Justin Allgaier savors JRM return, enters O’Reilly Series finale ‘on house money’ in title fight

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Justin Allgaier is here at Homestead-Miami Speedway, loose, upbeat and in the driver's seat for the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship race. Based on an announcement that he made with his JR Motorsports team earlier this week, he'll also be back in the driver's seat of his No. 7 Chevrolet for 2027 and more. At 40, Allgaier has been making the most of the twilight of his NASCAR career, showing that veterans can still get it done on a circuit once heavily marketed as a maker of new, young names. He leads the series in wins (six), top fives (19) and potentially more importantly in points, holding a plus-22 margin over defending champion Jesse Love as he bids for his second O'Reilly Series title in Saturday's season finale (5 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). RELATED: Weekend schedule | At-track photos: Homestead The series schedule has reached a climax with a captivating five-man race for the crown, and the Illinois native has a chance to cap one of his most prolific seasons by adding another milestone to his storied resume. Allgaier's career, though, seemed potentially headed for its endpoint before Monday's late-season confirmation that he'd return. "I don't think that the general public will know how close I was to really walking away," Allgaier said Thursday morning as he made the rounds on Championship Media Day. "We bought a house in Illinois. We were making after-racing career plans. I mean, I was 100% sure that this was it, this was going to be the end of my career. Obviously, there's a lot of things at play. There's a lot of things that are going on outside the race track for me, nothing that we can't overcome. Look, everybody has something they're struggling with right now and going through, and so for us, it's been pretty hectic outside of the race track, and that probably weighed pretty heavily on me to make this decision, and I really just relied on the people that are around me -- my wife, my dad, sitting down and having a conversation with my oldest, Harper, at 13. That's a unique conversation to have of what that looks like, but honestly, just a lot of prayer and figuring out what that future looked like for me. "Even though I was sure, there were too many things around me that just kept pointing to sticking around and being here for a little bit longer, and obviously the fans were a big part of that." Before the next late-in-the-book chapter of his career begins next season, Allgaier has the opportunity to make more history as he rounds out his 11th year with JR Motorsports, and in the tightest battle of the tripleheader championship weekend. Behind Love (22 points back) sit Hendrick Motorsports' Corey Day (minus-23), JRM teammate Carson Kvapil (minus-31) and Haas Factory Team's Sheldon Creed (minus-42). Though Allgaier holds a lead, he joked about seeing Cup Series championship leader Kyle Larson walk by during the Media Day rotations that he'd happily trade places with him, noting his 67-point cushion. Advantage or not, Allgaier's approach for Homestead remains all-out. "I mean, look, we have one goal: Come into the weekend and do the same thing we've been doing all year, right?" Allgaier said. "Try to lead laps, try to win stages, try to win the race. I'm probably the freest, loosest, confident enough that I've been all year, and honestly, probably at any point in my career going into a final race. There's just been something different this year for me. And maybe it was because I was walking away, so I looked at different ways to value the sport that maybe I hadn't looked at, but I have more confidence in my race team than I can describe." Two of Allgaier's fellow competitors have connected with him in different ways recently. Love's title defense took a sour turn in an error-filled performance last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, where the series lead changed hands with a 41-point Allgaier gain. Post-race, Allgaier walked over to Love's No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to offer a sympathetic pat on his shoulder, just to say he hated to see his misfortune. MORE: Title-clinching scenarios Love noted that he's developed a grateful recognition of how much Allgaier has pushed him, not necessarily in an adversarial way but as a fellow driver who sets the competition bar high. "I don't know if he feels the same way I feel about him in that sense of, I feel like Justin has motivated me a lot over the last couple years," says Love, a two-time winner this season who will move up to the Cup Series with Wood Brothers Racing next year. "He's been my enemy in a lot of different ways, and in turn, that's made me appreciate him even more. The more personal sometimes you can make something or the more of an enemy you can create, sometimes it can do a lot of good for an athlete. So I've had the amazing pleasure of racing against somebody I consider to be great at what he does. "I think we both want to, when it's all said and done -- whether I win it, he wins it, whatever the future looks like -- I think we both want to look at it and say if you were in my shoes, I beat Justin at his best and he had everything go right and we still prevailed and we still won, still beat him. That's what we want. That's the competition that we look for and the feeling that we want to receive." For Kvapil, his relationship with Allgaier has been a positive in what's been a breakout sophomore season on the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series circuit. Allgaier has had the benefit of being a mentor to several young drivers who have progressed to the Cup Series, and he mentioned that aspect as a motivator for making his return to JRM. "Yeah, he's an asset to everybody," said Kvapil, who grabbed his first three O'Reilly victories this year. "Just like anything, we go talk to him after practice and get his mood on things and what he thinks of the track or what he thinks of a rule change or whatever it may be. But really from a team standpoint, too, it's the guy that -- his experience is just so deep that he knows right away what's going to work, what's not going to work and all that. Having him as a teammate is good, and I'm excited for him to come back for a couple years. He's fast. He's probably the driver in the field that makes the best moves all the time, I guess you could say. There's times where you're like, 'man, how did he just pass me?' It's crazy. Just goes back to all the experience he has, and he's in a fast car, too. You match that all up, and there's a lot of success there." It's been a bit of star-crossed Chase for Allgaier, who has overcome a shaky start to the nine-race postseason to enter Homestead with a positive streak of four consecutive top-five finishes. Win or lose, Allgaier says he's satisfied with this season's achievements, with the potential for more to come in the years ahead. "Honestly, I'm beyond proud of what we've accomplished at this point," Allgaier said. "I'm on house money, and we're having fun. I mean, it's gonna be a great weekend. I've got my my family here. I've got a bunch of friends here. If I don't win the championship, it's still gonna be a success, right? If we finish fifth in points, I'll still walk out of here with my head held super-high with the year that we've had, the wins that we've had, the results that we put up, and the strength of this race team. I'll still be super-happy. I mean, look, we shouldn't even be in this conversation right now with the way our Chase is going. We've had more stuff that has happened to the 7 car out of our control than we've ever had, and some of it is in our control that we've just screwed up royally, and we're still the point leader, and we've still got a shot at it. No complaints on my end."