Drive for the Cure 250 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval

JR Motorsports Race Report

Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021

Race 29 of 33: Drive for the Cure 250 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval

Track Specs: 2.28-mile road course / 67 laps

Weather: Cloudy; 70 degrees

Race Winner: AJ Allmendinger
Allgaier’s Finish: 9^th

Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet, rallied from an early-race incident on Saturday afternoon at the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway to earn a hard-fought ninth-place finish and advance into the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. With today’s result, Allgaier has now finished inside the top 10 in eight consecutive events dating back to Michigan International Speedway in August and has not finished worse than 12^th since Road America in July. Allgaier enters the first race in the Round of 8 next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway as the third seed, 29 markers out of the points lead.

Stage One Finish: 30^th

Allgaier took the green flag for the 67-lap event from the second position by virtue of NASCAR’s mathematical formula, which was applied earlier in the week. The driver of the BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet held steady in second through the first caution period of the day on lap 2 and reported that the car felt really good through the infield portions of the distinct road course. Restarting in second on lap 4, Allgaier looked poised to challenge for the race lead, but contact with the wall on the exit of the second corner badly damaged the right-side of the BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet, forcing Allgaier to pit under green for repairs on lap 8. A fortuitous caution just two laps later allowed the JR Motorsports driver to remain on the lead lap, and gave crew chief Jason Burdett another opportunity to make repairs to the damage. Lining up in 38^th following the trip to pit road, Allgaier patiently moved forward over the final five laps of Stage One, improving eight positions to take the green-and-white checkered flag in 30^th on lap 20.

Stage Two Finish: 17^th

Now under the stage-ending caution and off the damaged-vehicle-policy repair clock, Burdett called Allgaier back to pit road for four fresh tires and further repairs to the right rear of the BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet. Scored 36^th for the start of Stage Two on lap 22, Allgaier charged forward, gaining 10 positions over the ensuing six laps until a lap-28 caution period closed the field back together again. The Illinois native’s climb up the scoring pylon continued on the following restart, as Allgaier raced back into the top 20 and up to the 19^th position before the caution flag was displayed once again on lap 35.

Burdett opted to work with some strategy during this caution and called Allgaier to pit road for four tires and fuel, as this caution put the No. 7 team into their window to make it to the end of the race on fuel. Returning to the track following the stop in 23^rd, Allgaier again went on the attack, improving six positions over the closing laps of Stage Two to take the green-and-white checkered flag on lap 60 in 17^th.

Final Stage:

Having just come to pit road prior to the end of Stage Two, Burdett made the call to keep Allgaier out on the track for the start of the third and final stage. This call proved to be beneficial, as the driver of the BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet catapulted up to the seventh position as several of the race leaders came to pit road. Once back under way on lap 42, Allgaier bided his time, maintaining his position inside the top 10 through the green-flag run that followed while patiently navigating around the 2.28-mile course. However, that green-flag run came to an abrupt halt with just three laps remaining, leaving Burdett and Allgaier with a decision to make of whether to pit for fresh tires or stay out for the green-white-checkered run to the finish.

After briefly discussing the options on the radio, the decision was made to come to pit road for fresh tires and fuel. With the field split among those who pitted and those who stayed out, Allgaier returned to the track for the three-lap shootout in the 16^th position. Undaunted by the loss of track position, Allgaier rapidly ascended up the leaderboard once back under way, dodging the cars on older tires and narrowly avoiding two multi-car incidents to gain seven positions over the final laps and come home with a ninth-place finish.

With today’s top-10 result, Allgaier successfully advances into the Round of 8 in the NXS Playoffs, set to begin next weekend at Texas.

Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet team

“What a day today. I can’t thank Jason (Burdett, crew chief) and everyone on this JR Motorsports team for all of their hard work. We had a really fast BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet early on, and I really hate that we ran into some trouble that set us back throughout the first half of the race. But this is a group that never gives up and it feels great to be able to fight back and come away with a top-10 finish to advance into the Round of 8. Now it’s on to Texas. Hopefully we can be that one spot better this time and get the Round of 8 started on a strong note.”