On a night where four of five JR Motorsports entries finished outside the top 30, Justin Allgaier brought the team a much-needed win to kick off the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs.
With two laps to go, Allgaier took the lead from Kaulig Racing’s Daniel Hemric and went on to score the Food City 300 victory by a 1.695-second margin at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
It was Allgaier’s second career Xfinity Series win at the .533-mile concrete oval — the site of his first series triumph in 2010 — and his third victory of the season.
During his post-race interview on FOX, the 36-year-old also had a little bit of news to break.
“I re-signed this week to go back to JR Motorsports again for another year, we just haven’t announced it yet. Y’all are stuck with me for another year at least in this No. 7 car. But man, as good as this thing is, it’s really impressive. Just so proud of this team,” Allgaier said in victory lane.
After leading 110 of 300 laps, Allgaier’s win locked the No. 7 entry into the Round of 8.
Hemric held on to finish second in his No. 10 Chevrolet, while points leader John Hunter Nemechek came in third.
“We raced smart. We have a 65-point lead, I think, to the cutoff or something like that, so that’s good. Our goal coming into this first round was just to have solid finishes. If a win presented itself, a win presented itself. We have to race smart and keep advancing. That is all that matters,” Nemechek said.
Polesitter Cole Custer wheeled his No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to a fourth-place finish, while Kaulig Racing’s Chandler Smith finished fifth in his No. 16 Chevrolet. Ryan Sieg, Trevor Bayne, Riley Herbst, Sammy Smith and Kaz Grala completed the top 10.
Playoff drivers and JRM teammates Josh Berry and Sam Mayer were involved in an incident during stage two, which took them out of contention and relegated them to finish 36th and 35th.
Richard Childress Racing teammates and playoff contenders Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed tangled in the final stage, but Creed was able to claw his way back to 11th while Hill was scored 33rd.
Playoff driver Parker Kligerman had trouble with a wheel hub and finished 31st.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. led 47 laps, but scored 30th after his No. 88 Chevrolet caught fire with 29 laps to go.