Allgaier 'disappointed' after 13th-place finish drops him from lead

Photo gallery | Riverton's Justin Allgaier races at WWT Raceway

MADISON — A motivated Justin Allgaier is a dangerous Justin Allgaier, and is he now motivated.

The Riverton native finished 13 th in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Nu Way 225 at World Wide Technology Raceway Saturday evening on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, and lost his lead atop the points standings.

Jesse Love won the race and Sheldon Creed, who finished second, moved up into the lead for The Chase, leading Allgaier by three points, 2,175-2,172 with seven events remaining.

"As bad of a night as we had and all the stuff happening, three points back," Allgaier said. "I lost 70 points in one race one week. So, that three points to me is like, 'All right, whatever.'"

It was the first win this season for Love, who won the series points title last year.

"I know I'm not the most talented guy on the racetrack, I'm not the fastest, but I work my (butt) off," Love said.

For Allgaier, the 2024 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts champion , Saturday was basically a 180-lap day of frustration. Nearly anything that could go wrong for the No. 7 Chevrolet did. After the first stage, with Allgaier finishing the first 45 laps third, he exited pit road with a loose tire and had to make an unscheduled pit stop. After fighting back and getting sixth at the end of the second stage, a dropped tire by one of his pit crew members cost him precious time.

But the final straw that sealed another bad week, after last week's disappointment at Darlington, came with 47 laps remaining when the No. 18 of William Sawalich hit the No. 17 Corey Day, after the two tangled for the second straight week. Unfortunately, Allgaier had his No. 7 nose under Day and suffered damage to his right front. It wasn't until the green flag came back out that the Allgaier team realized the damage impacted his car more than initially understood. He pitted again at the next yellow flag to take on cold — but used — tires and his team tried to patch the damage.

Finishing 13 th was the best Allgaier could muster.

"Disappointed is probably the best word, right? At the end of the day, it's how it goes," Allgaier said. "I got caught up in a similar situation last year where guys got wrecked into one."

Allgaier said he should've pitted when he originally got the damage, but thought the damage was minor enough that he preferred to keep — or gain — valuable track position.

"We decided not to pit when the damage happened," Allgaier said. "In hindsight, obviously I wish we would have, but I felt like there was not enough damage. I mean, I watched 17 (Day) last week with the fenders hanging off of it to be up there and battling.

"We put (Saturday's race hopes) on that last caution, and I wish I had a little bit more of that to be able to run through, but all in all, I'm so proud of the team. I'm proud of the effort."

Following the race, Allgaier calmly sat down with Sawalich's crew chief, Jeff Meendering, to explain his frustration over Sawalich's actions. Sawalich is out of title contention while Day and Allgaier both are in it.

"It's one thing for those two to have a problem on the racetrack, but when it starts affecting other people that are in The Chase, I think that's where it's really difficult," Allgaier said.

Allgaier, about 90 miles from home as well as his sponsor, Brandt, in Sangamon County, had perhaps the largest contingent of fans to greet him before and after the race.

"That's the hardest part is you come to your home racetrack and you got so many people here from Brandt," Allgaier said. "You just want to run good. You want your team to have the spotlight. Hats off to Jesse; those guys did a great job."

There are seven races remaining. Asked if he had a favorite of the seven tracks to finish the season, he said he liked them all.

"This gives us motivation to go back and be good," Allgaier said "and to want to be better. And we'll be fine. It's just in the moment, it's frustrating."

Love is 16 points behind Creed for the points title but sits fourth in a bunched-up field.

NOTES: The race had a stoppage at the end of the first stage as 10 cars got into a wreck on pit road, causing a traffic jam. Two cars were towed off and despite the mayhem, no pit crew workers were injured, despite the incident unfolding while teams were pitting. The red flag lasted for nearly eight minutes. . . .

Four drivers in Saturday's field represented five winners of the ARCA Racing Series Allen Crowe 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds' Springfield Mile. Allgaier won the race in 2006, Love took the checkered in 2022, Brent Crews won Springfield twice in 2023 and '25 while Sawalich won it in 2024.

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.