If Ryan Sieg hadn’t lost the race today by 0.002 seconds, then Justin Allgaier would be the driver with the worst bad beat today. The NASCAR Xfinity Series driver swept the stages, but ultimately fell short in the end.
Instead of a perfect day in Ft. Worth, Justin Allgaier goes home with perhaps the worst P3 finish of his career. It isn’t as bad as losing by inches at the line, but that No. 7 team has had two heartbreaks this season already.
This isn’t as bad as spinning by himself at Phoenix while leading. However, that caution that was triggered by Leland Honeyman Jr. will haunt him for a bit.
“Yeah, unfortunately, it was the big turning point with the whole thing, I don’t know if we would have held the 98 off,” Allgaier said to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “Came off of pit road and had a huge moment right in front of us. Then got side-by-side and at that point, it’s hard. Obviously, I know he’s coming off of pit road but at that point, you’re the leader and you’re trying to just navigate the waters the best you can. And when we got the big run off of four I thought we were going to be okay and I drove it in there to make sure I was clear and he drove it in as deep or deeper than I did. At that point, you’re just hanging on.
“These cars side by side is so difficult. I don’t think we ever made contact, I don’t know if the video showed we made contact or not. … I don’t know, I’ll go back and watch it and if I need to reach out this week I’ll reach out this week.”
Justin Allgaier: ‘Emotions are down’
Of course, Allgaier isn’t going to be happy. He had another win in his hands and it was taken from him once again at the end of the race. This team had trouble getting going last season as well. Things didn’t start to click until the second half of the year.
So, maybe the team can figure it out this season. There is still time. For now, this is going to be a hit to morale.
“Obviously, emotions are down, I’m frustrated with how the day ended,” Allgaier continued. “It all started, the restart where we pitted and the 48 was on no tires and the 21 and the 9 were on two I think at that point. The 9 just didn’t get going in front of us and it really jammed up that top lane. I got up and got out of the groove and from there I just never felt like I got the tires back. Once I got way up high, even those last couple of restarts, I mean I’ve been fighting a tight condition kind of all day and I was anything but tight that whole last run. I don’t know, we’ll go back and lick our wounds and try to figure it out.
“I’m super frustrated with myself. Team did a phenomenal job all day. They were lights out on pit road, the pit crew was amazing. Jim made a great call on pit road and our pit strategy and brought me an unbelievable race car. I’m going to put this one on myself and walk out of Texas really angry at myself and come back here next year and hopefully have a little bit better finish.”
A tough day for Justin Allgaier. This season has not gone to his liking.
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