Race Report: Kentucky

Justin Allgaier and the FilterTime team earned a seventh-place finish in Friday night’s Alsco 300 at Kentucky Speedway, claiming their ninth top-10 effort of the season. With 17 races complete, Allgaier currently sits fifth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings, just 147 markers outside the lead.

Allgaier rolled off the grid fourth for the 200-lap race and moved up to the third position before the first caution of the night came out on lap 5. Under the yellow, he radioed that the FilterTime Camaro was pretty good balance-wise. He restarted third, but the car ahead of him got a slow start and Allgaier lost a few positions. By lap 37, Allgaier had moved back to the third spot and remained there until the green-and-white checkered flag waved to end Stage One on lap 45.

During the stage-ending caution, crew chief Jason Burdett called Allgaier to pit road for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment. A mishap during the stop caused the team to lose spots on pit road and Allgaier lined up 12^th for Stage Two on lap 51. He made quick work of the field, moving into the sixth position before a yellow flag waved on lap 69. Allgaier restarted in sixth on lap 72 and gained one spot to finish Stage Two in fifth on lap 90.

Allgaier came to pit road for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment. A fast stop allowed the JR Motorsports driver to line up for the final stage in the fourth spot on lap 96. Allgaier continued to battle for position inside the top five once the stage got underway, settling solidly into the third position on lap 121. Allgaier was in that same spot when scheduled green-flag pit stops began for the field near lap 150. The Illinois native came to pit road for four tires and fuel, and upon exiting pit road, spotter Eddie D’Hondt gave the team the news that they had to serve a pass-through penalty for speeding.

Allgaier came down pit road to serve the penalty and got back out on track one lap down. Running in the 12^th position on lap 154, Allgaier continued to track down the cars ahead of him who were also a lap down. He rejoined the top 10 on lap 160 and picked off a few more spots in the closing laps to take the checkered flag in the seventh position.

Cole Custer won the race and was followed by Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick, with JRM driver Michael Annett and Chase Briscoe rounding out the top five.

Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 FilterTime team

“I thought we were a third or fourth-place car tonight. Unfortunately we just had some mistakes on pit road and I sped getting onto pit road, which really hurt us. Our Filtertime Camaro was good. That’s the best mile-and-a-half that I feel like we’ve had so far speed-wise all year. We’ll keep plugging along. It wasn’t the night we wanted, but still a solid finish and a good points night.”