JR Motorsports Race Report from Richmond
Race 8 of 33: ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond International Raceway- Track Specs: 0.75-mile D-shaped oval / 250 laps
- Weather: Partly cloudy; 89 degrees
- Race Winner: Kyle Larson
- Allgaier's finish: 2nd
Justin Allgaier and the BRANDT Professional Agriculture team won their second NASCAR Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash event of the season on Saturday afternoon, finishing second at Richmond International Raceway. Allgaier led a race-high 157 laps in the 250-lap event and won Stage Two, earning a playoff point. The 30-year-old driver moved up to second in the NXS point standings, 41 points behind teammate Elliott Sadler.
Starting sixth, Allgaier's Chevrolet took off and he was up to second on lap 15. Setting his sights on leader Daniel Hemric, the Illinois native surpassed Hemric on lap 27 to take over the top spot. Just a few laps later he came over the radio to relay that the BRANDT Chevy was tight center and free off the corner. The No. 2 of Austin Dillon began closing in on Allgaier and made the pass on lap 38 to take the lead. He held on to second for the remainder of Stage One to earn a spot in the Dash 4 Cash. Under the stage-ending caution, that came out at the completion of lap 75, the BRANDT team made a pit stop for four tires, fuel and a track-bar adjustment.
At the start of Stage Two on lap 87, Allgaier was on the outside of the front row and powered his way to the lead. As his lead grew, he relayed to the team on lap 99 that his Chevrolet was still a little tight center, but not bad. Allgaier continued to take control of the Stage Two, holding on to the top spot to win the stage at the completion of 150. In the closing laps of the run, Allgaier had reported that the BRANDT Chevy was losing a little overall grip. The team pitted under the stage-ending caution for four tires, fuel and another track-bar adjustment.
On lap 165, Allgaier took the green flag in second, but quickly retook the lead before the completion of the lap. A caution came out on lap 182 and crew chief Jason Burdett made the call to stay out and maintain track position. The JR Motorsports driver got a good restart with 64 laps to go to keep the lead. Quiet on the radio, Allgaier listened to spotter TJ Majors, who was communicating lap times. The yellow flag came out with 11 laps to go and the team came to pit road to give the BRANDT Camaro four fresh tires. The No. 3 of Ty Dillon opted to take two tires, putting Allgaier in second for the restart. When the green-flag waved, Dillon jumped the start and Allgaier was running third when another caution waved with four laps to go. Under the caution, NASCAR communicated that Dillon would have to move to the rear of the field due to jumping the restart, making Kyle Larson the new race leader. The race was sent into overtime and on the restart Allgaier was racing for the lead with Larson when a multi-car wreck occurred. Initially there was confusion on whether or not the caution was out, but eventually it was ruled that caution fell over the track after the overtime line, so the race was ruled complete. Larson was deemed the winner, with Allgaier in second. Daniel Hemric, Austin Dillon and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five.
Allgaier's second-place finish was his third top five of the year and fourth top 10. This was his third Xfinity Dash 4 Cash win with JR Motorsports (Indy 2016 and Phoenix 2017).
Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture team
"I'm just proud of everyone at JR Motorsports. The BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevy we had today, short of the end of the first run, it was just absolutely on rails. Ultimately we came here to win the race and had a great opportunity to do that and unfortunately at the end of the race, the whole race, the wheels fell off of it. It just felt like everything went haywire there at the end and unfortunately we ultimately paid the biggest price and didn't get to go to Victory Lane. On the flip side of that, and I told one of the guys from Xfinity, I said I'm sorry that my disappointment in not winning the race kind of overshadowed my speech there on winning the Dash 4 Cash, because I really am truly appreciative of what they do for our series and what they do for our sport. This is a great opportunity for our team to invest some money back into the budgets and to help keep growing as a team. Even though it is disappointing that we didn't go to Victory Lane, we still did a great job. We can't hold our heads low. We had a great race. We finished second and ultimately took home the Xfinity Series Dash 4 Cash."
No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet Camaro Justin Allgaier
- Start - 6th
- Finish - 2nd
- Laps Completed (Led) - 254 of 254 (157)
- Points (Bonus) - 54 (1)
- Point Standings (from leader) - 2nd (-41)
- Status - Running
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