Allgaier Turns Strong Run into Top Three at Texas; Annett and Burton Score Top Six Finishes

7/18/2020

Bass Pro Shops Brandt Jeb Burton Justin Allgaier Michael Annett News Noah Gragson Pilot Flying J Race Report State Water Heaters Texas Motor Speedway Tracker Technologies TrueTimber XFINITY Series

Justin Allgaier led a race-high 98 laps to earn a top-three finish at Texas Motor Speedway while Michael Annett and Jeb Burton contributed to the teams top-10 tally.

Race Results | Xfinity Series Points

Race 16 of 33: My Bariatric Solutions 300 at Texas Motor Speedway

Track Specs: 1.5-mile quad-oval / 200 laps

Weather: Partly cloudy; 92 degrees
Race Winner: Austin Cindric

 

Allgaier's Finish: 3rd

Annett's Finish: 5th
Burton's Finish: 6th

Gragson's Finish: 30th

 


Justin Allgaier

Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 7 BRANDT/Tracker Technologies Camaro, had a strong day at Texas Motor Speedway, sweeping the first two stages of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on his way to a third-place finish. Allgaier led a total of 98 laps in the race, a new career best in a single event on a 1.5-mile track. The 34-year-old driver’s fourth top-five finish of the season helped propel him to sixth in the NXS point standings.

Stage One Finish: 1st

By virtue of the random draw, Allgaier lined up fourth for the start of Saturday’s race and was running in the same position when a caution flag waved on lap 3. A bad start ahead of him caused him to lose some positions on the restart, but he worked his way back up to fourth by lap 15 and advanced another spot to third before another yellow flag was displayed on lap 18. Allgaier continued his surge forward once the race resumed and found his way to the lead on lap 35. The JR Motorsports driver continued to pace the field in the closing laps of Stage One, ultimately earning his sixth stage win of the season when he took the green-and-white checkered flag on lap 45.

 

Under the stage-ending caution, Allgaier reported to crew chief Jason Burdett that the BRANDT/Tracker Technologies Chevy was a little free in and tight through the center of the turns. The team opted to make an air-pressure adjustment to fine-tune the handling on the No. 7 Camaro and they made a fast stop for four tires and fuel.


Stage Two Finish: 1st

Allgaier lined up second for the start of Stage Two on lap 52, but wasted listed time retaking command of the lead. Early in the run, he reported that the adjustment made under the pit stop helped his Camaro’s handling. Allgaier was out to a comfortable lead when a caution came out on lap 67. He battled hard on the restart and maintained the lead for the remainder of Stage Two, earning his second stage win of the day. The team called Allgaier in at the conclusion of the stage for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment.

 

Final Stage:

The JR Motorsports driver took the green flag for the final stage in the fourth position on lap 97, but the loss of track position didn’t deter him as he was able to retake the lead on lap 105. When a caution came out on lap 107, he reported that the entry and exit were freer that run. Staying out, he restarted in the top spot on lap 112 and held the position until Kyle Busch made the pass a few laps later.

 

Another caution came out on lap 117 and the No. 7 team called for Allgaier to again stay out while the leader opted to head to pit road. Allgaier took over the lead for the restart on lap 123 and held point for several laps before losing the lead just before the start of green-flag pit stops. The Illinois native made his way to pit road for four tires and fuel and after making his way back out on the track, he was informed of a blend line violation. Allgaier was forced to make a pass-through penalty, but was still able to work his way back up to eighth before the last caution of the day came out on lap 195.

 

The team called Allgaier in for four tires and fuel to prepare for NASCAR’s version of overtime. Allgaier restarted in eighth and powered his way to third before the checkered flag waved. The result was his second consecutive top-five finish.

 

Justin Allgaier, driver No. 7 BRANDT/Tracker Technologies  Chevrolet

“The guys did such an awesome job preparing this BRANDT/Tracker Technologies Chevy and did a great job all day long on adjustments and pit stops. I hate that we got that penalty. I really think we could have been able to battle for the win there at the end if we hadn’t. We’ll be ready to battle again next week in Kansas.”

 


Michael Annett

Michael Annett drove his No. 1 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet to his third top-five finish in the last five NASCAR Xfinity Series events on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway. He was originally classified as finishing sixth, but My Bariatric Solutions 300 race winner Kyle Busch was disqualified in post-race tech inspection, and that moved Annett up a spot in the final order. The finish was Annett’s fifth straight in the top 10 and gave him an average finish of 6.4 over the last five series races.

Stage One Finish: 8th    

Annett started the 200-lapper from the pole following a pre-race draw, but Austin Cindric leaped from third to first by the end of the first lap. Annett stayed in second position until lap 18, when the caution flag waved for a crash on the backstretch. Taking off from sixth place on the restart, Annett battled the bumps in Turns 3 and 4 as well as a tight condition on entry. Over the 45-lap stage, Annett kept his No. 1 Chevrolet in the top 10, running ninth most of the way until he got past Ross Chastain for eighth with eight laps remaining. He would finish Stage One in that spot, telling crew chief Travis Mack that he was too tight center out in the turns and tight across the bumps. Mack called for four tires, fuel and track-bar and air-pressure adjustments on the first pit stop and the Pilot Flying J pit crew gained two spots on the exchange, setting Annett up with a sixth-place start for Stage Two.

