MARTINSVILLE, Va.: Starting five points below the cut-off line, Justin Allgaier knew that the battle was going to be on in Saturday afternoon’s Dead On Tools 250 to assure him a Championship 4 spot next weekend at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway.
It was quite the battle to get there.
Although he didn’t showcase the winning speed in his No. 7 iRacing | Brandt Chevrolet Camaro throughout the race, Allgaier did muscle his JR Motorsports entry into the top-10 attempting to stay above the cut line as much as possible.
Starting sixth, Allgaier would battle hard with Championship 4 rival AJ Allmendinger in Stage 1. He communicated to the team that he needed more forward drive as his car was good on entry, but tight through the middle of the corners.
Finishing Stage 1 in third, Allgaier would also eight stage points to help in his quest for his fifth Championship 4 appearance in the desert.
Despite the added eight points, Allgaier would still remain below the top four positions available for the Championship 4.
Battling hard to the front of the field, once again he would give input on his car stating that he has really good forward drive and that was evident as he moved around the No. 54 car of Ty Gibbs on Lap 91.
Looking like he was going to win the second stage, Allgaier would make a mistake on Lap 119 and overdrive the corner — sending his race car up the track but recovering to finish Stage 2 in second and adding nine more points to his side.
Ahead of Stage 3, the veteran Xfinity driver pitted again for tires, fuel and another adjustments to aid in the tightness of his race car.
After the first of 10 cautions in Stage 3, Allgaier would come back to pit road for another new set of tires and fuel and return to the track in the seventh position. His crew chief, Jason Burdett would tell him “Keep a cool head. Dig in hard.”
Caution after caution would continue to unnerve the driver and he would linger around the fifth position but with the advancement of Brandon Jones to the race lead in the closing laps, Allgaier saw his chance at advancement escaping him.
Inside 20 laps to go in the original distance of the race, AJ Allmendinger on fresher tires had caught Allgaier and passed him. Allgaier though with coaching from spotter Eddie D’Hondt told his driver to use the bump and not let Allmendinger escape the scene.
The hard racing between the two drivers eventually cut down the tire on Allmendinger’s Chevrolet – ending the Kaulig Racing’s driver shot at a championship but keeping Allgaier in the hunt should the race enter chaotic mode in the closing laps.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Several more cautions would come out and the race would be thrown into numerous overtime attempts. Allgaier though his championship hopes were over on the last lap of the race as Jones sped ahead of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for the lead, but Jones was dumped by Ty Gibbs ending the race and ultimately proving to be the break that Allgaier needed to have another opportunity to earn his first Xfinity Series championship.
“I can’t even describe it,” Allgaier said. “It’s disappointing that it’s gotten to the point where it’s — unfortunately easier to drive through somebody than it is to pass them. Really proud of our team.
“It was definitely a long day. You know we came here. We obviously wanted to just go for the win and that would solve a lot of problems. We just didn’t have the handling that we wanted on the iRacing | Brandt Camaro. We were ok. We were a top five car all day.”
When asked about his battle with Allmendinger, Allgaier said it was “go time.”
“You get down to the end, (Allmendinger) was pushing pretty hard,” he explained. “He chose to run into us enough times that you get to the point where you have to go for it. He knew when he turned back left that we were going to hit.
“I hate it for those guys. I don’t know if we could have run 25 laps battling as hard as we did there at the end. They’ve had a great season, we’ve had a great season, it’s just so hard when it comes to the last race, especially at a place like Martinsville.”
Follow Grace Krenrich on Twitter @grace3140.
