“Oh my gosh”: Kelley Earnhardt drops her ‘crazy’ verdict on Justin Allgaier’s maiden NASCAR title

It took Justin Allgaier 471 races and 14 full seasons to bag his career-first NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. However, even after all that, the victory didn’t come easy. In a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Kelley Earnhardt, co-owner of JR Motorsports, the team Allgaier drives for, revealed why the victory in the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway last Saturday was "unbelievable.”

Allgaier’s day started from the back of the pack, as he had crashed his primary car during practice. Nevertheless, he quickly gained positions and made the top 6 within the opening 45 laps. But things were just starting to get worse.

A tire went down on Allgaier’s car, and he finished Stage 2 inside the top 10. Furthermore, he was hit with a restart violation on lap 101 and another for speeding on the pit road. As he closed in on the second half of the race, Allgaier found himself a whole lap down.

Allgaier restarted sixth, and right on the first green-white-checker, he found his way to second. On an overtime restart with just two laps to go, he passed fellow racers Austin Hill and reigning champion Cole Custer. Allgaier survived another overtime restart and took home the titular win.

“I really felt like it was meant to be. This really was our year,” Kelley Earnhardt said during the interview. “The restarts for Justin were fantabulous. Every time I would watch the restart going down into the dogleg there after the green flag, you'd see them come over in (turn) three and he would be what seemed like a disaster from the dogleg around there and then all of a sudden he would be in the top three or four and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is crazy!”

“Really unbelievable. I'm just truly happy for every single person that's been involved from day one for JR Motorsports and for Justin,” Kelley Earnhardt added. (0:55)

Allgaier finished the season as the points leader with 10 top-5s, 20 top-10s, and two wins to his credit. Needless to say, the 38-year-old Springfield native will return next year as the wheelman of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy, sponsored by BRANDT Fresh Agriculture.

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Kelley Earnhardt “thrilled” to continue partnership with BRANDT

Ahead of the Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 26, JR Motorsports announced that BRANDT Professional Agriculture had signed a multi-year contract extension with Justin Allgaier and the No. 7 team, which will allow him to compete under their banner through the 2026 season.

Per an official statement by jrmracing.com,

“As the second-longest tenured-partner for JRM at ten years, BRANDT will assume the role of primary partner for Allgaier and the No. 7 Chevrolet for 20 events during the 2025 and 2026 NXS seasons, as well as receive associate placement on the remaining races.”

Kelley Earnhardt shared the news on X (formerly known as Twitter) and wrote,

“Thrilled to continue this partnership with @J_Allgaier and @BRANDT_co !”

BRANDT joined forces with Allgaier for the first time in 2011. They funded his ride again in 2016 and since then, the family-owned company has been by Allgaier’s side. Flaunting the name of the central Illinois-based business, the speedster made the coveted Championship 4 in six of the last eight seasons.