Justin Allgaier joked in 2022 that he was the grandpa of the JR Motorsports roster. Yet three years later, he's still in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship mix.
Videos by FanBuzz
He may have more gray hair now that he is the ripe, old age of 39, but he's still going out and beating "the young pups" while adding to his legacy in the sport.
"I'm still having fun," Allgaier told FanBuzz at Martinsville Speedway. "I'm still enjoying life and look forward to getting to the race track every week. And you know, I would say that in my younger years, I didn't know how I'd feel at this age, if I was still going to be here, if I even had the opportunity.
"And so younger me is looking back and smiling and saying, 'Hey, we're still competitive and still able to go do it.' That makes life good."
Some things have certainly changed since Allgaier joked about being a grandpa and how his teammates were not alive when "Days of Thunder" landed in movie theaters.
When he made these comments at Darlington Raceway, he was the elder statesman at JR Motorsports. He had a 19-year-old Sam Mayer, a 23-year-old Noah Gragson, and a 31-year-old Josh Berry as his teammates.
Hours after joking about not knowing what The Griddy is, he went out, led 76 laps, and won his first race of the 2022 season. Gragson finished second, Mayer finished fifth, and Berry finished 18th.
"Grandpa" took care of business and put the rest of the shop on notice. He showed that it was not yet time for him to head to the NASCAR retirement home.
"Every once in a while, you have moments like today where it feels really good whether you're young or old," Allgaier told this author after the Darlington win. "But I feel like I can tell them boys that the old guy got one in on them, so it it might make Monday morning meeting a little bit more fun, I'm not gonna lie."
Allgaier has delivered even more success since this win in 2022. He has won 11 more races and reached the Championship 4 four times. Last season, he won the first Xfinity Series title of his career after going to a backup car and starting at the rear of the field.
JUSTIN ALLGAIER IS AN XFINITY SERIES CHAMPION! 🏆
One of the craziest weekends you'll ever see for one driver:
- A crash is practice
- Forced to start in a backup at the rear of the field
- Restart Violation
- Speeding penalty serving the previous penalty
- Gets a caution… pic.twitter.com/EUVhvBx58l— NASCAR on TSN (@NASCARonTSN) November 10, 2024
His former teammates have moved on to other rides. Gragson drives for Front Row Motorsports in the Cup Series. Berry drives for Wood Brothers Racing in the Cup Series. Mayer drives for Haas Factory Team in the Xfinity Series.
Allgaier has a new trio of young drivers as teammates — Sammy Smith, Connor Zilisch, and Carson Kvapil. This weekend, he will compete against both Zilisch —the series wins leader — and Kvapil while trying to win back-to-back championships. Smith missed the cut last weekend at Martinsville.
"These young guys are definitely cutting into that territory," Allgaier said at Martinsville (laughs). "I mean, Connor's made it miserable this year as far as (winning) goes. But I do think, like, it's funny for me. I look at winning the championship last year — and I've given myself plenty of gray hairs to get to this point —but I just feel like my mentality of where I stand and how I value the sport and kind of just the opportunity, right?
"The wins are amazing. Championships are amazing, right? All these things, all the cool stuff that we get to do with the sport is awesome. But when I step back and look at it from kind of the 10,000-foot view — I maybe had like a 2,000-foot view before, right — and I never realized how short-sighted some of it was. To be able to step back and look at it from this 10,000-foot view, I'm really proud of kind of what we've accomplished.
"And we joked when Connor won (JR Motorsports' 100th) at Indy, we laughed because in 2020, I won 50 at Richmond, right? So from the time of inception of JR Motorsports to 2020 was 50 wins, right? We well surpassed that 50 just from 2020 in the last five years. That's incredible."
The JR Motorsports lineup will change once again after this weekend's trip to Phoenix Raceway. Zilisch will move to the Cup Series while continuing to make periodic starts for JR Motorsports. Kvapil will move to a part-time lineup while Rajah Caruth joins the fold on a part-time schedule. Smith will continue to race full-time.
Grandpa Allgaier will continue to have youngsters surrounding him, but he has no plans on slowing down. His goal will continue to be winning races and contending for yet another championship. First off, however, he will head to one of his best tracks and try to win his second consecutive title.
Maybe it's not yet time to make a reservation for the Early Bird Special at the local restaurant.
