Dale Earnhardt Jr. unravels what he knew beforehand about his 4th NASCAR championship as owner

Dale Earnhardt Jr. took center stage at the 2024 NASCAR Awards to discuss winning his fourth Xfinity Series championship as an owner. The now-retired Cup Series star said he knew all along that his driver, Justin Allgaier, would get the job done and finally claim that elusive first career championship.

In an interview on-stage at the awards ceremony with FOX Sports' Jamie Little, the 26-time Cup Series winner said he's one to often think about the negatives and what could go wrong. That wasn't the case with Allgaier this year, as he knew his driver would wheel the #7 Jr. Motorsports Chevrolet to the championship in 2024.

"For some reason, I just felt like the universe owed Justin and we were going to collect in Phoenix," Earnhardt said. "Even when we wrecked that race car, the car that he raced was the one that I drove, so I knew how good that car was in Bristol."

Allgaier faced numerous adversities en route to his first career title in his 14th season in the series. He crashed out in practice and was forced to go to a backup car, the Bristol car Earnhardt alluded to. In the race, Allgaier dropped to the tail end of the field twice following a restart violation penalty and a pit road speeding penalty.

Through it all, Allgaier persevered and captured the 2024 crown. Earnhardt said he wasn't sure how things would shake out given the adversity faced in the race, but Allgaier powered his way to the win.

"I didn't know all that was in the script that went on during the race. There was some moments where I wasn't sure how we were going to come out on top. The statistics will say that Jr. Motorsports won the championship and all of our employees will celebrate in that. ... None of that happens if Justin doesn't get up on the wheel, and man, did he get up on the wheel. All of those restarts, those were classic, classic moment. If you just watched that 7 car work all night long, you can see how badly he wanted it. He carried the whole company on his back that night."

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Justin Allgaier said he's "forever" a champion after emotional triumph at Phoenix

With tears rolling down his face minutes after becoming the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, Justin Allgaier put what the accolade meant to him in perspective. After years of falling short of the title, Allgaier could finally call himself a champion.

"We're forever a NASCAR Champion and there's no words like that one," Allgaier said. (2:27 onwards)

Allgaier finished in second place in the Championship 4 race at Phoenix, he recorded two wins, 10 top fives, and 20 top 10s in his championship-winning 2024 campaign.