Race Report: Fontana

JR Motorsports Race Report

March 16th, 2019
Race 5 of 33: Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club speedway
Track Specs: 2-mile D-shaped/ 150 laps
Weather: Sunny; 76 degrees
Race Winner: Cole Custer
Allgaier's Finish: 9th

Justin Allgaier and the BRANDT Professional Agriculture team earned their third top-10 finish of the season on Saturday, placing ninth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Auto Club Speedway. The effort moved Allgaier up to seventh in the NXS point standings.

Rolling off the grid from the eighth spot for the 300-mile race, Allgaier advanced his position to fifth by lap 4. He radioed to the team early in the run that the BRANDT Chevy was loose on corner exit in Turns 1 and 2 and pretty good in Turns 3 and 4. Still he continued his forward momentum, moving into the fourth position on lap 14 and remaining there until the green-and-white checkered flag waved to end Stage One on lap 35. Under the stage-ending caution, crew chief Jason Burdett called Allgaier to pit road for four tires, fuel and adjustments to try to help the loose condition on exit.

Starting Stage Two in fourth, Allgaier worked his way forward to third within the first few laps. Giving the team some feedback, he reported that the adjustments helped the BRANDT Camaro on exit, but hurt the center. He maintained his position on the track, fighting through the tight-handling condition that developed in the center of the turns. When the caution came out to end Stage Two on lap 70, Allgaier was still in third. He brought the No. 7 Chevy to pit road for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment.

Taking the green flag for the final stage in third, he was running in the same spot when the yellow flag waved on lap 84 for an incident on the frontstretch. The team called him to pit road for fresh tires, fuel and an adjustment. Allgaier restarted in sixth and worked his way up to fourth. He battled for the position with Christopher Bell and Austin Cindric but was ultimately able to hold them off. The Illinois native then made the pass on Tyler Reddick to take over the third position on lap 107.

On lap 111, the yellow flag waved once again for a spin by the No. 22 of Cindric. Under the caution, Allgaier relayed to the team that he was still tight center and free on exit. The team took the opportunity to make a pit stop for tires, fuel and another adjustment. He restarted in fourth and advanced one position before another caution came out on lap 124. Opting to come to pit road, the team gave Allgaier four fresh tires and fuel.

The 32-year-old driver restarted in fourth and continued to race inside the top five, however the tight-handling condition worsened and Allgaier ultimately took the checkered flag in the ninth position. Cole Custer won the race and was followed by Kyle Busch and Bell, with Reddick and Chase Briscoe rounding out the top five.

Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture team

“Yesterday in practice the balance on our BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevy was really good and I thought that Turns 1 and 2 were going to be our strength today but that wasn’t the case. I’m not sure if it was the different temperatures or what. I thought we had a great shot today but it just didn’t work out for us towards the end there. I’m really disappointed that we finished ninth. We didn’t run that far back all day. I still love this racetrack, but this West Coast swing has just been tough on us.”

No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Camaro

Start 8th
Finish 9th
Laps Completed (Led) 150 of 150
Points (Bonus) 43
Point Standings (from leader) 7th (-49)
Status Running

Share this post