April 16, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Allgaier appreciates opportunity to race on dirt at Bristol

BRISTOL, Va.—While most NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers enjoy a relaxing weekend off, Justin Allgaier is racing.

Racing on dirt at the Last Great Coliseum was a challenge he just couldn’t pass up.

And the opportunity to partner with the No. 77 Spire Motorsports team and his long-time supporter Brandt made the proposition that much sweeter.

“This race is kind of been on my bucket list of places to do,” Allgaier told RacinBoys.com. “I don't know what the longevity of running at Bristol is for dirt for any of our sport for the long term is. Spire, Brandt and myself have obviously all had a relationship over the past, and they were trying to figure out what they were going to do with this race.”

Traditionally, Easter week is spent with family. And that won’t change for Allgaier, whose full-time ride is the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Both his parents and in-laws will join the family at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend.

“Obviously, it's a little weird because we’re (Xfinity Series) not here,” Allgaier said. “It's an off weekend for us, and being Easter weekend and all that fun stuff, but I was really excited whenever it got put together, just because I really like the 77 guys. I like all the guys at Spire Sports but I've gotten to know the 77 team and they're a really good group. I think equipment is going to be important, but I also feel like right now there's a lot of unknowns.”

Those “unknowns” could play in Allgaier’s favor. Although he hasn’t raced the new Cup car this season, neither has anyone else at Bristol—or on dirt. Allgaier has logged plenty of laps with wheel-force and sim testing of the new car for Chevrolet.

Despite this deal coming together at the last minute, his familiarity with the team and experience on dirt might make Allgaier a wild card.

“Could be, but on the other side of it, I think we've seen in the past here sometimes having dirt experience isn't always necessarily a good thing,” Allgaier said. “You tend to want to over drive the car and be overly aggressive. The only advantage I think that I have—and this is going to sound really odd—I think ARCA on dirt is probably a closer representation of what we're going to see here versus me racing my dirt car.

“I've run 20 races a year or something like that in my dirt modified and I have a lot of fun with it. But that’s a 23-2,400-pound car with an eight-inch wide tire and 900 horsepower and a completely different race suspension. The way you drive it and the way it reacts is a lot different.”

Allgaier was intrigued after watching Stewart Friesen’s Bristol test last week and how he could hang out the back of the car. Allgaier found the edge in Happy Hour on Friday as he went for a spin during his 50-lap practice. He admits there’s still a lot to take in with the new car on the new surface.

“This (Cup) car is completely different,” Allgaier said. “This race track is completely different than we saw last year. The only thing I'm worried about with this car is when you go testing, you're in that test environment. The shifting, the braking, those are all things that you have time to think about, right? I'm not going through the gears on a restart in the wheel force car like you would be in a race.

“For the last 20 years of my racing career, I've been programmed to an H-pattern shifter. Managing just shifting the gears, how much more sensitive the brakes are, the rack-and-pinion steering is quite a bit different. I just feel like that with the unknowns, you come here and you might mind your P's and Q's and come out here with a good solid finish. It could be a lot of fun. It could be a great day. So that's the goal with all of this.”

Allgaier is also encouraged by moving the event to night where dust shouldn’t play as much of a factor, unlike the inaugural Cup dirt race at Bristol last year. But if dirt racing is going to survive at NASCAR’s highest level, Allgaier believes the product must be entertaining.

“Track conditions are going to play a huge role,” Allgaier said. “Right now it's the middle of the day. It's been super hot, way hotter than anybody anticipated. They’ve not put a lot of moisture into the race track so far—not like we saw in the test at least. But then tomorrow we're supposed to get some rain and that could affect how much water they get into the surface. But the biggest component that I see, that's been a huge benefit, is everything at night. That's huge.

“For what we need for our sport and for this race to succeed long term—if we want to put on good races for our fans—I think moisture is going to be key to it. Once the sun goes down, I think it's going to make it a lot easier and a lot more friendly to the drivers and the teams.”