TALLADEGA, Ala. — With three laps to go in Saturday’s (Oct. 5) United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway, the JR Motorsports cars of Carson Kvapil and Brandon Jones made contact entering turn 1, triggering the Big One. Justin Allgaier slammed the outside wall first and remained up high as the field crashed around him.
“The speed’s there every week,” Allgaier said. “The No. 7 guys don’t deserve to have the crap that’s happened over the last month that we’ve had happen. I just feel bad for them.”
In the last five races, Allgaier has not finished inside the top 15, with a best result of 17th at Watkins Glen International. Of those five races, three of them have been finishes of 30th or worse.
“At the end of the day, I want to win for them, I want to run good for them,” Allgaier added. “I really don’t care if I win for myself. They put the effort in, they put the work in.”
These last few races really feel like a microcosm of Allgaier’s 2024 as a whole. Allgaier had six DNFs entering Talladega, and all but one of those crashes happened with Allgaier running inside the top 10.
Allgaier blew a tire at Phoenix in March while leading with five to go. He spun while leading off turn 4 at Charlotte two months later. A few weeks ago, Allgaier crashed at Atlanta while running in the top three.
Unfortunate circumstances cost the No. 7 a good run — and the regular season championship — at Bristol. With a crash at Bristol, a 36th-place finish at Kansas, and a 25th-place result at Talladega, Allgaier now sits seven points behind the cutoff line.
Despite entering the playoffs with two wins, 14 stage wins and 10 bonus playoff points from the regular season, Allgaier now finds himself at the risk of a round one elimination after entering the playoffs as one of the championship favorites.
Sure, that gap can be made up with stage points, but Allgaier has a different mindset.
“Go win,” Allgaier said. “Go win the ROVAL. I know we’ve got a lot of really good road racers. I know we’ve got a lot of really good stuff that the guys at JR Motorsports do but go win. That’s all we can do.
“I know we’ve got a fast enough car to do it. We’ve just got to be able to make it happen.”
Allgaier’s best finish at the ROVAL is fourth. He has three top-10 finishes in six starts at the track.
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