 
Stage Two Finish: 10th    

Taking off from the outside of the third row, Annett was soon on the radio reporting a vibration on the right front. It turned out to be the lower air pressure, but also involved the splitter touching the track across the bumps. Annett settled in and cracked the top five on lap 57, but the handling issues caused him to drop back to ninth 10 laps later. The caution waved for debris at that point, and Annett was able to regroup. He maintained position in the top 10 the rest of the way through Stage Two, finishing the stint in 10th. On the ensuing pit stop, Mack made two chassis adjustments to help Annett’s turn and added four tires and fuel. The pit crew gained another spot on pit road and Annett would start the final segment in ninth.

 

Final Stage:

Annett took the green in ninth and needed several laps to adjust to the changes. The Iowa native fell to 12th place at one point before regaining the top 10 at lap 103. Five laps later, Anthony Alfredo slapped the outside wall off Turn 2 and Mack took a gamble by calling Annett back down pit road for more tires and fuel and another chassis adjustment. Annett came back out in 24th position after the stop and immediately began to move forward. He was 21st the first time under the flag stand, 17th the next time by and 15th on lap 114. The caution waved again at lap 118, and Annett stayed out, advancing to seventh in the process. When the green waved again at lap 123, Annett immediately gained two positions on the break and rejoined the top five three laps later. Annett settled into the second half of the top 10, running seventh until lap 155, when the first green-flag pit stops began. He rose all the way up to third place before pitting at lap 171 for two tires and fuel. The stop put him seventh, a lap down to the leaders, who had yet to pit. Annett moved up to sixth with 15 laps to go, still one lap down, racing with Brandon Jones. He got his lap back with 10 remaining in the race when the leaders finally came down for service. The caution flag waved again with six laps to go, and Annett stayed on the track along with eight other lead-lap machines.

 

Annett got the green flag for the two-lap shootout in sixth place and held his spot to earn his fifth straight top-10 finish. The finish kept him eighth in series points, 162 points above the playoff cut line.

 

Busch won the race, but Cindric was elevated to the top spot after the disqualification. Chase Briscoe, JRM’s Justin Allgaier, Harrison Burton and Annett were the top five. JRM’s Jeb Burton headed up the second five ahead of Jones, Justin Haley, Ross Chastain and Brandon Brown. The top eight were on the lead lap at the finish.

 

Michael Annett, driver No. 1 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet team

“It was a really good day for our Pilot Flying J Chevrolet. We were tight all day, and the bumps in Turns 3 and 4 were a constant headache, but we managed to pull out a top-six finish. Everybody on this No. 1 team wants to win and get good finishes, and we all worked together today. We had great pit stops, the best of the year even with the adjustments we were doing. We keep putting up good finishes and we’ll be all set for the playoffs.”

 


Jeb Burton

Jeb Burton, driver of the No. 8 State Water Heaters Chevrolet, earned a hard-fought sixth-place finish in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Texas Motor Speedway. With the result, Burton has now scored three consecutive top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile speedway and moves the No. 8 team to 71 points ahead of the 12th and final playoff position in the owner standings. 

Stage One Finish: 11th  

Burton took the green flag for the 200-lap event from the second position after the starting lineup was set via a random draw earlier in the week. Burton maintained his top-three track position through a lap 3 caution period, but contact on the ensuing restart knocked the driver of the State Water Heaters Chevrolet sideways and up the track, shuffling Burton back to 12th. Although now deeper in the pack Burton pressed forward, fighting to get back into the top 10 despite reporting to crew chief Taylor Moyer that he had developed a loose-handling condition rolling through the corner. The loose condition unfortunately prevented Burton from rejoining the top 10 in the closing laps of the opening stage as the Halifax, Va. native took the green-and-white checkered flag to end Stage One on lap 45 in the 11th position. 

 

Stage Two Finish: 8th   

Moyer called the driver of the State Water Heaters Chevrolet to pit road during the stage-ending caution for four fresh tires and a chassis adjustment in the hopes of improving the handling of the JR Motorsports Camaro. Burton returned to the track following the stop in the 12th position and wasted little time moving forward, driving up to seventh before two quick cautions on laps 67 and 75 slowed the field. Burton continued to fight for position inside the top 10 once the race went back to green on lap 78, racing with his cousin Harrison Burton and Ryan Sieg before ultimately taking the green-and-white checkered flag to complete Stage Two on lap 90 in the eighth position. With the stage result Burton earned three additional points for the No. 8 team.

