ELKHART LAKE, Wisc.: Stop the rumors. Justin Allgaier is not going anywhere.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series mainstay driver told CATCHFENCE.com Friday at Road America (Wisc.) that he and sponsor Brandt will return to JR Motorsports for the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
“I will be back next year. Same deal,” Allgaier told CATCHFENCE.com “Everything is good. We’re doing the same thing next that we are doing right now.”
2020 will be Allgaier’s fifth full-time season aboard the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro and has proven to be a viable outlet for the Riverton, Illinois returning to the NASCAR Xfinity Series after a brief stint in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series with HScott Motorsports.
“First and foremost, JR Motorsports just fits my style,” added Allgaier. “When you look at people and you look at performance, you look at sponsors, there’s so many things that make sense at JRM for me, there’s been some opportunities to make moves for myself and not including the Brandt side of it.
“And for me, this is a great fit for them. As much as it’s a good fit for me, it’s a great fit for them. And I’ve just decided that as long as they’re happy, for me it’s a great place to be at and I’m going to go for race wins and championship. It’s a no-brainer if you will.
Allgaier said that returning to the Cup Series one day is still a thought but not something he’s determined to do unless it’s the right circumstances. And if it doesn’t materialize, he is fine with that too.
“Yeah, do I want to go back Cup racing at some point? Yes, absolutely. But, if that never happens, I’m not going to be disappointed in it.”
For Allgaier and sponsor Brandt, it’s been a fitting partnership that blossomed from his nearby hometown and has vastly grown into one of the longest-lasting driver-sponsor relations in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Brandt joined Allgaier in 2011 at Turner Motorsports before making the leap to Cup in 2014 and 2015 before returning to the Xfinity Series and nestled into their current home at JR Motorsports where the duo has won seven races since then.
“Well, number one, the hometown connection. Having Rick (Brandt) and the Brandt company offices in Springfield, Illinois, obviously just a few miles from where I grew up,” explained Allgaier. “They’re from Pleasant Plains and I’m from Riverton, both kinds surrounding suburbs of Springfield.
“The other part is I think especially with our customers, business relationships, it’s so much fun. We go to different shows. Agricultural, golf, industry shows and every year we come back and we gotta update the card collection, people come by, hey I don’t need an autograph this year, I just wanted to say hi, I haven’t seen you in a year. Those relationships you cultivate at an early age or an early time in your career or whatever you want to call it, really make it the most fun.
“As you get older and people feel like they have transitioned with you, that’s a big part of it.”
Allgaier described that his off the track responsibilities at the race track have proven to be just as critical as the success on the track, as well as succeeding with return on investment.
“The other thing is just I feel like for Brandt one of the biggest things for us is the hospitality aspect of it. Having customers at the race track and a part of it. I feel like that’s been successful on a lot of fronts for what we do on our program.
“I think we’ve been able to do that well together. You know in today’s age and time with any company, return on investment is huge. They‘ve found a way to be able to do that.
“Don’t get me wrong. Rick Brandt and I are friends. We are probably more like brothers than we are friends. We get along really well. If they stopped sponsoring it tomorrow, we’d still be friends for the rest of our lives. On the other side of that, for them, it has to make sense. As long as it keeps making sense and keep pushing the program along, we’ll be here.”
Allgaier also described how JRM Motorsports co-owner Kelly Earnhardt Miller has been instrumental for Brandt from a business perspective since joining their Board of Directors.
“Obviously now too, the Earnhardt family and Kelley (Miller)) and her business mindset,” Allgaier spoke. “She’s on the board now at Brandt and she’s been a huge asset to them from an outside thinking standpoint. She’s a great businesswoman, she has a lot of skills that I don’t think a lot of people in racing really understand how good she is at that part of it.
“So, to have her on the board has been great from a business standpoint has been great as well and it will change the landscape on how they do business some too. That in itself is a plus.
So, there’s a lot of synergies’ that make this program work really well together.”
With 2020 set, Allgaier still has work to do this season and a championship to fight for.
Settled in Road America (Wisc.) still frustrated with last Friday night’s outcome at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, where Allgaier appeared to be headed towards Victory Lane before a flat tire in the closing laps handed the lead to eventual winner Tyler Reddick.
Allgaier is determined to get his No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet team back in the winners’ circle in the coming weeks and gain some momentum in the post-season Playoffs and an opportunity towards the Championship 4.
“At the end of the day, Bristol is a great summary of our season,” sounded Allgaier. “You think everything is looking good and at that point even when Tyler (Reddick) in the race, we were running whatever speed we needed to do to maintain track position.
“It’s very rarely that you have a car that good. Heck, we passed Kyle Busch at Bristol. That in itself is an achievement. Then we ran our fastest lap of the race at Lap 288. I ran fastest enough to get the pole on Lap 288 on 120 lap tires. That’s just crazy to me.”
To be a championship contender, Allgaier knows you need speed. While the No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet Camaro has showcased speed throughout the season, Allgaier says they need more.
“Yeah, I think we have speed,” he explained. “We still need more speed, especially on the mile and a half’s, but I’m just hopeful that we wasted all of unfortunate happenings throughout the course of the year and the Playoffs will go smooth.
“You look at Tyler (Reddick) last year. That’s how his season went. They had crashes and stuff that was self-induced and not self-induced and then they got to the Playoffs and there were like tried and true. They didn’t miss a beat. That’s my hope for 2019 that we roll through to the end and everything is good.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
