Tag: Justin Allgaier

Justin Allgaier talks about heartbreaking Xfinity finish at Phoenix in 2024

Justin Allgaier talks about his heartbreaking NASCAR Xfinity Series finish at Phoenix Raceway. Find out what Allgaier had to say!

[autotag]Justin Allgaier[/autotag] was cruising to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season at Phoenix Raceway when the unthinkable happened. With five laps to go, Allgaier crossed the start-finish line, slightly went onto the dogleg, entered Turn 1, and that was all she wrote. The driver of the No. 7 car had a flat left rear tire, and his three-second lead to Chandler Smith was gone.

Allgaier crashed into the wall and was unable to continue. It was a breathtaking scene as the JR Motorsports driver was easily going to win the race at Phoenix. Following the accident, Allgaier talked about the accident in shock about what just happened.

“I definitely had to have run something over,” Allgaier said. “I mean, wear-wise, there’s no way we were wearing the left-rear far enough to do that. Going through the dogleg, I felt it wiggle a little bit — and I kind of knew what that already meant. But at that point, there’s quick (five) laps to go and you’ve got to hope that it holds on. And unfortunately, it just blew out. As soon as I soon as I lifted, it blew out. That was the end of it.”

“I feel like we’ve had really good race cars here. It just seems like it’s stupid stuff like today happens. I wouldn’t have done anything different today. I felt like I was patient. I felt like I raced people really cleanly — and got raced not so clearly in some aspects — and just tried to do everything I could to manage the day well.”

It was a shocking finish for Allgaier, who brought the No. 7 car home in 29th place. Allgaier deserved much better and should have won the race on Saturday afternoon. Instead, the JR Motorsports driver must look forward to Circuit of the Americas in two weeks. Allgaier has an even bigger chip on his shoulder to win a race, so he could be a threat in the next event.

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Justin Allgaier wins Most Popular Driver award in Xfinity Series for 2023

Justin Allgaier wins the 2023 Most Popular Driver award in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the fourth time in his career!

[autotag]Justin Allgaier[/autotag] has officially been named the 2023 Most Popular Driver Award winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Allgaier received the honor at NASCAR’s banquet in Nashville, Tennessee, as the sport celebrates its 2023 season. This is the fourth time he has won the award in the last five years. Noah Gragson took home hte trophy during the 2022 season.

Allgaier’s victory comes during a year where he saw great success. The JR Motorsports driver had the most wins (four) since the 2018 Xfinity Series season when he won five times. Allgaier made the Championship 4 for the fourth time in the last five seasons but couldn’t find enough speed to win the event. He finished second in the point standings behind Cole Custer.

Overall, Allgaier seems to have a firm grasp on the award on a yearly basis. However, Hailie Deegan will join the Xfinity Series next year, so there could be some added competition. It will be fascinating to see how Allgaier fares in future seasons, as he has become a regular competitor in the Xfinity Series.

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Allgaier beat long odds to race for a Xfinity Series title

As Justin Allgaier sat in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet during a 28-minute red-flag period late in last Saturday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, he calculated his odds for winning the event and qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series …

As Justin Allgaier sat in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet during a 28-minute red-flag period late in last Saturday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, he calculated his odds for winning the event and qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4.

He might as well have been playing roulette, trying to hit a single number.

“Sitting under the red flag at Martinsville truly was probably the best thing that ever happened,” said Allgaier, who was fifth in the running order at the time. “I looked at the odds of making the final four. I gave myself a five-percent chance, and that’s probably being a little bit generous.”

But Allgaier hit the number when Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed took each other out of the running with a bumping-and-rubbing overtime battle for the lead. Allgaier found an opening to the inside off the final corner and beat Creed to the finish line.

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“I don’t know if there’s any destiny in it, but in order to win a championship, you’ve got to be in the final four,” Allgaier said. “And if the five percent doesn’t happen last week at Martinsville, I don’t even have a shot at it, right?