 

Final Stage:

Prior to the beginning of the final stage of the afternoon, Moyer again called Burton to pit road for four tires and another round of adjustments after the JRM driver had reported that the State Water Heaters Chevrolet had gotten tighter over the course of the run. Lining up in 10th for the start of Stage Three, Burton again ascended up the leaderboard, racing up to the sixth position before narrowly avoiding an incident off of the second corner that moved the 27-year-old driver up to fifth by the time the caution flag was displayed on lap 106. Once back underway, Burton maintained his track position inside the top five, moving up to as high as fourth before the JRM driver hit pit road during the lone round of green flag pit stops on lap 156.

 

Exiting pit road following the stop in 16th, Burton bided his time as the remainder of the front runners still needed to come to pit road. When the green-flag cycle finally became complete on lap 191, Burton was scored in the fourth position. However, a caution just three laps later setup NASCAR’s version of overtime.

 

Lining up as the second car in the outside line for what turned out to be the final restart of the day, Burton quickly worked his way down to the bottom as the field headed down the back straightaway. As the field took the white flag, Burton raced hard with Brandon Jones, JRM teammate Michael Annett and Justin Haley for position before crossing the finish line for the final time in seventh. Then, following issues at the completion of post-race inspection, the winner of the 200-lap event was disqualified and Burton was awarded a sixth-place finish.

 

The top-10 result is the eighth for Burton in 12 NXS starts at JRM and his third-straight at Texas.

 
Jeb Burton, driver No. 8 State Water Heaters Chevrolet team

“We had a really fast State Water Heaters Chevrolet today and I’m really proud Taylor (Moyer, crew chief) and all the guys on this JR Motorsports team. We brought an awesome car and made some great adjustments all day long and were in position there at the end, which is all that you can ask for. I really appreciate this opportunity to be out here and I can’t wait to get back going again.” 

 


Noah Gragson

Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Chevrolet, finished 30th in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series My Bariatric Solutions 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. Gragson started the race from the ninth position after the lineup was set by a random draw earlier in the week. Gragson was able to run within the top five and grabbed stage points in Stages 1 and 2 before making heavy contact with the wall on lap 117, ultimately ending his day shy of the finish.

 

Stage One Finish: 7th

Gragson fired off from the ninth position after the lineup was set by a random draw earlier in the week for the 200-lap event. The first caution flag of the event flew on lap 3 as Gragson fell to the 10th position. The second caution flag of the event flew on lap 18, which turned in to the event’s competition caution and saw Gragson running in the sixth position. The remaining 25 laps went caution-free and Gragson ran within the top five before falling to seventh as he crossed the green-and-white checkered flag on lap 45, earning four stage points to start the day.

 

Stage Two Finish: 4th

The driver of the No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Camaro decided to pit following the stage-break for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment to alleviate a tight-handling condition during the first stage. Gragson restarted Stage Two from the fourth position following the pit stop as the leader had been caught speeding on pit road. The caution flag waved on lap 68 as Gragson ran fifth and the team decided not to remain out on the track while under yellow. The next caution flew on lap 75 as Gragson ran in sixth and the team decided to again stay out in order to maintain their track position. The remainder of Stage Two went caution-free and Gragson was able to race his way into the top five on lap 80 and take the green-and-white checkered flag to end the stage on lap 90 in fourth. The fourth-place finish added seven additional stage points to Gragson’s afternoon.

 

Final Stage:  

Prior to the final stage starting, Gragson came into the pits for four tires, fuel and a trackbar adjustment to help remove the tight-handling condition that persisted throughout Stage Two. The No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Camaro restarted from seventh as cars were on varying pit strategies ahead of him. On lap 97, Gragson entered the top five and three laps later Gragson was passing for fourth. The race was slowed on lap 107 for a yellow flag as Gragson remained in the fourth position. Gragson drove the No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Camaro to third following the lap 111 restart.

 

As Gragson exited Turn 2 on lap 117, the No. 9 Camaro snapped loose and made heavy contact with the outside wall, bringing out the yellow once again. Pitting two times to repair the damage before the crash clock ran out, Gragson made his way back on track to attempt to meet the minimum speed set by NASCAR.

 

The No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Camaro ran on track for four additional laps before being called to the garage by NASCAR for not meeting the minimum speed, relegating the 22-year-old driver with 30th-place finish.

 

Noah Gragson, driver No. 9  Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Camaro SS

“The guys at JRM brought me a great Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/Black Rifle Coffee Camaro and I thought we were going to be able to grab a really good finish. The car just got really loose on the exit of Turn 2 and I just wasn’t able to save it. The crew gave a great effort to try and get it fixed so we could continue to run, but something just wasn’t right after the contact and I couldn’t make that speed that was set by NASCAR. It’s unfortunate, but we will regroup and make our way to Kansas next weekend.

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XFINITY Series Schedule

  • March 30 01:30 PM ET
    ToyotaCare 250Richmond Raceway
  • April 6 07:30 PM ET
    NXS Spring Race at MartinsvilleMartinsville Speedway
  • April 13 01:30 PM ET
    Andy’s Frozen Custard 300Texas Motor Speedway
  • April 20 04:00 PM ET
    Ag-Pro 300Talladega Superspeedway
  • April 27 01:30 PM ET
    A-GAME 200Dover International Speedway

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