Justin Allgaier’s rocky start to this year’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Chase continued following an early exit amid an on-track accident in the Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 3, that has placed his championship hopes on a cautionary watch.
The 2024 O’Reilly champion from Riverton, Illinois, qualified in seventh place for Saturday’s event at Sin City. He spent the entire first stage period racing within the bottom half of the top-10 mark on the track before he notched a single stage point by settling in 10th place at the first stage’s conclusion.
After restarting in eighth place to commence the second stage period on Lap 53, Allgaier tried to use the outside lane to gain strong launches and momentum from the turns to the straightaways, but he maintained eighth place on the track for the following lap.
Then on Lap 54, Allgaier’s event came to a crashing end when Brandon Jones, a Chase contender and former teammate of Allgaier, got loose through the first two turns while he was trying to maintain fourth place in front of a stacked field. Jones’ brief slide through the turns quickly followed suit with the latter veering to the right and colliding head-on into the outside wall and in front of Allgaier, who could not avoid Jones’ entry.
The damage to both Allgaier’s No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro entry along with Jones’ No. 20 Menards Toyota Supra entry was enough to have the drivers’ entries towed behind the wall and both to make the mandatory trip to the infield care center while also eliminating their opportunities of contending for the victory.
For Allgaier, his early accident knocked him out of contention of what had appeared to be a competitive run towards the front for the Illinois veteran. It also added another sting to his up-and-down start to the Chase mired with a single top-five result through the first three Chase events.
“Obviously, we’ve had lots of speed everywhere we’ve gone all year,” Allgaier said after being released from the infield care center on the CW Network. “Just to start the Chase off like this has been pretty frustrating, but blessed to still come out here and do this. We’re gonna go next week and bring another great race car to the racetrack and go try and win another race. Disappointing end to a day that I thought we were making some headway. Pit crew was on it. All the things were coming together. Just nothing to show for it.”
Following an extensive repair period, Allgaier would return to the track with 85 laps remaining and cycle his entry for a single lap to overtake Jones for 34th place in the leaderboard before he retired from further competition as he was unable to meet the minimum speed following repairs under NASCAR’s Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP).
Prior to Las Vegas, Allgaier was ranked in the runner-up spot in the 2026 Chase standings and he trailed points leader Sheldon Creed by 11 points. After Las Vegas, Allgaier, who currently holds an average-finishing result of 17.5 through the first four Chase events, dropped two spots to fourth place and he trails Creed by 30 points.
With Las Vegas in the rearview mirror, Allgaier shifts his attention to the next Chase event at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, for the Blue Cross NC 250 to rally from his rocky Chase start and reel in from his points deficit to remain in championship contention. In 24 previous starts at Charlotte, Allgaier has achieved 13 top-10 results and a single victory, the latter of which occurred in May 2023, as he also strives to add a second victory in NASCAR’s backyard to his illustrious resume.
The 2026 Blue Cross NC 250 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur next Saturday, October 10, at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM.
