By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Justin Allgaier was among the championship contenders for the XFINITY Series championship when the playoffs started last weekend at Richmond.
However, after now back-to-back races that saw his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet fail to finish without incident, he is among those walking on thin ice one week out from an elimination race.
Starting 12th Saturday at the Charlotte ROVAL, Allgaier came into the 2.280-mile course with two road course wins in 2018. But the experience did not squeeze him through an accident in Turn 2 when we got spun by Austin Cindric.
Following the spin, Allgaier was T-boned by Ryan Sieg. The damage was severe enough to halt his competitive ride int he 15th spot at the checkered flag.
“I got spun out going into Turn 3 and unfortunately someone else just hit me int he left-rear wheel,” Allgaier said. “That really hurt our car. That was the hardest part. We were struggling to keep pace at the end no matter what we did.”
Pitting to repair the damage, it was a game of catch-up to the end.
“We knew we weren’t going to fix the damage but we knew the wheel was messed up,” he said. “We hoped to drive back through there but we were going to get ourself wrecked with as crazy as our car was there.
“We put ourselves in offense instead of defense.”
Leaving the ROVAL now 11 points above the cutoff entering next week’s elimination race at Dover, Allgaier was not happy with how competitors raced on Saturday and knows he’s in rough waters because of it.
“This playoff format has disconnected some people’s brains and they drive a little over their head,” he said. “It’s a shame, too. it took us out of a good day.
“There is no safe [at Dover]. Even a guy like Christopher Bell, who won a race and is locked in, you don’t go into these races feeling safe. You go run well, don’t get crashed and gain as many points as you can. That’s what we tried to do today.”
Entering Dover as the defending winner, Allgaier is confident his JRM team can keep them above the surface for a berth into the Round of 8.
“Dover has been good for us. A great race track,” he said. “All-in-all, anything can happen and we can miss this first round. You never can say never.”