Editor’s Note: This is Part II of a two-part series detailing the No. 7 JR Motorsports team in 2026. Read Part I here.
When Justin Allgaier learned The Chase was back, his eyes lit up, and that was before he began wondering how many championships he might have won over the past decade.
That thought ended quickly, however, when Allgaier and the No. 7 team started the 2026 campaign off with a scorching start, winning three of the opening seven races. By the 21st race of the season, he had already won a career-high six times.
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“I’ve probably enjoyed myself the most this year because I’m in a better place mentally than I’ve ever been,” Allgaier told NASCAR.com. “It doesn’t necessarily make it any better. There are things that I’m experiencing through some of those years that were cooler moments. But I would say the high moments this year have been more consistent.”
The No. 7 team entered the season with a sizeable change, as Andrew Overstreet took over as crew chief with Jim Pohlman moving to the Cup Series with Richard Childress Racing. Allgaier vowed to himself that this would be his final season, always having the goal of departing NASCAR at 40 years old. He even purchased a home in his native Illinois.
Allgaier’s parents, Mike and Dorothy, don’t attend as many races as they used to. Eventually, the 2024 series champion will take over the family business – D&M Speed Shop. But those plans have been put on hold as he’s amid the best season of his career and JR Motorsports wants him back. Nothing has been signed, though.
“When JRM asked if I wanted to say and continue doing this, I would say what’s weird about it is, my reason for telling them I would consider it is the people around me,” Allgaier added. “When it came out that I was potentially going to retire, which wasn’t potential to me in my mind, it was pretty made up. There are so many people in my inner circle, but also my outer circle, like fans, folks from our partners that we have on race cars. A lot of people that wanted me to stay and continue doing it. That’s probably more so what I’m doing this for.
“I’ve accomplished everything that I could have ever imagined in this sport. I don’t ever want to get stale and show up just to show up. This isn’t about money. For me, it’s about making the most for the people that are around me and relying on that circle.”
With that uncertainty out of the way, Allgaier is focused on the task at hand. He enters The Chase with a 25-point buffer over JRM teammate Carson Kvapil, who has won two of the last three O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races.
But Allgaier is the favorite for the championship, banking wins at seven of the nine tracks in The Chase. Of the seven venues in the nine-race stretch that the series has already competed at this year, the No. 7 team won three of them. He locked up the No. 1 seed for The Chase with three races remaining in the regular season and ended the opening 24 events 229 markers clear of second.
“There’s not a race track in The Chase that doesn’t fit our wheelhouse,” Allgaier stated. “There’s not a track that I don’t think we can’t go dominate at. I know that sounds a little bit egotistical, but I feel like with the cars, the team that we have this year, I have not shown up to a track this year other than the road courses that I haven’t felt like we could go out and be the dominant car.”
Under the previous playoff format, Allgaier saw several opportunities at a championship slip away. But with the title now determined by points accumulated over nine races, his years of experience could give him an advantage.
“In most cases, he’s the guy that’s going to get the points and be smart about how he runs his races and maximizes his days. This series doesn’t have a ton of veterans that are like that,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said in June after Allgaier was victorious at Pocono Raceway. “There are some young kids that are fast, crazy good, very talented, going to be successful and win tons of races. But I think Justin has an advantage because he’s got one in the bank.
“When you have a championship in your pocket, it makes you more dangerous. You are more settled, a little calmer, a little less irrational on the race track with restarts and things like that. I like where he is with his career and all his accomplishments and success that he’s had.”
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Not a single one of the nine races scare Allgaier. He’s had a mixed relationship with superspeedway racing, but the JRM cars have been elite in the draft this season, with the No. 7 Chevrolet earning three finishes of sixth or better, including a win at EchoPark Speedway. He isn’t overlooking his competition, however, as there are multiple obstacles in the field.
“You could throw a dart anywhere on the board at anybody inside the top 14 right now and could be a massive threat, could win any of these races and could be a threat anywhere we go,” Allgaier noted. “There’s nobody I’m counting out. There are plenty of guys who have raw speed and they are going to go out and be successful.
“When it’s all said and done, we have to rely on what we do. I know this is going to sound odd; I’m not racing anybody else.”
There is a target on Allgaier’s back, though. With the longevity of the No. 7 team, he knows that he’s the standard of the series over the last decade. Everyone will be fighting to upset the veteran racer.
“I think with the way the regular season has gone, I think there are other teams that have used us as a benchmark,” Allgaier said. “There are plenty of guys that can get the job done. I just feel like we’ve done a better job of doing it over and over again.”