Photo Credit: Noel Lanier/OnPitRoad.com
Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet for Jr. Motorsports, scored the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus for his second-place finish in the Toyotacare 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday. Winning the Dash 4 Cash bonus and a strong second place finish is an achievement that should have made the Illinois driver extremely happy. Allgaier, however, was visibly frustrated and disappointed after the race.
Allgaier, who scored the most points and led the most laps Saturday, said his frustration stemmed from simply wishing some things had been handled differently. “I am frustrated, I am very frustrated actually….not because….I think sometimes when you have these races right, there’s things… every scenario right.. we could do something different and you could change the way we did it, and you look back on it yeah.. it sucks, I just wish I would have done a few things differently and I wish other competitors had done some things differently, but that’s not the case, that’s not the circumstance”, Allgaier said in a post-race interview.
Although Allgaier did not specifically point out what things he wishes competitors had done differently, he was asked if the late race restart in which Ty Dillon jumped the restart that costed Allgaier the lead and the control of the race was a source of that frustration. “Well you are 100% right and that’s the part, you know, that’s the tough part, you know, in that position, we ultimately ended up third because of it, Allgaier replied. You know, it’s so hard, because at the end of the day, I wanted to be second after the restart, after Ty jumped it, to be leader after the final caution came out, and unfortunately, we didn’t have that opportunity.”
Allgaier competed full-time in the Cup series from 2013 to 2015 with dismal results, scoring only one top-ten finish. After moving back to the Xfinity series in 2016, he is once again in competitive equipment. Allgaier did not visit victory lane in 2016, but did score 27 top-ten finishes. He returned to victory lane a few weeks ago scoring the win in the DC Solar 200 at Phoenix Raceway.
The performance of Allgaier’s Jr Motorsports team has definitely stepped up across the board. His teammate, Elliott Sadler, is currently leading the Xfinity series points. After Richmond, Allgaier now sits second in the standings, with his rookie teammate, William Byron, close behind in third. If this trend continues, Jr Motorsports will be a significant factor in the playoffs this season and Allgaier could be in the hunt for his first title.
After recently experiencing the sweet taste of victory again, coupled with the strong performances every week, it is understandable that he would be frustrated after dominating Saturday’s event only to come up short at the end.
