2024 is the year that saw Justin Allgaier finally hoist the NASCAR Xfinity Series season-ending trophy at Phoenix Raceway in a triumph that was well over a decade in the making.
But Allgaier’s breakthrough was far from the only major storyline of the year. And with 2024 coming to a close, it’s time to give out some additional hardware, tackling some of the season’s superlatives for driver of the year, quote of the year and more.
Read all of Frontstretch‘s content looking back on 2024 here
Driver of the Year
Statistically, defending champion Cole Custer has a case for the best overall season with league-best laps led and average finish. The man who defeated him for the championship, Allgaier, had a solid resume of his own, with an incredible 16 stage wins.
What separates the two isn’t just the result at the season finale at Phoenix Raceway but what Allgaier had to overcome to capture the championship.
It was a microcosm of his season, obstacle after obstacle that the series veteran and JR Motorsports had to overcome. A blown tire at the first Phoenix race. Losing the regular-season title after an early wreck at Bristol Motor Speedway. Sinking from first to below the cut line in the first round of the playoffs. All just to get to the Championship 4.
Allgaier wrecked in practice, had to nurse a flat tire near the end of stage two and received back-to-back penalties to start stage three.
Somehow, some way, Allgaier cycled back into contention and came out as the champion with a pass of Austin Hill and Custer on the final restart.
For 15 seasons, Allgaier has been the measuring stick of the Xfinity Series, a standard barrier and challenge for the up-and-coming drivers of NASCAR. Now he’s not just a series veteran but also a series champion and this year’s driver of the year.
Rookie of the Year
Jesse Love’s main competition for Rookie of the Year? Only a three-time Supercars champion with decades of racing experience in Shane van Gisbergen. No big deal.
Van Gisbergen ended the year with more wins, but the 19-year-old Love took to the Xfinity Series better overall to secure Rookie of the Year Honors with a win at Talladega Superspeedway and an eight-place points finish.
The 2023 ARCA Menards Series champion looked poised to get a win early in his career, leading the most laps at the opening two races at Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway but failing to get even a top 10. Love made up for it with five-straight top 10s and a Talladega win to clinch a spot in the playoffs.
Love didn’t make a lot of noise again until the fall when he put together six-straight top 10s and again was the dominant car of the day at Talladega before settling for sixth. Love made the Round of 8 but was unable to clinch his way into the final round despite three finishes of 12th or better.
While his rookie competition from New Zealand may have grabbed more attention, Richard Childress Racing’s young phenom further cemented what many thought prior to his series debut: the future of NASCAR has a whole lot of Love in store.
Race of the Year
The Xfinity Series might be where future NASCAR Cup Series stars cut their teeth, but it’s also a place where some of the best drivers in the sport come to try to collect hardware.
Case in point, the second annual The Loop 110 at the Chicago street course on July 6, which saw a back-and-forth battle between former Cup champion Kyle Larson and the newly minted road course king van Gisbergen. The duo put on a show over the first half of the race, officially trading the lead six times in 23 laps.
Eventually, the duo found itself deeper in the field. Van Gisbergen managed to find his way back to the front and outdueled fellow rookie Love and another Cup regular in Ty Gibbs to win.
The Sheldon Creed “Close But No Cigar” Award
There were a lot of so-close-yet-so-far moments to choose from in Xfinity this season.
Parker Kligerman was an inch away from winning at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL and advancing in the playoffs before NASCAR threw a caution to trigger an overtime finish. He wound up in sixth and out of the playoffs.
The margin of victory for Sam Mayer over Ryan Sieg at Texas Motor Speedway was .002 seconds. The second-closest finish in series history left Sieg still chasing his first win after 367 races.
But who else could win the award than its namesake? Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
Sheldon Creed had six runner-up finishes in 2024 and set a new series record with 13 second-place finishes without a win.
Not included in those runs was his performance at Darlington, where Creed was leading with five laps to go when a caution came out. The No. 18 pit crew lost its driver two spots on pit road and Creed had to settle for third.
Another year means another new beginning for Creed. His hunt for his first career win takes him to the No. 00 Ford for Haas Factory Team in 2025.
Gold Medal in the Bumper Toss
One of the highlights of the year, the 2024 Summer Olympics, gave athletes from across the globe a chance to showcase their strength in events like shot put and discus, dispositions that date all the way back to the first Olympic games in 1896.
On March 30, Joey Gase may have invented the next great Olympic sport.
That might be stretching it, but Gase introduced a new way of airing out his grievances in NASCAR after Dawson Cram spun him into the wall during the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway. With his rear bumper barely hanging on the car, Gase finished the job by yanking it off the body with his bare hands.
Gase then walked down the track, spotted Cram and launched his bumper over the windshield of the No. 4 Chevy.
The moment went viral with millions of hits on social media as Gase put himself in the elite class of NASCAR object throwers with the likes of Tony Stewart, Ward Burton and Dale Jarrett.
Gase was fined $5,000, but the story had a happy ending. Both drivers were able to turn the encounter into a positive with sponsorship deals, T-shirts and money raised for charity.
Tony Stewart Quote of the Year
“He tried to kill me on the backstretch and just held it full throttle, wrecked our car and killed the rear clip. … If he wants to drive like a pissed-off teenager, that’s ridiculous.” – Cole Custer after an incident Austin Hill at Charlotte
About the author
James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with of football, music, anime and video games.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.