Justin Allgaier kicks off Xfinity playoffs with Bristol win

JR Motorsports has had better nights than Friday but at least one of their drivers and owner left in a good mood, even if the latter’s night literally went down in flames. All of Justin Allgaier‘s team-mates retired from Friday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff opener at Bristol Motor Speedway including his boss Dale Earnhardt Jr., while Allgaier led the final thirteen laps to begin the postseason on a strong note.

The win was his first at Bristol since 2010. To make the victory even sweeter, Allgaier announced he had signed a contract extension with JRM for 2024 following the race.

Allgaier’s #7 team played their cards to perfection. After a caution came out for Josh Bilicki‘s spin on lap 248, Allgaier was told to pit while everyone else stayed out. While a risky move as it dropped him down the order, the newer tyres and added fuel gave him the advantage that he used to the fullest to catch Daniel Hemric—who had his own 2024 announcement earlier in the day—with thirteen to go.

“This team has done an amazing job at this race track since I started at JR Motorsports,” said Allgaier. “We led a lot of laps, and the monkey was definitely on our back. The pit strategy there, coming down pit road by myself was nerve wracking, right?”

While Allgaier celebrated with Earnhardt in Victory Lane, it was a bittersweet night for the latter. All three of JRM’s other drivers Sam Mayer, Josh Berry, and Brandon Jones crashed out together coming to the end of Stage #2, which also collected Ryan Sieg. Earnhardt himself was knocked out by a fire in the cockpit on lap 271 that burned the leg on his firesuit. He will try to bounce back in his second scheduled start at Homestead in October.

“Tough night. RF went down,” explained Berry. “I’ve worked for @JRMotorsports since 2010 if anyone thinks I just went in and piled 3 of our cars in the wall for the hell of it in the playoffs because we may have banged doors then can’t help ya.”

The JRM debacle was not the only case of accidental friendly fire. Fellow Chevrolet team Richard Childress Racing saw regular season champion Austin Hill get spun out by his partner Sheldon Creed on lap 217, forcing him to retire.

While Hill is still above the cut line due to his regular season success, the JRM crash dropped Berry and Mayer below it. Parker Kligerman was already the lowest seed entering the postseason but Friday did him no favours as a mechanical issue forced him to the garage for fifty-three laps and he finished thirty-first.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	10	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	300	Running
2	5	10	Daniel Hemric^	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	300	Running
3	3	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	300	Running
4	1	00	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	300	Running
5	4	16	Chandler Smith	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	300	Running
6	7	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	300	Running
7	12	19	Trevor Bayne^	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	300	Running
8	16	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	300	Running
9	6	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	300	Running
10	31	26	Kaz Grala	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	300	Running
11	21	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	300	Running
12	18	11	Derek Kraus	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	300	Running
13	38	27	Jeb Burton	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	300	Running
14	29	24	Connor Mosack	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	300	Running
15	14	31	Parker Retzlaff	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	299	Running
16	36	25	Brett Moffitt	AM Racing	Ford	299	Running
17	25	44	Rajah Caruth*	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	298	Running
18	22	43	Ryan Ellis	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	298	Running
19	35	07	Stefan Parsons	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	298	Running
20	20	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	298	Running
21	27	28	Kyle Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	298	Running
22	28	6	Brennan Poole	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	297	Running
23	30	4	Kyle Weatherman	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	297	Running
24	9	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	297	Running
25	32	78	Anthony Alfredo	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	296	Running
26	19	38	Joe Graf Jr.	RSS Racing	Ford	295	Running
27	24	91	Josh Bilicki	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	294	Running
28	33	02	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	294	Running
29	23	08	Chad Finchum	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	276	Running
30	15	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	271	Ignition
31	13	48	Parker Kligerman	Big Macing Racing Team	Chevrolet	246	Running
32	17	45	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	229	Brakes
33	26	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	217	DVP
34	8	9	Brandon Jones	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	178	Suspension
35	11	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	166	Accident
36	2	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	166	Accident
37	37	35	B.J. McLeod	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Chevrolet	117	Power
38	34	66	Timmy Hill*	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	81	Rear Gear

Bold – Currently in playoffs
^ – Currently in owner playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points