“Ultimately, I feel like he’s been a really good asset for us,” Allgaier said. “He fits in really well, and the culture here, he understands what we’ve got to do to move our whole team forward.”
What does Allgaier need from a crew chief in 2023 that he didn’t in 2008?
“A lot,” he said.
“The game has changed significantly,” Allgaier added, specifically in technology.
“I also feel like he’s been in the sport for those last 15 years. And he’s been homing in on that ability to give me that and this is kind of the position and role he’s been in. For me, we hit the ground running, because I feel like he knew exactly what I was gonna ask him for.”
When Allgaier spoke with SPEED SPORT, it was only two days after their first race together in 14 years.
They finished third in the season opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway after leading 36 laps and rebounding from a mid-race accident.
“Jim has just been a different approach and a different opinion,” Allgaier said. “The things that we did well, (he’ll be like) ‘you’re missing these details,’ and I’m like, ‘man, you’re right.’”
Through the fifth race of the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway, JRM was winless. Allgaier himself was boom or bust.
While leading 74 laps and claiming three stage wins, he finished the first three races in the top three before wrecking at Phoenix Raceway and Atlanta.
The JRM driver stable is anything but typical for the Xfinity Series.
First, there’s Allgaier — a former Team Penske prospect who made it to the Cup Series for two disappointing seasons with HScott Motorsports before he joined JR Motorsports.
Now, the 36-year-old is the oldest full-time driver on the circuit with 19 series wins.
Next in line, at least age-wise, is Josh Berry.
A longtime late model star and friend of Dale Earnhardt Jr., the 32-year-old Tennessee native is in his second full-time season driving the No. 8 Chevy.
He’s followed by Brandon Jones.
While only 27, the Georgia native is in his eighth full-time Xfinity Series campaign, basically making him a grizzled veteran.
That leaves Sam Mayer, the 19-year-old Wisconsin native who was still seeking his first Xfinity Series win as of late March.
As for the team’s new addition, Allgaier said he and Jones “have been friends for a long time. I feel like I’ve watched him grow up in this sport a little bit.”
Allgaier believes Jones “brings a solid foundation. And he brings a personality and an attitude that pushes us all to be better and to work harder.”
Even outside the walls of JR Motorsports, the NASCAR Xfinity Series has “changed significantly,” Allgaier noted.
With increased restrictions on full-time Cup Series drivers racing in the series, the fields are populated by more long-term, full-time drivers and fewer “one-and-done” rookies than at any point in the series’ recent history.
“We’ve lost a lot of significantly good drivers over the last number of years,” Allgaier said. “But I feel like the reserve drivers that are waiting to get that opportunity are as good or better than ever. And you have guys like Cole (Custer) coming back, that are going to make a splash and make a big difference. So I just feel like it’s a way different dynamic this year than I feel like it’s ever been.”
In his 13th full-time Xfinity Series season, Allgaier is officially the old guy in the series after A.J. Allmendinger returned to the Cup Series with Kaulig Racing this season.
How does Allgaier feel about that?
“I’m just disappointed that Morgan’s not still racing with us,” Allgaier joked, referring to Morgan Shepherd, who raced in the series until he was 77. “But honestly, it is funny, being 36, who would have ever thought that I would be the old guy?
“I love where I’m at. And I love the team that I’m with. And to go back Cup racing would be great. I’d love it. I’d do it in a heartbeat, but if I can’t go back Cup racing in the same capacity that I’m going into right now with, with how good of equipment I have, I don’t know that it would ever be worth it.”
This story appeared in the April 19, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
