Justin Allagier’s No. 7 JRM Chevy was one of the serious contenders to win the Xfinity Series race at Pocono. Having bagged the stage 1 win, Allgaier looked to be in command and a mile ahead of the competition on the track. Perhaps his self-proclaimed tag of NASCAR’s ‘Lucky Dog’ was working its charm. “The Lucky Dog of NASCAR? I’m gonna say myself because I’m still here,” as he said in a pre-race exclusive interaction with EssentiallySports at Pocono Raceway.

However, that honeymoon period for the JRM driver ended sooner than he must have imagined, after he got hit with equipment interference during the first round of the pit stops. While he did find a way back to running up the field, it was a gamble that almost paid off. After being sent back to the field and being penalized by NASCAR, the likes of Cole Custer and William Byron stepped up their game, keeping Allgaier behind.

Frustrated with the ordeal and how the race turned out, Allgaier, in a post-race interaction with Jordan Jenkins for EssentiallySports, stated how he tried to make the most of the strategy call that was engineered by his crew chief, Jim Pohlman.

Fuel strategy failed against the challenge of fresh tires for Allgaier at Pocono

Having made his way back to the top 10 after the end of the second stage, Allgaier was asked to make his way to the pit road by his crew chief. With 42 laps to go in the race, crew chief Jim Pohlman wanted to roll the dice to see if his driver could take the field by surprise strategy call. They were hoping to see out the rest of the race with the bare minimum fuel in the No. 7 Chevy.

“We kind of knew where we were at, and we started saving as soon as we came off pit road there on the last pit stop. Jim was giving me the numbers. And the hope was that it was going to go green, and we’d be fine on fuel.” Justin Allgaier told Jordan Jenkins for EssentiallySports.

Although it looked like their gamble paid off initially, a caution with 23 laps to go shifted the balance of power. Now Allgaier had to contend with Cole Custer and William Byron, who were on fresh sets of slick tires. Now, he was clearly at a deficit with a tire disadvantage, but the No. 00 of Custer added to his troubles.

“When the caution came out, it was really tricky. It’s so hard to put yourself behind these guys… But unfortunately, when you’re out on the older tires and you’re trying to keep those guys behind you, it’s just like sitting ducks, and that was most frustrating about today’s race,” Allgaier further added with disappointment.

The #00 was a rocket ship during the business end of the race and made a pass for the lead with 9 laps to go. However, a caution flag late in the race after SVG got turned provided an opportunity for him to get back at Custer. But he was just too quick to catch up, and even a good old bump by Byron couldn’t help Allgaier get the launch he was looking for on the restarts.

Cole Custer finally clinches his first victory of the 2024 Xfinity Series season

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The defending Xfinity Series champion had a lot of missed opportunities and chances earlier this season to grab a win. Despite being shy of that winning result, he made sure he ran consistently. Therefore, before heading into today’s race, he was already leading the points standings. All he needed was one result to put him back in the spotlight and contention for the title.

Finally, after seven top-five finishes, he brought the No. 00 SHR Ford into the victory lane, repeating his success from June 2019 on the Tricky Triangle. “You just try to manage it best you can, but it’s kind of the luck of the draw who gets the best push. That was some Doug Yates horsepower right there. We definitely had it on the straightaways, and man, I just can’t say enough about these guys. They’ve worked so hard this whole year and just haven’t had that final result. To finally get it, it is so awesome.” He said in the post-race interview.

Perhaps Justin Allgaier’s ‘Lucky Dog on Track’ charm exchanged hats with Cole Custer on the track. And this time around, Custer made sure he crossed the finish line.