“I think that’s truly something for me that does go a long way. Whether we win or we don’t win, this year has been phenomenal. We’ve had fast race cars. Shoot, I’ve made more mistakes in 2023 than I’ve made probably in entire career combined — pit road speeding penalties and just dumb stuff.

“But when I look at the cars we’ve brought to the racetrack, this is arguably the most speed week-in, week-out, and a lot of it just comes down to preparation for me.”

A case in point was last Saturday at Martinsville, where Allgaier did not have a winning car — until he did.

“I knew we weren’t in position to win the race,” Allgaier said. “We didn’t have the car to win the race. But my team stayed relevant. They stayed behind me, they kept pushing me, and we had a five-percent chance, and we came out with a win.

“And the Red Sea parted — listen, at the end of the day, everything had to be exactly as it was, and it worked out in our favor, and I can’t be more thankful for that… we’re kind of playing with house money. When I sat under that red flag and I knew we didn’t have a shot at it, it kind of changed my perception of the season, and it’s all for the better. I feel like I come here with a new invigoration to be successful and to win races, and it’s good.”

“We’re kind of playing with house money” is how Allgaier sums up his improbable path into the Championship 4. Lesley Ann Miller/Motorsport Images

Further buoying Allgaier’s confidence is the preparation of the track. Gone this year is the resin treatment that has made Phoenix top-lane dominant in recent seasons.

“We’re getting back to the old Phoenix, and I’m excited,” Allgaier said. “Hot, slick, all the things that I want it to be, so we’ve got it all.”

The 37-year-old Allgaier has two victories in 26 starts at Phoenix. Collectively, his Championship 4 competitors — John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer and Sam Mayer — are winless at the track.

“When we leave here,” Allgaier said, “I’d just like everyone else’s win column to stay zero still and ours to have one more.”

Allgaier wins crazy Martinsville Xfinity Championship 4 decider

At the end of Saturday’s chaotic Dead on Tools 250, Justin Allgaier rescued his season with an improbable victory that earned the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet a berth in the Nov. 4 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 event at …

At the end of Saturday’s chaotic Dead on Tools 250, Justin Allgaier rescued his season with an improbable victory that earned the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet a berth in the Nov. 4 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway.

Allgaier’s Camaro crossed the finish line glued to the side of Sheldon Creed’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, scoring his first win at Martinsville, his fourth of the season and the 23rd of his career by 0.032s over Creed, who needed a victory to advance to the title race.

Repeated contact between Creed’s car and the Chevrolet of teammate Austin Hill during two overtime laps eventually victimized Hill, the regular-season champion, in a chain-reaction wreck in the final corner and deprived Hill of a chance to race for the championship next weekend.

 

Before the final restart, Allgaier’s chances of qualifying for the title race had dimmed, as both Hill, the race leader at the time, and Cole Custer (seventh for the restart) had control of the final two Championship 4 spots.

Though Custer was collected in the last-lap wreck, which produced the 16th caution of the race, he was credited with a 19th-place finish to Hill’s 21st and bumped the RCR driver out of the Playoffs by seven points.

But no one benefited from the closing mayhem more than Allgaier, who got repeated encouragement from spotter Eddie D’Hondt and crew chief Jim Pohlman during the late stages of the race.

“Both of those guys kept telling me, ‘It’s not over,’” Allgaier said. “Coming to the start/finish line, I don’t think I saw a single person sitting down. I was just hanging on… This car has been lights-out fast all year.

“We’ve got a shot at going for a championship at Phoenix. This is an emotional one. I’ve wanted to win at Martinsville for a long time, and I’ve been on the other end of that (pointing at the crashed cars on the frontstretch) too many times.”

The overtime restart was a recipe for disaster. Hill had lane choice and picked the bottom, with Creed lined up to his outside. Hill initially cleared Creed’s Chevrolet, but the driver of the No. 2 Chevy used his bumper to force Hill up the track and draw alongside.

As the cars ran through Turns 3 and 4 for the final time, John Hunter Nemechek turned Hill’s Camaro and ignited the last-lap wreck that ultimately settled the field for the Championship 4.

