Allgaier finally gets his shot at Darlington

Justin Allgaier missed out on a chance to race at Darlington Raceway four years ago.

Now the first-year Penske Racing driver is finally getting that opportunity in tonight’s Diamond Hill Plywood 200.

Allgaier was part of Jack Roush’s “Driver X” reality show on the Discovery Channel in 2005. One of the stops in the show was Darlington Raceway.

But Allgaier, who was 19 at the time, failed to make the cut after the first stop at Martinsville and didn’t get a chance to take a lap around the Lady in Black.

“I think I wasn’t ready from an experience standpoint,” Allgaier said. “I thought I was ready and was going to be the greatest driver. But as I can sit here now and think about it, I just wasn’t ready.”

Still, Allgaier was glad he was involved with the show, which produced drivers for NASCAR’s top three series. Those include David Ragan, Danny O’Quinn and Erik Darnell, the winner of the show.

“It’s cool that a lot of us were in that program,” Ragan said Thursday during a visit to the QVC warehouse. “That’s what we were looking for as a young kid was a big break into NASCAR, and it was a big break for a lot of us.”

While Ragan was put in a Truck Series ride with Roush Fenway Racing, Allagier’s climb to one of NASCAR’s top series took a little longer.

After appearing on the show, Allgaier drove in four Craftsman Truck Series races before beginning a full-time schedule in the ARCA Series in 2006.

Allgaier had a breakthrough season last year, winning six times on his way to the ARCA Series title. One of the highlights of his season was a last-lap pass of Joey Logano.

But Allgaier, who was racing for his family-owned team, faced an uncertain future.

That’s when Roger Penske entered the picture. Penske met with Allgaier following a race at Chicagoland Speedway in July, but Allgaier says “it wasn’t a great meeting.”

Two days later, though, a Penske plane picked him up in Illinois and flew him to Michigan to finalize a deal.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Allgaier said. “Roger Penske is a guy everyone knows throughout racing. To get a chance to race for him has been an unbelievable experience.”

Allgaier drove for Penske in the final five Nationwide races last year with his best finish of 11th coming at Phoenix.

Allgaier started this season strong with four top-10 finishes in his first eight races and got as high as fifth in the standings.

But he has struggled the last two weeks with a 32nd at Talladega and a 38th at Richmond, dropping him to 12th in points.

“The biggest thing is we need to get some points and have some good luck,” Allgaier said. “We’ve had great race cars and just have had bad luck. I’m confident we’ll get back on track this weekend in Darlington.”

The plan is for Allgaier to run a full-time schedule this year in the Nationwide Series and go from there.

But Allgaier says he’s in no rush to get to NASCAR’s top series.

“Some drivers have moved too fast and things didn’t work. Other drivers can go to the Cup side and are an immediate hit,” he said. “I think it just has to be the right time, and then you can go out and be competitive.”