Race Report: Chicagoland

Justin Allgaier battled blistering temperatures at his home track of Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday afternoon, powering the BRANDT “Celebrating the Farmer” Chevrolet to a seventh-place finish in the Overton’s 300. The effort was the team’s 10^th top-10 finish of the season. Allgaier remains sixth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings with 15 races complete.

Qualifying 18^th for the 200-lap event, Allgaier began working his way towards the top-10 once the green flag dropped. He radioed to the team early on that the BRANDT Chevy was free in, tight center and had nothing to lean on in corner exit. On lap 15 he advanced to 11^th and battled for a top-10 position during the first stage, but as the run went on, the handling of the No. 7 Camaro started to fade. Allgaier held on to finish Stage One in 12^th on lap 45. Under the stage-ending caution, the team called the JRM driver in for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment and he was set start Stage Two in the 13^th position.

When the field went back to green on lap 52, Allgaier got a great restart, working his way to sixth by lap 53. The Illinois native entered the top-five on lap 60 and came over the radio shortly after to report that the BRANDT Chevy was getting a lot freer on entry, especially in Turns 3 and 4. Overall, Allgaier felt that the changes made to the No. 7 Camaro were positive and it showed as he crossed the line in sixth at the end of Stage Two. Coming to pit road under the caution, Allgaier made a stop for four tires, fuel and another wedge adjustment.

The lap-98 restart for the final stage got hairy as Allgaier was battling four wide heading into Turn 1. He was running in the 10^th position when the caution flag came out just one lap later for a multi-car incident in Turn 3. Staying out under the yellow, Allgaier restarted from the same position and dropped back to 11^th, but worked his way right back up to ninth by lap 112. He reported a tight-handling condition, but was able to remain in ninth until a caution on lap 115 gave the team the opportunity to come to pit road. Crew chief Jason Burdett made the call for four tires, fuel and a track-bar adjustment.

Allgaier restarted from the 10^th position on lap 121 and was quick to report that the BRANDT Chevy was back to having no right-rear grip on corner exit. He was up to eighth on lap 151 and less than 10 laps later, came to pit road for a scheduled green-flag stop. Giving the No. 7 Chevrolet four tires and fuel, the team sent Allgaier back out on the track with everything he needed to make it to the end of the race. Allgaier drove his way up to seventh before the checkered flag waved.

Kyle Larson won the 300-mile race and was followed by Kevin Harvick, Cole Custer and Daniel Suarez, with Daniel Hemric rounding out the top five.

Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 BRANDT “Celebrating the Farmer” team

“The day didn’t exactly go how we wanted for our BRANDT ‘Celebrating the Farmer’ team. The handling just wasn’t where we needed it today, but it definitely wasn’t from lack of effort. Jason Burdett (crew chief) and the guys worked hard all weekend long and we were able to come home with a solid top-10 finish, so we’ll take it.”