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Creed, who is leaving RCR at the end of the season, was subdued but unapologetic.

“I’m not proud of racing like that, but I didn’t blast him,” Creed said. “He was still with me [on the final lap]… I feel like I raced pretty fair for the situation, and he’s going to be mad, but it’s for a Championship 4 spot, and I’m going to fight for my guys all the way to the end.”

As might be expected, Hill had a different view of the final two laps.

“Man, it’s uncalled for for that to happen, and then for neither of the RCR guys to make it to the final four,” Hill said. “It’s frustrating. I’m pretty excited for him to go to his next adventure over at Gibbs, and I don’t have to put up with him anymore.”

(Hill may have anticipated Creed’s next move, which is yet to be announced.)

Pole winner Sammy Smith, another driver in a must-win situation to continue in the Playoffs, led 147 of the 256 laps and finished third. But Smith also left Martinsville with a grudge against a teammate—John Hunter Nemechek, who had clinched a Championship 4 berth on points by the end of the second stage.

In Smith’s view, Nemechek made it impossible for him to fight for the win in overtime.

“They were telling me that he wasn’t going to make any enemies,” Smith said. “I asked him if he was going to choose the top, and he said he wasn’t going to do that. I had a good run on him, and he went to block me down to the bottom.

“He didn’t want to make any enemies, but I’m really frustrated right now. He definitely made one. I’m not going to let that one go, and we will see how things go.”

In a race that started in daylight and ended under a full moon after a 28-minute stoppage to clear the track after a 12-car wreck on lap 244, Riley Herbst ran fourth, followed by Josh Berry and Daniel Hemric.

Parker Retzlaff, Anthony Alfredo, Jeb Burton and Parker Kligerman completed the top 10.

Sam Mayer, already part of the Championship 4 by virtue of last week’s victory at Homestead, was knocked out of the race in the lap 244 wreck and finished 25th. Playoff driver Chandler Smith completed 187 laps before being sidelined by an accident and eliminated from the postseason.

RESULTS

Allgaier Xfinity win redeems rough night at Bristol for JRM

On an ambivalent night for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier took advantage of a brilliant strategic call by crew chief Jim Pohlman to win Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first event in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series …

On an ambivalent night for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier took advantage of a brilliant strategic call by crew chief Jim Pohlman to win Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first event in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

Charging from 13th after restart on lap 257 of 300, Allgaier passed Daniel Hemric for the lead on lap 288 and pulled away to win by 1.695s, securing a spot in the Round of 8 of the Playoffs.

Allgaier also broke news in Victory Lane, announcing off the cuff that he had re-signed for another season with JR Motorsports.

That was the good news. In a rare appearance as a driver team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 47 laps before pulling off the track on lap 271 with a fireball in his car licking at his firesuit. Earnhardt made a quick exit and finished 30th.

And that was after three JR Motorsports cars were eliminated from the race in the same wreck.

Without hesitation, Pohlman called Allgaier to the pits when Josh Bilicki’s spin in Turn 1 caused the sixth and final caution on lap 248. Allgaier rocketed through the field until he caught Hemric, harrying the driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet until he slipped past with just over 12 laps left.

The victory was Allgaier’s second at the 0.533-mile short track and his first since his initial Xfinity Series win in 2010. Between victories Allgaier led plenty of laps but couldn’t return to Victory Lane—until Friday night.

“This team has done an amazing job at this racetrack since I started at JR Motorsports,” Allgaier said. “We led a lot of laps, and the monkey was definitely on our back. The pit strategy there… coming down pit road by myself was nerve wracking, right?

“I’m speechless, man. This place, Jim Pohlman and I circled this place on our calendar when we started the year, before we ever even took a green flag lap, we said we want to win Bristol. Man, we won Bristol! It’s Bristol, baby—let’s go!”

The victory was Allgaier’s third of the season and 22nd of his career.

Hemric floundered early in the race until the top lane came in. Then his car came to life.

