HOMESTEAD, Fla. — During a banner season with the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet team, Justin Allgaier is delighted he decided not to leave NASCAR racing last year—but it was a close call.
“I don’t think the general public will know how close I was to really walking away,” Allgaier said Thursday during Championship Media Day at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“We bought a house in Illinois. We were making after-racing-career plans. I was a hundred percent sure that this was it, that this would be the end of my career.”
It would have been, if JRM co-owners Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller hadn’t talked Allgaier into a contract extension that will keep him with the team at least through the 2028 season.
The move proved serendipitous. Allgaier won six of the first 21 races this season and held a 229-point lead before points were reset for the nine-race Chase.
With last Saturday’s second-place finish at Martinsville Speedway, Allgaier took the Chase lead by 22 points over defending series champion Jesse Love, who suffered a litany of issues at the venerable short track and finished 30th.
In addition to Allgaier and Love, there are three other drivers within striking distance of the title—Corey Day (23 points back), Carson Kvapil (31 behind) and Sheldon Creed (42 behind)—entering Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Championship Race (5 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
To Allgaier, retaking the Chase lead from Love wasn’t crucial, given the relatively small margin.
“I went over to Jesse at the end of last week,” Allgaier said. “I think at first he thought I was messing with him, but I really was genuine in the fact that I hated it for him. I hated to see their day go the way that it did…
“I hate the situation ‘cause I know that this week it could easily be the same for us or any one of the top five. I’ve had a lot of fun battling all of these guys. I’ve had the most fun racing this year probably that I’ve ever had.”
Allgaier feels that his willingness to step away from racing and decision to return have had a positive effect on his psyche.
“I’m probably the freest, loosest, confident enough that I’ve been all year,” he said. “There’s just been something different this year for me. Maybe it was because I was walking away, so I looked at different ways to value the sport that maybe I hadn’t looked at.
“But I have more confidence in my race team than I can describe. The pit crew’s been on fire lately. This whole team has just operated at a really high level. Eddie D’Hondt, my spotter, and I have a great relationship.
“All the things that you want to be going your way have been going that direction. And, honestly, if we execute how we know we can, there’s no doubt in my mind that we can’t go win both stages and win the race.”
