It was a wild weekend for most of the JR Motorsports’ teams who fielded four cars this time around at Charlotte Motor Speedway. However, two drivers had especially eventful days.
Justin Allgaier and the No. 7 team finished fourth after being involved in a Lap 45 accident that involved a few drivers. From there, the JR Motorsports driver had stage finishes of third and fourth before collecting his 13th top five of the season.
“Today was interesting for sure,” Allgaier described to PRN Radio. “Our Armour Vienna Sausage Camaro was really good. I would say we were on the side of conservative just because we knew the implications of the Playoffs and the challenges of coming out of here with a great day. The guys did a great job in the pits and we had to play the strategy to run all the stages out, which I think probably hurt us at the end. We all got really deep in there on that last restart, I don’t know if I got my teammate or not, if I was the one that the got the 8 (Ryan Truex) turned around. I feel really bad if that was what happened.”
“We all got in there four wide, it was a little bit crazy. So I hate that if we were the one that ended up sending him around. Solid points day, did the things we needed to do. Not much damage on our Armour Vienna Sausage Camaro, so that’s a good day.”
Allgaier and the No. 7 JR Motorsports team is currently fifth, +40 above the cut line heading into the final race in the Round of 12.
Speaking of wild weekends, it sure was one for Las Vegas native, Noah Gragson. It all started in practice yesterday when he had an accident and was forced to go a backup car. It carried over to today as his personal vehicle had a flat tire on the side of the road heading to the track.
Despite having a flat tire, Gragson made it to qualifying and the race. The No. 9 Suave Men team finished ninth in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2 before Gragson ultimately wound up finishing fifth after the crazy weekend he had.
“I put my No. 9 team in a bind there to start the race by having to go to a backup car,” Gragson said to PRN Radio. “My Suave No. 9 team worked so hard and I’m just so thankful to be able to drive this car. Got back up and came home with a fifth-place finish and we scored fifth-place points in the second stage. We got points in every stage which is big. We’re 24 above the cut off right now. I feel like we did our job. Obviously, we would like to be a little bit better, but there’s a lot of risk and a lot of reward. If you miss it or spin out, it could be detrimental to your day.”
Gragson heads to Dover in the final race of the Round of 12 in the seventh position, +26 above the cut line.