“We just enough race car there that once the top came in, I was going to live by it,” Hemric said. “I thought it would be OK. I thought if I could hold the No. 7 (Allgaier) off to get to that next group of traffic maybe I’d have a chance to at least race him down in the last five or 10 laps.

“Yeah, the tires were just too much there. Him and Dale Jr. had the best cars all night. So yeah, proud of this group. We definitely stole a finish tonight but came a long way through traffic.”

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Playoff drivers John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer and Chandler Smith finished third through fifth, respectively. Custer led 109 laps, one fewer than Allgaier.

A four-car wreck in Turn 1 on lap 167 sidelined three JR Motorsports cars, two of them driven by Playoff contenders Josh Berry and Sam Mayer. After slight side-to-side contact with the No. 1 Chevrolet of Mayer, Berry’s No. 8 Chevy cut a right front tire and turned up the track into Mayer, knocking him into the outside wall.

Running behind his JR Motorsports teammates, Brandon Jones also was collected in the wreck, as was the No. 39 Ford of Ryan Sieg.

Those weren’t the only teammates who ran afoul of each other. On lap 217, Sheldon Creed clipped regular-season winner Austin Hill just short of the start/finish line. Out of control, Hill’s Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet bounced off the inside wall and nosed into the outside SAFER barrier in Turn 1. Hill was unable to continue.

Hill finished 33rd. Creed came home 11th.

As if that weren’t enough drama, Earnhardt ran in or near the lead until his car began to smoke with 30 laps left.

“The shifter tunnel column was on fire,” Earnhardt explained. “I saw some smoke in the car…I was like, ‘Hopefully that’s not me,’ but it was. That last lap, I saw a big fireball down in the tunnel of the car and I felt it.

“Obviously, my uniform was burning up. I was like, ‘I can’t keep going. I got to stop.’ And usually when you stop the fire gets bigger.

“So I pulled over by the pit stall and some of the guys were pretty alert, and they helped me out. We were going to finish with a top 10, maybe top five. We had a shot at winning it, if the car was going to run good at the end.”

Mayer, Berry, Parker Kligerman (who lost 53 laps under repairs in the garage) and Jeb Burton (who started from the rear in a backup car and finished 13th) all dropped below the cut line for the Round of 8 as the series heads for the second Round of 12 Playoff race Sept. 23 at Texas Motor Speedway.

RESULTS

Justin Allgaier holds off Sheldon Creed in thrilling Xfinity Series win at Daytona

Justin Allgaier narrowly edges Sheldon Creed for the NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Daytona International Speedway.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series put on a show at Daytona International Speedway but only one driver can come out on top. JR Motorsports driver [autotag]Justin Allgaier[/autotag] narrowly beat Richard Childress Racing driver Sheldon Creed by 0.005 seconds, which ties for the fourth-closest finish in NASCAR Xfinity Series history.

Allgaier’s victory marks his second of the 2023 NASCAR season and his first on a superspeedway track. It also represents the second straight victory for JR Motorsports after Sam Mayer won at Watkins Glen International last weekend. The driver of the No. 7 car now receives a boost as he pushes for a regular-season title.

There are now two races remaining in the 2023 Xfinity Series season with the next event coming at Darlington Raceway next weekend.

Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola top-10 finishing order:

  1. No. 7 Justin Allgaier
  2. No. 2 Sheldon Creed
  3. No. 11 Daniel Hemric
  4. No. 48 Parker Kligerman
  5. No. 00 Cole Custer
  6. No. 31 Parker Retzlaff
  7. No. 39 Ryan Sieg
  8. No. 78 Anthony Alfredo
  9. No. 08 Gray Gaulding
  10. No. 10 Justin Haley

Allgaier wins by inches in wild NASCAR Xfinity race at Daytona

Justin Allgaier survived a trip to the rear of the field, a pass-through penalty after the initial start and a war of attrition to win Friday night’s Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway in …

Justin Allgaier survived a trip to the rear of the field, a pass-through penalty after the initial start and a war of attrition to win Friday night’s Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway in overtime.

