Season Preview: Pohlman, Allgaier Open Defense of NXS Title for JRM’s No. 7 Team

February 11, 2025

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Feb. 11, 2025) – Fresh off the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in 2024, Jim Pohlman and Justin Allgaier face the same thing that all defending champions must: how do you do it again?

Coming off a thrilling championship battle, Pohlman, Allgaier and the No. 7 team are approaching the new season with enthusiasm and a certain confidence, given how hard the road to the title was in the playoffs. Starting off the first round of the postseason with finishes of 36th at Kansas and 25th at Talladega was a daunting beginning, but Pohlman and Allgaier put together a string of results in the final five races (seventh, third, eighth, fifth and second) to earn the championship in dramatic fashion.

In the season finale, the No. 7 team buckled down and utilized a never-give-up attitude to overcome a practice incident and two penalties during the race to secure the first championship for Allgaier and Pohlman.

Long-time partner BRANDT Professional Agriculture returns in the primary role as sponsor, in addition to Hellmann’s, JARRETT and Carolina Carports for what will be Allgaier’s 10th season with JRM.

For Pohlman, he’s ready for whatever 2025 has in store, with the goal of another big trophy in the lobby at JRM.

TEAM ROSTER: Crew chief: Jim Pohlman; Lead Engineer: Adam Richardson; Second Engineer: Josh Lewis; Car Chief: Danny Earnhardt Jr.; Mechanic: Dave Sumner; Mechanic: Adam Rischer; Spotter: Eddie D’Hondt; Truck Driver: Mark ‘Hollywood’ Armstrong.

DEFENDING CHAMPIONS: “We are ready to defend our title. We had a nice, relaxed offseason and focused on anything that could make our processes better. Winning that title, I think, relaxes a lot of people. At the same time, we have some new faces who haven’t won a championship. They are not relaxed; they haven’t won a championship. They want to win one, just like we all do. They’re a driving force to keep everybody really motivated, our two new guys. Our goal is to try and defend and repeat.”

ON WINNING THE CROWN: “It was a huge monkey off my back, Justin’s back and BRANDT Professional Agriculture’s back. It was also a big monkey off JRM’s back, winning the owner’s championship. It helps me, personally, because I came here with that one intention. To accomplish that is huge, and it has fired me up. I want two, three or four in a row, whatever we can do. I’d like to string some together. It is also the last year of Xfinity’s sponsorship of the series, and it would be nice to send them off with us being the champion the last two years.”

NEW FACES: “Josh Lewis comes to us from what was the No. 1 car last year, in the same role. He’s already done that and he brings an upbeat attitude, which is what we need on this team. Danny (Earnhardt) Jr. moving into the car-chief role is good for us. We get along really well, have worked side-by-side for a long time. You’re never prouder than when your guys move on to bigger roles, and Corey (Shea, now a crew chief at JRM for the No. 9 team) has moved on into another role after helping manage the shop and doing a lot of other things. Eric Long moved up to a lead engineer over on the No. 1 team after being the second engineer for us. We replaced them with two really veteran guys, good guys. I don’t think we’ve lost a beat. It just makes JRM stronger overall.”

NEW APPROACH: “I think I’ll be a little more relaxed until we get to the playoffs. Last year, I had a lot of pressure to win two or three races before the playoffs. By the time we get to May and the two-week break, there are six tracks that I feel either owe us or we could win on. Daytona, Atlanta owes us one, we’re OK at COTA and Phoenix, we won the championship there. We’re good at Las Vegas, we struggle at Homestead, but we’re decent at Martinsville. Darlington and Bristol are really good for us, Justin has raced at Rockingham, Talladega is Talladega, and I feel like Texas has owed us a race for the past three years.

“Those are really strong tracks for us, and we could have no wins or we could have eight. I just want to get through the summer and be relaxed, knowing we’re in the playoffs. When we hit the playoffs, that’s when I want to be really focused. We started the postseason last year on the wrong foot and had a lot of pressure trying to win the regular-season championship. We made some mistakes and it put us behind. We put it together to get to the second round. When we got there, we just hunkered down. One of the biggest goals this year is to get our stuff right at the right time and the right place.”