Allgaier takes pole in Charlotte

Justin Allgaier has won pole for the Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the #7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.

“It’s a big momentum boost for everybody that works on these race cars,” said Allgaier. “It’s for all the men and women at JR Motorsports, for Chevrolet, for the Hendrick engine shop.

“We feel like that you need little wins to make sure that the effort is paying off, and I feel like that’s what today was all about.”

Allgaier, also known as ‘Little Gator’, accomplished this feat by turning in a single lap in 29.806s at 181.172mph (291.568km/h). He was only the second driver to turn in a lap under 30.00s, and he was the first to surpass Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs (29.962s).

Joe Gibbs Racing’s John Hunter Nemechek was the last to go out on the track in qualifying. The points leader passed Gibbs with a lap at 29.959s, and he secured a spot on the front row next to Allgaier.

The qualifying effort doesn’t count in the point standings, but it was significant for JR Motorsports. The four-car team has gone winless in the first 11 races, which was a major change from 2022 when it celebrated 15 times in Victory Lane.

“Nobody wants to go this far into the season and have a goose egg,” said Allgaier. “But I also feel like it’s not been for lack of effort. We’ve been there.

“We’re one caution away or one pit stop away or just things not working in our favour. I’m not sad about our season by any stretch, but I definitely would like to have had a win by now.”

The Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway marks the eighth time in Allgaier’s career that he will start from pole. The 36-year-old last did so at Pocono Raceway in 2022 before finishing seventh in the race.

Interestingly, none of Allgaier’s 19 Xfinity Series wins have been in races in which he started from pole. This includes a race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2017 when he finished 12th overall.

Allgaier’s best qualifying effort that led to a win was in 2018 when he started second overall at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and led 41 of the 100 laps.

The Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway will take place on Saturday, May 27. FS1 will provide coverage for the event, weather permitting, at 12:00 local/ET.

Sign up here to receive our daily newsletters and breaking news alerts, sent straight to your inbox.