Allgaier didn’t win by much. On the final lap of the two-circuit overtime, Allgaier bumped side-to-side with Sheldon Creed coming to the finish line and beat Creed to the stripe by 0.005s — approximately 12 inches at the 2.5-mile track.

Allgaier was penalized after his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet failed pre-qualifying inspection three times on Thursday. He started from the rear of the field and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty with four other cars after the first lap.

But Allgaier, who won at Daytona for the first time after two runner-up finishes in 25 previous starts at the speedway, stayed on the lead lap for the first stage, and vaulted into the third position with a fuel-only pit stop during the break after Stage 2.

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“I’ve been coming to this place for a long time,” said Allgaier, who won for the second time this season and the 21st time in his career. “I wanted to win here so bad — we’ve been so close. I just can’t say enough about (crew chief) Jim Pohlman and everybody on this 7 team.

“We had an oversight yesterday when we brought a car to the track and put it through inspection, and it wasn’t where we wanted… and that cost us a pass-through, but the team never quit, never gave up and we rallied, and obviously we put ourselves in a good position. The strategy was awesome.”

Allgaier’s battle with Creed followed a massive wreck in Turn 3 that sent the race to overtime.

A late block attempt by Trevor Bayne moments after a restart on Lap 99 of 100 robbed many contenders for the win. Bayne shared the front row with Allgaier for the restart. Running behind Bayne in the top lane, Austin Hill made a bold move to the outside, and Bayne moved up to cover, perhaps with Hill’s car dragging his bumper to the right.

Bayne turned into the outside wall, and chaos reigned behind him. All told, nine cars were involved, including those of John Hunter Nemechek and Josh Berry. That set up the two-lap shootout, with Allgaier prevailing by the smallest of margins.

“Another great run for us — my best speedway race,” said Creed, who is still seeking his first Xfinity Series win. “I hated speedway racing two years ago. My teammate (Hill) was kicking my butt at it, and I had to get it together, right?

“So asking him questions, just trying to learn and watch and get better at this stuff because speedway racing is so hard mentally. It’s probably harder than any kind of racing mentally, just knowing where to go and what moves to make.”

Daniel Hemric ran third, followed by Parker Kligerman who moved into the final Playoff-eligible position in the standings with two races left before the Xfinity Playoffs begin. Cole Custer was fifth, followed by Ryan Sieg, Parker Retzlaff, Alfredo, Gray Gaulding and Justin Haley.

As Hill was taking the green/checkered flag to win the 30-lap first stage, Riley Herbst’s left-front tire exploded and obliterated the fender above it. Herbst brought the severely damaged No. 98 Ford to pit road where his crew effected repairs and beat the damaged vehicle policy clock.

Herbst, who had complained of steering issues before the tire blew, rejoined the field three laps down. The diagnosis? The top bolt had backed out of the steering box on the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Ford. That problem was solved, and Herbst continued — without a left-front quarterpanel.

Herbst benefited from late-race attrition to finish 24th, but he fell out of the top 12 and trails Kligerman by 20 points for the final Playoff berth.

RESULTS:

