Justin Allgaier clinches Championship 4 return after Talladega top five

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Justin Allgaier awaited the official word on pit road Saturday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway, even though he was already beaming with a relatively unscathed top-five result. The bigger-picture good news came moments later with NASCAR's confirmation: He'd earned enough points to clinch a spot in the final-four field in the Xfinity Series' Nov. 1 season finale at Phoenix Raceway, where the 39-year-old veteran will defend his championship. The words of congratulations came from all corners, with JR Motorsports team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. embracing his senior driver, to the No. 7 Chevrolet's crew sharing in the modest celebration. The last note came from soon departing crew chief Jim Pohlman, who clasped hands with Allgaier and reminded him how easily he'll breathe, carrying playoff immunity into next Saturday's Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway. It's an overwhelming luxury at this point in the season, so Pohlman didn't have to coax Allgaier too hard into making plans to savor Martinsville's best-known delicacy next weekend. "I don't even eat hot dogs, and I'd probably eat a hot dog next week at Martinsville, just because well ... it doesn't really matter," Allgaier said. "We can go there and have fun." Allgaier surged to a third-place finish in Saturday's United Rentals 250, rallying after a late fuel stop to secure his third straight top-10 result. JRM teammate Carson Kvapil made a similar comeback after also refueling before the two-lap overtime dash, finishing second and reviving his postseason hopes, turning a 22-point deficit into an 11-point advantage above the provisional elimination line.

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The overall outcome left three JR Motorsports drivers on the plus side of the Xfinity Series Playoffs bubble, with rookie teammate Connor Zilisch also riding an insurmountable points edge into the Championship 4 grid. The fourth JRM pilot, Sammy Smith, has a chance to make it a clean final-four sweep for the organization after he finished ninth Saturday, leaving him an 11-point gap to close in Martinsville. Kvapil came closest to clinching with a victory, driving from eighth to second with a head of steam on the final lap. Finishes of ninth and third at the stage breaks helped him offset his points situation, and though a pre-overtime pit stop for gas set him back in the running order, he wound up just 0.105 seconds behind race winner Austin Hill at the checkered flag. "I'm mixed, right?" Kvapil said. "I mean, I feel like we did our job, and we did what we planned on doing coming into the weekend. We wanted to get stage points and put ourselves in position to try to win the race at the end, but also just trying to have a good finish and trying to stack the points, and I feel like we kind of did our job there." Richard Childress Racing's Jesse Love is foremost among those keeping JRM from locking all four drivers in. Love started from the pole position and contended all race until the end, when he made the first move to step out of line with two laps remaining in regulation. His pit stop for fuel during the ensuing caution took him out of third place in the order, and he rallied to claim 10th. He leaves Talladega with a 40-point margin over the elimination barrier, a cushion he's not sure will be a safety net for Martinsville. "Yes and no," Love said. "If we get 15 stage points, then yes. If we don't, I mean ... I didn't touch a soul there last year, ran a really clean race and then got wrecked. So I don't know. I'm going to tell my guys to make sure that freaking whatever's around the radiator is as strong as it can possibly be, because it's so easy to get even just run in the back up there and pushing the guy in front of you on a restart stack-up, and the second that radiator goes, you're done. So definitely have to be mindful of that and play it safe next week, start focusing on Phoenix without getting too far ahead of ourselves, but Martinsville is just always gonna be Martinsville." MORE: Schedule, TV info: Talladega Faced with the same prospect of running out of gas when the race lurched into overtime and an eventual six extra laps, Allgaier and Co. make what seemed like an unsavory choice to give up track position and fill up. Pohlman was almost apologetic on the radio after making the call, much as he was three weeks ago in Kansas after a victory bid on an alternative pit strategy didn't pan out. He promised to play it straight and deliver at Phoenix, but Allgaier absolved him, saying their chance to win Talladega was still up for grabs. That chance nearly came to pass. "I'm just so proud of what we've been able to accomplish," Allgaier said. "You know, we did what we had to do today, and it wasn't pretty. Jim was really down on himself for making that call at the end there to pit. But look, if we run out of gas and we don't finish, we're not locked in. That's our own fault. I thought we did a really good job of managing the race today, we did good in the stages and we got our JR Motorsports Chevrolet teammates up way farther (in the standings) -- one in and one just outside." It's the second time in this playoff march that Allgaier has clinched advancement with one race remaining in the round. He was also locked in before the Round of 12's final at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, and now has the privilege again of competing without fretting about playoff implications in what promises to be a bare-knuckle Martinsville event. The Talladega outcome also allows him extra time to get ready for the season's ultimate test at Phoenix and the opportunity to become a two-time champion. Until then, he'll spend that extra time soaking in the scene -- and the chili and slaw -- at Martinsville. "Charlotte Motor Speedway was probably one of the most fun races I've ever had my entire life, because I knew we were locked in and I was able to go there and really just enjoy the experience, right?" Allgaier said. "You know, these races are so cool, but when you pack all the pressure of the playoffs and you pack on winning races and doing all these things, they become stressful. They become anonymous. And when you can go to the race track and know that, 'hey, I've still got a shot at winning the race, but I can go there, I don't have to worry about points, I don't have to worry about anything else, I can just go have fun,' it almost makes you a little bit more dangerous because you can play the strategy game, you can do things differently than you would any other time. I'm not worried as much about how good our car is for Martinsville. So I can go worry about Phoenix and prep myself for Phoenix and do a better job there for for my team. "So there's a lot of positives to it, but I'm definitely gonna eat a hot dog. I haven't had a hot dog in probably 25 years, 30 years, so that's saying a lot, too."