message that read:

"Seems like a lot of people are throwing stones today, I hope none of them live in glass houses! #peoplemakemistakes. My comments attached."

Not long after the controversy, Allgaier sat down for an interview with motorsports insider Jeff Gluck. The California native recounted that his X statement was "loaded" and that Letarte called him in an attempt to clear the air after his comments. Allgaier said:

"Steve Letarte called me after Indy, and we had this conversation about there were a lot of things that happened that day. Obviously, there wasn’t a lot of positives out of it. But there was a lot of the story that never got told, and I told Steve, “You buried me on TV, which led to a lot of what happened on social media. They took your comments and Jeff Burton’s comments and they turned those into headlines.”

Allgaier went on to say his statement didn't matter as it didn't change anyone's opinion and didn't fix what happened in the race. However, he felt it was a great way to get both sides of the story out and helped spark the conversation between him and Letarte. Allgaier added:

"Because of social media, it caused the conversation between Steve and I. And I don’t know if it changes anything on how he did the TV side of things, but for sure we had a great dialogue out of it and I feel more comfortable with where he’s at as a broadcaster and his position on things and understanding some things, and I also think he understands some other things of where he felt I was at as a driver. So social media caused great dialogue that we would have never gotten had it not been for that."

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Justin Allgaier won his first Xfinity Series championship in 2024

While that day in Indianapolis back in 2017 was one Justin Allgaier hoped to forget, his best moments were still ahead of him. In 2014, amid his 14th full-time season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Allgaier finally captured an Xfinity Series title.

Allgaier won two races in 2024 and placed runner-up in the season-finale race at Phoenix to secure the championship. He had previously made the Championship 4 six times but failed to win the championship in all of them.

Allgaier's 25 career Xfinity Series victories rank No. 10 on the all-time win list. In 2025, Allgaier will make an attempt at the Daytona 500 in Jr. Motorsports' Cup Series debut.