What started as a fairytale weekend for Justin Allgaier just ran into its first roadblock. The JR Motorsports Xfinity Series star led his team to clinch a Daytona 500 seat for its Cup Series debut. The celebrations did not cease there as Mother Nature handed Allgaier a pole victory for the United Rentals 300. However, things turned haywire on Saturday.

Connor Zilisch has officially his full-time Xfinity Series season under JRM’s banner. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s young prodigy carried a weight of expectations after his debut victory at Watkins Glen last season. However, Dale Jr.’s other Xfinity star muddled things up – and admitted to his mistake.

Justin Allgaier feels guilty after blunder

The 2024 Xfinity Series champion had all eyes on him for the Daytona weekend. He brought a huge smile to two-time Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. Justin Allgaier started the Xfinity race from the pole – but he lost the lead within the first 20 laps. As Austin Hill put up a dominant run, winning both stages, Allgaier ran in the background. His lost pace was hardly the only thing to go wrong, as chaos hit the No. 7 Chevrolet towards the end of the race. With eight laps to go, a multi-car melee unfolded into Turn 4.

Justin Allgaier‘s car hit that of Justin Bonsignore and the ensuing crash hit Anthony Alfredo and Sammy Smith as well. However, that was not the end of it. Allgaier was trying to push his teammate Connor Zilisch, who got sandwiched between him and Sheldon Creed and ended up banging the wall. In a post-race interview, Allgaier felt guilty. “Causing that last wreck was not how I wanted our night to end. The outside row we were in kind of stacked up. I don’t know, I ran in the back of Jim, tried to keep from crashing him. I hedged the middle, and I think the 32 was maybe running there with a big run – it was too late. I should have pulled a little left earlier, but at the end of the day, it was a frustrating night.”

The last stack-up muddled up not only Connor Zilisch’s hopes but also those of Christian Eckes and William Sawalich. Being the potential cause for so many wrecked cars, Justin Allgaier came clean in three words: “I’ll own it.” He proceeded to further bash himself for the melee. “On the mistake, I feel bad for everybody, I got a car torn up in the end. Somebody’s been in the sport for a long time and worked on a lot of race cars. The last thing you wanna do is tear up all the equipment especially coming to the whites.” Allgaier also shaved off any blame from his team: “The car…you know, the team did a great job…I slid the tires on the green flag pit stop and put myself in a bad spot and had to come from the back all night.”

Evidently, Justin Allgaier is trying not to jinx his chances for Sunday. Yet one concerning thing popped up in this midst – he felt different about the track on Saturday.

Is another problem coming up soon?

The Daytona International Speedway has been NASCAR’s hallowed grounds for the last 65 years. However, the track underwent certain renovations recently. In early 2024, the racetrack was revamped into a modern sports facility with an expanded capacity for the grandstands. Then last year, parts of the iconic Turn 4 tunnels and sections of the grass banking were eroded due to Hurricane Milton. Repairs ensued accordingly. Justin Allgaier owns eight top-five finishes at the racetrack. But even Allgaier did not entirely assign the multiple wrecks at Daytona to his own antics.

He pointed out that the superspeedway felt a little different. Justin Allgaier admitted in the post-race interview: “Some of the runs were weird tonight because the middle generated more runs. The outside and the inside were kind of stalled out. It was hard to understand how the closing right was going to react when you’re in the middle or blocking the middle. I flipped back on it and I wish I would have stayed higher.” Yet ultimately he wheeled the blame around to point at himself. “I would have turned out a little earlier…But you don’t really know what to expect. The pushed were getting crazy. I think its just circumstances for me. I should have hedged to the right, and I went to the left.”

At the end of the day, the No. 7 JRM team will be busy preparing for their iconic debut tomorrow. Justin Allgaier will hopefully learn from his mistakes and put up a better performance.