DARLINGTON, S.C. — Justin Allgaier’s third-place finish in Saturday afternoon’s Xfinity Series race at Darlington was not one without adversity, but with it, he continues a streak of top-five finishes that spans five races with two victories slotted in the middle.
On top of the current run of top fives, the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet also ties NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin for the most consecutive top 10 finishes at the “Lady in Black” at nine.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Darlington
It is a run of finishes that Allgaier solely attributes to the grit and determination of his No. 7 crew.
“Listen, this team, everybody at JR Motorsports, everybody on our Brandt Chevrolet has given me the opportunity to do that,” Allgaier said after the race. “These cars are fun to drive. They do an amazing job, you know?”
But as aforementioned, the result was not achieved without a battle. What started as a day in a great position to potentially grab win number three for the Chevrolet organization quickly went south after winning Stage 2 as a pit-stop error mired the No. 7 car back in mid-pack.
“Listen, we win as a team, we lose as a team,” Allgaier continued. “You know, the pit-road deal. It’s hard when you have those moments, but when you watch the guys rally, it’s because they understand, and they want to be successful, just like this race team is. We want those top fives. You want those wins. And, you know, I think that the best example I can give you is last year in Phoenix. You know, we were down, but we were never out, and we came back and we rallied.”
In that Phoenix race mentioned by Allgaier, he came from nearly two laps down to win the Xfinity Series title, a race that netted him the first driver’s championship of his career.
It is that race and the adversity that came along with it that JR Motorsports co-owner and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. attributes to the early success for Allgaier in 2025. The pressure is off of the 38-year-old, allowing him to go out each week and chase victories.
“I mean, that’s classic Justin Allgaier,” Earnhardt said post-race at Darlington. “He’s always going to give you everything, you know, everything you can, every lap. That’s what he did today and we got the best result we could get.
“He’s got a lot of pressure off since he won his championship, so he can really just kind of focus on winning races and not really the whole big picture of the season, like he’s had to. You know obviously, he knows his chances of winning a championship are whittling away, and so to be able to get that done now, he could just go back to focusing on week after week, race after race, and you can see he’s just not making the mistakes we typically see him make in high-pressure situations. Because he’s not, you know, he’s not trying as hard. He’s kind of dialed it back. He’s racing smarter, being smoother, not feeling like he’s got to, you know, make it happen every single lap.”
It’s that mentality and focus that keeps the Springfield, Illinois native proud of the effort and resilience put in by his team despite falling short on Saturday.
“I’m proud of the effort that we’re putting in,” Allgaier said. “If I’d have come out of here 10th or 15th, yeah, I’d have probably been a little more upset. But to come out of here third and lead as many laps as we did, the points day that we had. I mean, just a great day. Yes, you want to win, but it’s hard to be sad with third and a great point.”
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