1. (12) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 110.
2. (2) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 110.
3. (6) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 110.
4. (5) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 110.
5. (11) Cole Custer, Ford, 110.
6. (38) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 110.
7. (23) Parker Retzlaff #, Chevrolet, 110.
8. (20) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 110.
9. (33) Gray Gaulding, Chevrolet, 110.
10. (9) Justin Haley(i), Chevrolet, 110.
11. (27) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 110.
12. (10) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 110.
13. (24) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 110.
14. (15) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 110.
15. (37) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 110.
16. (36) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 110.
17. (13) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 110.
18. (22) Brett Moffitt, Ford, 110.
19. (14) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 110.
20. (18) Kaz Grala, Toyota, 109.
21. (3) Sammy Smith #, Toyota, 109.
22. (4) Chandler Smith #, Chevrolet, 109.
23. (1) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 109.
24. (16) Riley Herbst, Ford, 108.
25. (25) Blaine Perkins #, Chevrolet, 108.
26. (32) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, Accident, 104.
27. (21) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, Accident, 103.
28. (7) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, Accident, 103.
29. (8) Trevor Bayne, Toyota, Accident, 103.
30. (34) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, Accident, 98.
31. (30) Caesar Bacarella, Chevrolet, Accident, 92.
32. (28) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Accident, 91.
33. (19) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, DVP, 45.
34. (26) Joe Graf Jr., Ford, DVP, 42.
35. (35) Natalie Decker, Ford, Accident, 42.
36. (17) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 41.
37. (29) Connor Mosack, Toyota, Accident, 41.
38. (31) Alex Guenette, Chevrolet, Accident, 41.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 124.779 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 12 Mins, 14 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.005 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 32 laps.
Lead Changes: 20 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: A. Hill 0;A. Hill 1-7;S. Smith # 8-10;A. Hill 11-32;C. Smith # 33;A. Hill 34-39;S. Creed 40-51;P. Kligerman 52;T. Bayne 53-57;A. Hill 58;S. Creed 59-62;C. Custer 63;S. Mayer 64-66;S. Creed 67-70;S. Smith # 71;T. Bayne 72-81;S. Mayer 82-84;J. Allgaier 85-86;T. Bayne 87-88;S. Creed 89;T. Bayne 90-98;J. Allgaier 99-110.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Austin Hill 4 times for 36 laps; Trevor Bayne 4 times for 26 laps; Sheldon Creed 4 times for 21 laps; Justin Allgaier 2 times for 14 laps; Sam Mayer 2 times for 6 laps; Sammy Smith # 2 times for 4 laps; Cole Custer 1 time for 1 lap; Chandler Smith # 1 time for 1 lap; Parker Kligerman 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 21,2,16,25,78,9,11,51,00,19
Stage #2 Top Ten: 2,21,00,18,11,20,19,48,1,16

How Justin Allgaier became the entire NASCAR Xfinity Series’ secret weapon

Garrett Smithley was enjoying a meal at a local Mexican restaurant last year in Mooresville, North Carolina, when Justin Allgaier walked up. The two are competitors in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, although Smithley doesn’t have many starts. But he was …

Garrett Smithley was enjoying a meal at a local Mexican restaurant last year in Mooresville, North Carolina, when Justin Allgaier walked up.

The two are competitors in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, although Smithley doesn’t have many starts. But he was driving for B.J. McLeod last year, and McLeod’s organization uses previously-run JR Motorsports cars – the team Allgaier is a full-time driver for.

“He knew that information,” Smithley said of the cars. “So, he was asking me about the chassis number and was like, ‘Oh, that was a good car!’ He sat there and talked to me for about 10 minutes, encouraging and pumping me up. He’s just always been a super-nice guy.”

It’s hard to find someone from the garage who doesn’t have a nice thing to say about Allgaier. The 37-year-old is not only a NASCAR veteran, but one who has made a career for himself in the Xfinity Series through two different stints. Allgaier ran full-time in the series from 2009 through 2013 before returning in 2016 after a brief, tough tenure in the Cup Series. He hasn’t left since.

Wayne Auton, the NASCAR Xfinity Series managing director, jokingly calls Allgaier the “senior citizen” of the garage. Allgaier, as Smithley, Auton, and others will attest, he’s become the series leader.

“The way he handles drivers is just awesome,” said Auton. “He’ll come and tell me, ‘I’m going to talk to this driver,’ and he does it in such a professional way.”

For four years, Noah Gragson had access to Allgaier as a teammate at JR Motorsports. Whether it was Allgaier lending time to himself or Sam Meyer, Gragson was continually impressed by Allgaier’s commitment to teaching.

‘When you’re a young guy, you don’t know the questions you need to be asking, especially coming into the Xfinity Series,” said Gragson. “You just don’t know what the right feel is for the car.

