Allgaier Wins at Dover
Justin Allgaier and the SiteOne Landscape Supply team came home with the victory and the $100,000 Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus on Saturday afternoon in the OneMain Financial 200 at Dover International Speedway. With a first-place finish, Allgaier and the No. 7 team have clinched a spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. Leading 104 laps en route to the victory, plus earning a Stage Two win, Allgaier collected six playoff points and moved to second place in the NXS point standings. The win was the sixth-career NXS victory for the JR Motorsports driver and his first at Dover.
Starting sixth in the 200-lap race, the Illinois native wasted no time advancing his position on the track, taking over third on the first lap. He remained inside the top five for the first 45 laps to finish second in Stage One. Under the stage-ending caution, Allgaier relayed that his SiteOne Landscape Supply Chevy was on the tight side. Crew chief Jason Burdett called him to pit road for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment.
The 31-year-old driver took the green flag for Stage Two in the seventh spot on lap 53 and just 10 laps later was battling for second. Within just a couple laps he made the pass and set his sights on the leader, JRM teammate Tyler Reddick. Soon he was able to track him down and took over the lead for the first time of the day on lap 77. He held on to the top spot for the remainder of Stage Two, collecting a coveted playoff point when the green-and-white checkered flag came out at the completion of lap 90. The team made a pit stop for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment to help with the tight condition that the SiteOne Landscape Supply Chevy continued to show.
With some cars staying out during the stage-ending caution, Allgaier started the final stage from the eighth position on lap 99 and made a strong move to the outside that allowed him to move up to fourth in a hurry. He didn’t stop there as he was able to surpass the next two cars and made it by leader Elliott Sadler on lap 111 to retake the point. On lap 115 he told the team that the SiteOne Landscape Supply Camaro was pretty sporty and was still the front runner with a caution came out on lap 129 for a spin. With the entire field needing to make one more pit stop to make it to the finish, they all came down pit road. The No. 7 team made a fast stop for four tires and fuel and got Allgaier off pit road first. He restarted from the top spot and held on to the position through a couple more cautions. On the final restart, with less than 30 laps to go, Allgaier again held on to the top spot, but Sadler remained close behind him. In the closing laps an intense battle between teammates ensued. The two made contact coming to the checkered flag, but it was Allgaier who came out on top to score his first NXS win of the season.
Allgaier earned JR Motorsports their second victory of 2018 and third at Dover International Speedway. Sadler came home in second and was followed by Daniel Hemric, Christopher Bell and Reddick.
Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 SiteOne Landscape Supply team
“First of all, God is good all the time. That race, I couldn’t ask for anything better. Everybody at JR Motorsports has done a fantastic job. My wife and my daughter aren’t here and that’s probably the hardest part about today. Elliott and I had a great race, especially there at the end. It was so much fun today and I can’t thank everybody enough. We had a new partner on the car this weekend, SiteOne Landscape Supply. I’m proud to put them in Victory Lane and get the Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash. Again, hats off to everybody. These guys (the team) are the reason we’re in Victory Lane.”
