NASCAR Veteran Kyle Petty feels Justin Allgaier is ‘almost’ the Denny Hamlin of the Xfinity Series since he’s always in the championship discussion but can’t seal the deal. Allgaier is currently in his 14th full Xfinity Series season since starting in 2009 with Penske Racing. On numerous occasions, the Illinois native has come close to winning a title but has failed to capitalize on it.
In 2023, with JR Motorsports, Allgaier finished the season 2nd to Cole Custer. The 38-year-old has reached the championship 4 in 6 of his last 8 seasons, but could not bring the title home. However, the #7 driver will get at least two more chances to bag one, as recently, Dale Earnhardt’s JRM has signed a multi-year contract with the veteran driver.
Justin Allgaier will pilot the #7 car until 2026
At an age when most drivers have already moved to the Cup Series, planning to retire, Allgaier continues to drive in NASCAR’s second-tier series. However, it’s not like that wasn’t his plan. In 2014 and 2015, the veteran did run full Cup seasons with HScott Motorsports; however, they did not get the desired success, as Allgaier managed to crack just a single top-10 finish across those seasons. In 2016, he joined JRM in Xfinity and has not looked back since. And over this time, top teams have not offered Allgaier any ride in the Cup. So it probably doesn’t seem logical to just join a backmarker team for the sake of being in the Cup. To add to that, he has found considerable success in the Xfinity series despite never winning it all.
Which NASCAR driver is often compared to Denny Hamlin for being consistently in the championship discussion but unable to secure a title in the Xfinity Series?
Allgaier is currently in his 9th season with JR Motorsports, and he has never once disappointed. In the 9 years, he has always made the playoffs and his worst season finish has only been 7th, which came in 2018. In fact, this is Allgaier’s worst finish in all his 14 seasons so far. And after a splendid 2024 season so far, the #7 driver is the top seed heading into the next round of playoffs in Homestead, Miami. Making him a strong championship contender this year.
Owing to his impressive stats, JRM has continued its partnership with Justin Allgaier. Recently Fox News’s Bob Pockrass shared the news on X. Pockrass wrote, “Justin Allgaier has signed a contract extension through 2026 to remain at JR Motorsports. Brandt will continue to sponsor.”
Post the announcement, JRM CEO Kelley Earnhardt Miller said, “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Justin, the Brandt family and everyone at BRANDT Professional Agriculture. BRANDT and Justin have become synonymous with JRM both on and off the track and Rick (Brandt)’s passion for this program remains unwavering. We are honored to continue to carry their brand. That No. 7 team has consistently been one of the strongest teams in the garage year after year, and I know that is going to continue moving forward.”
Justin Allgaier has started 294 races for JRM and managed 22 wins. Even his consistency throughout the years has been impeccable, with 122 top-5s and 195 top-10s in the 9 years, with his average finish piloting the #7 car being 11.1. Allgaier is in pursuit of returning JRM back to the summit of the Xfinity series with their last championship coming from Tyler Reddick in 2018. Allgaier was the regular season champion in 2018, however, everything went downhill in the playoffs. Despite achieving a personal best of 5 regular season wins, he faced his worst season finish! That playoff run saw the #7 finish outside the top 20 in three of the seven playoff races. A shocking performance from the regular-season champ. While he did manage three top-10s and one 15th-place finish as well, it wasn’t enough and saw a disappointing end to a successful season. Hopefully, 2024 will be ‘the’ year! If not 2024, he’s got 2025 and 2026.
Allgaier, too, is thrilled with the partnership extension. Post the announcement, he said, “It feels great to be returning to JRM and to continue our partnership with BRANDT Professional Agriculture. BRANDT has played such an integral part in my career and I am extremely proud of everything that we have accomplished thus far together. I’m honored to be able to continue to drive this No. 7 Chevrolet for Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) and Kelley and compete for race wins and championships. Hopefully, we can get this renewal jump started on a strong note and finish off these playoffs in the best way possible.”
The next race is Homestead Miami, and it has not been an Allgaier stronghold.
How would Allgaier fare in the Homestead race?
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After a P3 finish at Las Vegas, Justin Allgaier is currently the top-seeded player entering Homestead. The #7 driver has a +32 points cushion, whereas defending champion and 2024 regular season champion, Cole Custer is trailing behind him with +16 points in the 2nd position. AJ Allmendinger winning at Vegas has left only three spots vacant in Phoenix. Homestead could be crucial in clearing the picture of who that will be.
To Allgaier’s misfortune, he’s never won there; rather, he’s never even finished in the top 5 at Homestead. In the 15 races, the JRM driver has only bagged 3 top 10s and has an average finish of 17.2. Which is also one of his worst on any Xfinity track. In the 2023 race, Allgaier finished in the 15th position. Owing to this record, a +32 points cushion won’t make the veteran comfortable and a bad finish could drastically change things. On top of that, Homestead is a trick 1.5-mile track, with a lot of racing happening against the wall. It is easy to just wreck if you get too close to it. To perfectly drive without getting in the wall for 267 laps is going to be challenging.
The two-time Xfinity Series champion and JRM team owner, Dale Eanhardt Jr, knows well how notorious Homestead can be. Even Jr. has never won on the track. However, ahead of the race, he has special instructions for Allgaier, Jr. said, “Justin…needs to make sure when he gets to stage 3, he does not hit the fence…and not bring himself down pit road changing a tire. The worst part about it isn’t having to come to pit road to put the tire on, ’cause you can get the lap back through the field. But you are now down a set of tires. And the Xfinity Series does not have excess sets of tires. You’re behind on tires, you’re done.”
Well, only time will tell if Allgaier can finally bag a win at Homestead in his pursuit of the elusive Xfinity Cup title. What do you think? Is this the year Allgaier finally wins a championship? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