“I really appreciate Justin’s work ethic and his friendship and his teammate bond. He’s really opened-minded and willing to go the extra mile to help anybody out.”

Allgaier has embraced the role of leader in the garage. But it comes with a balance.

“I’m still competing against drivers so you don’t want to be out of bounds,” said Allgaier. “Every driver makes mistakes, it’s just a matter of scale and how you make them. But sometimes younger drivers don’t get the credit for making the good decisions they make, so we’ve talked a lot about that.”

Not all mistakes are malicious, Allgaier explained. And sometimes, a driver might not understand why that mistake happened the way it did.

Allgaier is one of the Xfinity Series most fierce competitors, but he’s an open book when it comes to sharing tricks of the trade with young drivers. Nigel Kinrade/Motorsport Images

NASCAR officials, like Auton, are well aware the Xfinity Series is full of younger drivers looking to make a name for themselves. Those same drivers, however, hope to be on the fast track to the Cup Series. Allgaier has nothing but respect for Auton’s role or the other officials who mentor drivers, but Allgaier, who loves being a series regular, wanted to play a part.

“I basically told (Auton), I love this series, and I love where I’m at, so how do I help? How do I help you?” Allgaier said. “How do I help the series get better? That’s been important to me. It’s hard when you still make mistakes. That’s where it becomes difficult is when I’m still actively making mistakes.”

There is a lot of turnover in the Xfinity Series from year to year, be it drivers changing teams or leaving the series altogether. Even still, Allgaier doesn’t hesitate to pass on any lessons because those drivers need to understand the information and apply it the best way possible.

“I feel like I had a lot of people invested in me when I was younger and first getting into this sport, and it was my goal to help everybody,” Allgaier said.

Harrison Burton ran in the Xfinity Series from 2019 through 2021. It didn’t matter that Burton was on a different team because he and Allgaier talked “quite a bit” during those years.

“I don’t know if he ever did what you imagined Dale (Earnhardt) Sr. would do putting the hand on your shoulder and saying, ‘Hey man, what are you doing gout there?’” said Burton with a laugh. “What was cool about him, even in my first year, I felt like he respected me as a driver and wanted to get to me.”

During his time in the Xfinity Series from 2018 through 2020, Chase Briscoe easily bonded with Allgaier. According to Briscoe, they talked “all the time,” and Allgaier was always there with a helping and leading hand.

“He was always the first guy to come over,” said Briscoe. “I remember my third or fourth race at Fontana, he came to the car right after practice and was like, ‘Hey, you need to do this, this, and this.’ So, he’s always been really good to me.”

Allgaier has made over 400 starts in the Xfinity Series with 20 career wins. He’s never finished worse than seventh in the championship standings. But his character will always stand above his accomplishments.

Smithley isn’t the only driver that Allgaier has come across while out and about. The coolest conversation Allgaier said he had, was with Ryan Preece at a Panera Bread.

“He was eating lunch when I walked in, and I sat down with him, and we ended up talking for about two hours about what the future looked like for him,” said Allgaier. “He was debating about moving back home and quitting the sport completely. We sat and just talked. Now, he’s got a great car in the Cup Series. Dream ride. I’m so pumped because my conversation with him did not affect the outcome of what he was going to do, but it was a great conversation.

“I think a lot of times in life, we don’t need a specific direction to go, we just need the high points. Then you kind of formulate your own decision on what the right answer is. I think for all of us, if you can take one piece of positive out a conversation, it’s totally worth it.

“Everything we do in life is about people and communication. So, for me, I just invest back into people, and the rest will sort itself out.”

Allgaier gets breakthrough NASCAR Xfinity win at Charlotte

Saving fuel throughout a 66-lap green-flag run to the finish, Justin Allgaier collected his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season – and the first this year for JR Motorsports – in Monday’s twice-rain-delayed Alsco Uniforms 300 at …

Saving fuel throughout a 66-lap green-flag run to the finish, Justin Allgaier collected his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season — and the first this year for JR Motorsports — in Monday’s twice-rain-delayed Alsco Uniforms 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Allgaier, the pole winner, beat runner-up John Hunter Nemechek to the finish line by 7.829s, as the top three finishers — including third-place Cole Custer — stretched their fuel mileage from a lap 135 restart to the end of the race.

