Kansas City, KS – Justin Allgaier was still looking for his first career Xfinity Series win of the 2019 season heading into Saturday’s race at Kansas Speedway. He came close a couple of weeks ago at Dover, dominating the race before losing it late. The JR Motorsports driver had high hopes coming into Kansas looking to get that elusive victory to get him into the Championship 4.
Allgaier qualified seventh, ran strong most of the day, finished fifth in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2. However, Allgaier ultimately brought home the No.7 Trademark Nitrogen/Brandt Chevy Camaro in the fifth position.
“To be honest with you, we weren’t a top-five car today,” Allgaier said. “We struggled all day and didn’t have the speed we were looking for. Some timely cautions and some cars that had some trouble really helped us out to get our top five. The guys worked hard, we battled. At one point, we were way off of where we needed to be at. We were able to come back and had a good finish out of it.”
“It helps in the points, we scored stage points in both stages. It’s not over by any stretch of the imagination. There’s a lot of guys right there on our tail, but it makes you feel better going into Texas in a few weeks.”
Playoff driver and Allgaier’s teammate Noah Gragson had an up and down day, finishing third in Stage 1 before ultimately finishing 13th. With Gragson sitting seventh in the standings after Kansas, he still believes that he is not in a must-win situation going forward.
“Not a bit,” Gragson said. “The way we picked up stage points, the speed we had today definitely not. We have the car to do it and I don’t think we’re in a must-win situation. We’re a contender and we can win. I’m really proud of the effort at JR Motorsports and ready to get on to Texas.”
