Bristol II Race Report

JR Motorsports Race Report

September 18th, 2020
Race 26 of 33: Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway
Track Specs: 0.533-mile oval/ 300 laps
Weather: Mostly cloudy; 58 degrees
Race Winner: Chase Briscoe
Allgaier's Finish: 5th

Justin Allgaier brought home a fifth-place finish in Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway after winning the first two stages of the 300-lap event. The 34-year-old driver led 126 laps in the No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Camaro on the way to his third consecutive top-five finish. Allgaier will head into the first round of the NXS Playoffs next week as the third seed with the help of the highly-coveted playoff points he racked up from three race wins and 12 stage wins during the regular season.

Stage One Finish: 1st

After sweeping both races at Richmond Raceway last weekend, Allgaier earned the pole for Friday night’s regular-season finale and was running in the second position when the competition caution came out on lap 40. Under the yellow flag, he relayed that the BRANDT Camaro was a little tight through the center and free off of the turns. Staying out on the track, he restarted in second and battled side-by-side with the leader, eventually taking over the top spot. He was still out front when an incident on the track brought out the caution on lap 64. Allgaier retook command of the lead on the lap-69 restart, driving on to win his 11th stage of the season at its completion on lap 85.

Stage Two Finish: 1st

During the stage break, crew chief Jason Burdett called Allgaier to pit road for fresh tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment to help the BRANDT Chevy’s handling. Allgaier won the battle off of pit road and lined up second beside a car that stayed out during the caution. On fresher tires, Allgaier was able to get back to the top spot in a hurry after the start of Stage Two on lap 94. He continued to pace the field until another on-track incident brought out the caution on lap 122. Back under green, the JR Motorsports driver resumed the lead and remained out front, bringing home another stage win when the green-and-white checkered flag waved on lap 170.

Final Stage:

Under the stage-ending caution, Allgaier relayed that the No. 7 Camaro was pretty good, but was just a touch tight late in the center of the corner. He brought the BRANDT Chevy to pit road for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment. Allgaier lost a couple spots on pit road after a long pit stop, but still lined up inside the top five for the start of the final stage on lap 178.

He continued to race inside the top five and was running in the in the third position when he radioed that the BRANDT Camaro was way tighter to fire off. Fighting through the tough-handling condition, Allgaier remained well inside the top 10 and was scored in the sixth position when a caution came out on lap 204. Knowing it was too early to come to pit road for tires, the team opted to stay out.

Allgaier fired off from the sixth spot on lap 209 and advanced his position to fifth before another yellow flag waved on lap 245. He reported to Burdett before coming to pit road that the tires didn’t have the same grip as the other sets did. When Allgaier came in, the team put on four fresh tires and made an air-pressure adjustment to help the handling. He restarted fourth on lap 251 and battled hard for position in the closing laps, ultimately taking the checkered flag in the fifth position.

Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet

“Unfortunately, we got a set of tires that just didn’t handle the way we wanted them to on our BRANDT Professional Agriculture Camaro. It just got us behind on that adjustment. I knew the PJ1 was starting to wear off and I knew we needed to make an adjustment, but at that point you don’t know what the right call is going to be. Hats off to our guys and everybody on this team. We’ve had fast racecars every time we’ve come here. It just seems like we just can’t get the job done at the end. We’ll keep working on it. We’ll go on to Vegas next week with a lot of momentum and a lot of bonus points. I feel like we’re in a good spot heading into the playoffs.”

No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Camaro

Start 1st
Finish 5th
Laps Completed (Led) 300 of 300 (126)
Points (Bonus) 52 (2)
Point Standings (from leader) 3rd (-17)
Status Running

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