Austin Hill and Ty Gibbs, both of whom pitted for fuel in the closing stages, claimed the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

“I’m speechless, man,” said Allgaier, who led a race-high 83 laps. “I didn’t know how much to save. Just lucky we had enough… I just cannot say enough about (crew chief) Jim Pohlman, everybody on the No. 7 team.

“It’s not been for lack of speed this year. We’ve battled. Tonight, was kind of the opposite. We had to go slow to go fast.”

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Nemechek led 57 laps, but Allgaier build a substantial lead at the end while conserving enough fuel to finish the race — and to do a celebratory burnout.

“We were racing each other pretty hard, and I burned my stuff up trying to get to him — and get around him,” Nemechek said. “I should have been a little more patient, I guess. But overall, really solid day. Good points day for us. I think that extends our points lead.”

In fact, Nemechek collected his fifth top-two finish of the season (with wins at Fontana and Martinsville) and holds a 10-point lead over Hill in the series standings.

But Allgaier and Nemechek might not have been left to battle for the win, had a radio issue not adversely affected Gibbs’ winning chances.

The driver of the No. 19 Toyota, who won last year’s Xfinity championship before graduating to the NASCAR Cup Series, led 52 laps and swept the first two stages of the race. But an extended pit stop, during which Gibbs’ crew changed his steering wheel (which housed a faulty radio button) dropped him to the rear of the field for a restart on lap 98. That ended Gibbs’ challenge for the win.

Parker Retzlaff ran sixth, followed by Jeb Burton, Carson Hocevar, Jeb Burton and Sammy Smith.

The race was delayed from Saturday by rain and restarted on Monday morning. But rain intervened again after the completion of the first stage, delaying the finish until after the running of the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Cup Series race, won by Ryan Blaney.

RESULTS

NASCAR at Texas Motor Speedway Live Stream, Start Time, TV Channel, NASCAR Starting Lineup

NASCAR is back in Texas and this will be the first race with fans in the stands with the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, stream NASCAR now!

NASCAR is back at Texas Motor Speedway this Sunday and they will have fans for the first time since the restart. With the Texas State guidelines, they will be allowed to have 50% capacity which is around 67,500 fans. The TMS president, Eddie Gossage said he wouldn’t be surprised if they saw 60,000 fans attend the event.

Here is everything that you need to know to follow the NASCAR action this weekend!

O’Reilly Auto Parts 500

  • Date: Sunday, July 19
  • Race Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: NBCSN
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (watch for free)

NASCAR Starting Lineup At Texas Motor Speedway

1. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford.

2. (12) Ryan Blane, Ford.

3. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet.

4. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota.

5. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford.

6. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford.

7. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota.

8. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet.

9. (22) Joey Logano, Ford.

10. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota.

11. (21) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford.

12. (88) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet.

13. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet.

14. (43) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet.

15. (6) Ryan Newman, Ford.

16. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford.

17. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford.

18. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet.

19. (41) Cole Custer, Ford.

20. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet.

21. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet.

22. (42) Matt Kenseth, Chevrolet.

23. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota.

24. (8) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet.

25. (37) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet.

26. (00) Quin Houff, Chevrolet.

27. (53) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet.

28. (38) John Hunter Nemechek, Ford.

29. (27) Gray Gaulding, Ford.

30. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet.

31. (27) JJ Yeley, Ford.

32. (15) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet.

33. (95) Christopher Bell, Toyota.

34. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford.

35. (51) Joey Gase, Ford.

36. (32) Corey LaJoie, Ford.

37. (96) Daniel Suarez, Toyota.

38. (66) Timmy Hill, Toyota.

39. (78) B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet.

40. (7) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet.

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