After the Kansas Lottery 300, NASCAR rolled out the Food City 200 in a 160-lap race between 38 contenders. With Dale Earnhardt Jr. coming back behind the wheel of a stock car for the first time since retiring back in 2017 and three of his drivers getting entangled in a Stage 2 wreck, Friday night’s Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway was quite eventful for JR Motorsports.

Nevertheless, the night ended on a good note for Justin Allgaier. The #7 Chevy star gained a spot in the second round of the Xfinity playoffs after he won his second career victory at the half-mile oval. However, during the post-race presser, he revealed the underlying conditions that would probably unfold after his teammates wrecked each other.

Justin Allgaier reveals the worst feeling in the world as a driver

When 40 cars run at top speed with the sole motive of snatching the checkered flag, it becomes difficult to spare an inch, even for one’s teammate. And, when two teammates hit each other, collecting another one in the aftermath, it leaves everyone wondering whose fault it was and who suffered the aftereffect.

With merely 4 laps to go, Justin Allgaier led the race. As Allgaier maintained his stronghold of the lead over a whopping 110 laps, JR Motorsports speedster Josh Berry washed up the track into his teammate Sam Mayer’s number 1 Chevrolet, who spun around, catching Brandon Jones in the commotion. It’s one thing to wreck a rival, but it’s another to wreck a teammate. A reporter asked Justin Allgaier how the three Xfinity drivers would settle things between them behind the garage of Dale Junior’s Xfinity team.

Allgaier admitted that when four teammates chase the win, it becomes crucial for them to ensure that they refrain from playing dirty. He said, “That is a hard build to kind of make sure that you do the right things. We all want to win out there. There is no order in our shop.”

The biggest driving force for Junior Motorsports is its teamwork. Here, people look forward to the success of the whole building. Despite circumstances ruining the night for Berry, Mayer, and Jones, Allgaier explained that it could have happened between him and Brandon as well.

Allgaier admitted to having gotten on the splitter and right into the side of Brandon on a restart. Immediately he apologized on the radio, saying that he did not mean to do that. Allgaier said, “As a driver, that’s the worst feeling in the world… if it wrecks him (Brandon) in that moment, that doesn’t fix his day, right?”

Luckily, the team spirit at JR Motorsports dominates all hard feelings. Allgaier told the media, “What I love about our shop and our race team is the cohesiveness that we have between the crew chief and the drivers, just the effort that we have put into being a tighter group this year.”

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“I can promise you by the time we get to the next race, it’ll be done and over with…,” he added with confidence. While Allgaier advanced to the round of 8s, his boss hated the way the race turned out for him.

Dale Earnhardt Jr watched his comeback race burn down to ashes in the infield care center

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Even at 48, Dale Earnhardt Jr led 47 laps of the race and posed a serious threat to all the young drivers in the lineup. However, his winning contention came to an end with just 29 laps to go as he smelled fire in the hood of his car. Moments after the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr told Kim Coon, “I’ve got a hole in my pants. Somehow along the tunnel, I caught on fire. I saw some smoke in the car and I smelled it, and I was like, hopefully that’s not me.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr seems to have a bitter relationship with fire. The NASCAR Hall of Famer had once experienced one such fire in a car crash and had also escaped a fiery plane crash in Tennessee back in 2019. Junior said, “I felt it obviously; my uniform was burning up, and I was like, I can’t keep going; I gotta stop.”

Read more: NASCAR Hints at Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s “Surprise” Entry Amid Top-10 Glory

With his experience driving at NASCAR’s top-tier races, Dale Earnhardt Jr knew how the fire gets bigger after the car comes to a halt. But fortunately, the guys at the pit road were prompt to help him get out of danger. But Junior regretted losing his chance of making a victorious comeback to an unforeseen event.

“I hate it,” he said, “Maybe we were gonna finish in top 10, top 5…we had a shot at winning it if the car was going to run good at the end. Trying not to mess nobody’s night up at the same time so it was hard.”