LONG POND, Pa. — Maybe late models at Illinois bullrings like Farmer City Raceway and Macon Speedway and midgets at the Chili Bowl are as good as Formula One at Monaco or Spa when it comes to preparing for a two-lap shootout on Pocono Raceway’s 2.5-mile triangle.
At least Saturday’s ARCA RE/MAX Series Pennsylvania 200 would support that theory.
Justin Allgaier, driving a Chevrolet for his Springfield-based family team, held off Scott Speed in the Red Bull Toyota to capture his third ARCA triumph of 2008 and his first superspeedway win in a “natural” green-white-checkered finish after the pair swapped the lead for most of the rain-delayed contest.
Heavy morning thunderstorms gave way to sunny skies when the green flag waved one hour after the scheduled start.
“Definitely, by far, this is the biggest win of my career,” Allgaier confirmed. His previous ARCA victories were on very different tracks from Pocono, twice on the high-banked half-mile at Salem, Ind., once on the dirt mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in his hometown, and recently at the flat five-eighths-mile Cayuga, Ontario, oval. 
“This is a place where a lot of people have walked through victory lane, so for me to be here really means a lot,” he added, giving credit to new crew chief Jim Pullman, under whose tutelage the team has scored a third, a second, and now a first.
Allgaier traded the lead with front-row mate Speed three times, including lap 35 when the duo ran side by side for the entire circuit. Allgaier’s decisive pass came on the 67th of 80 laps, one circuit before a backstraight crash involving Dexter Bean, Brian Scott and Frank Kimmel brought out the red flag. Two cautions in the final dozen laps allowed Allgaier to control the restarts and hold Speed at bay.
While Speed was disappointed not to score his fourth victory of the ARCA season, the accident, which left Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. with a 30th-place finish, allowed the former Toro Rosso F-1 driver to take the ARCA point lead.
“We had an awesome battle, you know, we both raced each other really clean,” he reflected, paying tribute to Allgaier’s relatively small team. “They’ve worked really hard to be able to run this. It’s certainly not as easy for them to run all these races as it is for me. I’m glad he was able to win one.”
Chase Miller, who blew an engine in practice and qualified 29th, worked his way to third aboard his Dodge, with Ford-mounted Matt Carter fourth and Robb Brent’s Chevy fifth.  Aric Almirola, who led twice for 10 laps, blew his engine after 57 laps and settled for 34th. Chrissy Wallace shared the second row with Almirola in her ARCA debut, but backed into the first-turn wall after 30 laps.
The finish:
Showing driver, car, laps completed: 1. Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 80; 2. Scott Speed, Toyota, 80; 3. Chase Miller, Dodge, 80; 4. Matt Carter, Ford, 80; 5. Robb Brent, Chevrolet, 80; 6. Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 80; 7. Ken Butler III, Toyota, 80; 8. Marc Davis, Chevrolet, 80; 9. John Wes Townley, Ford, 80; 10. Gabi DiCaroli, Toyota, 80; 11. Justin Lofton, Dodge, 80; 12. Patrick Sheltra, Dodge, 80; 13. A.J. Henriksen, Ford, 80; 14. Michael Phelps, Dodge, 80; 15. Billy Pauch, Jr., Dodge, 80; 16. Chase Mattioli, Ford, 80; 17. Bryan Silas, Ford, 80; 18. Donny Kelley, Chevrolet, 80; 19. Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, 80; 20. Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 80; 21. Dominick Casola, Dodge, 79; 22. Tayler Malsam, Dodge, 78; 23. Bobby Gerhart, Chevrolet, 78; 24. Tom Berte, Chevrolet, 78; 25. Darrell Basham, Chevrolet, 78; 26. Ed Pompa, Chevrolet, 78; 27. Tim Mitchell, Ford, 78; 28. Brad Smith, Ford, 77; 29. Jarit Johnson, Chevrolet, 76; 30. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 73; 31. Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 73; 32. Frank Kimmel, Ford, 68; 33. Dexter Bean, Chevrolet, 68; 34. Aric Almirola, Chevrolet, 57; 35. James Hylton, Dodge, 57; 36. Tom Hessert, Ford, 47; 37. Jason Basham, Chevrolet, 44; 38. Kory Rabenold, Chevrolet, 40; 39. Chrissy Wallace, Toyota, 30; 40. Brent Cross, Chevrolet, 12; 41. Mike Zazula, Chevrolet, 1.