Justin Allgaier and the No. 31 BRANDT team made their way to Thunder Valley for night racing at Bristol Motor Speedway this past Friday evening. Allgaier qualified inside the top-10, but battled a tight-handling race car much of the evening to bring home a 15th-place finish.
The No. 31 BRANDT team unloaded for a single practice on Friday morning. Allgaier used his time on the track to get a handle on his Chevy Impala. By the end of the session, he was listed 24th on the speed charts after brushing the wall. The 24-yearold Riverton, Ill.-native returned to the track that afternoon and qualified the No. 31 machine in the eighth position with a time of 16.155-seconds to start the 250-lap race. Allgaier has qualified inside the top-10 in his last three starts at Bristol Motor Speedway.
From the drop of the green flag, the BRANDT Chevy driver climbed as high as fifth in the opening laps of the event. Almost immediately, Allgaier reported that he was too loose to run the bottom of the track but too tight to run the top groove, and his racing machine was starting to get free into the corner. The caution flew on lap 34, which gave crew chief Jimmy Elledge and the No. 31 team to the opportunity to make changes. Allgaier hit pit road and the crew went to work making track bar and wedge adjustments along with changing four tires and filling the car with fuel. Allgaier restarted 15th on lap 41. Almost immediately he reported he was “super tight” from the middle of the corner off the turn. Over the next several laps Allgaier continued to fight the tight condition and was in need of a caution to pit for changes. By lap 105, while in the 17th position, he went down a lap to the leaders.
The caution finally flew on lap 124. Allgaier immediately hit pit road for track bar and wedge adjustments along with four new tires and a tank full of fuel. He restarted 16th and moved into the 15th spot as well into the “lucky dog” position. The caution flew on lap 145, giving Allgaier the “lucky dog”, under this caution period he hit pit road for air pressure and track bar adjustments along with four new tires and fuel. The field went back to green on lap 150. Allgaier continued to fight the tight condition from the middle of the corner off. Caution flew once again on lap 191, Allgaier hit pit road for air pressure and track bar adjustments, and a rubber in the right rear along with four tires and fuel. He restarted 13th on lap 197. Over the final laps he battled for position ultimately bringing home a 15th-place finish and remains 66 points out of the championship points lead in fifth place.
“It was a tough day for us, we fought a tight race car all night, and for some reason just couldn’t get what we needed to be upfront contending with the leaders. I’m proud of my guys, they worked so hard during the day in the heat to get the car where we needed it for race time. We qualified well, but just couldn’t overcome the tight car during the race,” said Allgaier.
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