Season Preview: New Crew Chief Overstreet Poised to Lead No. 7 Team, Allgaier in 2026

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Feb. 11, 2025) – Justin Allgaier, the 2024 series champion, returns this season chasing a second NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series title in the past three seasons with a new face atop the pit box in Andrew Overstreet.

Overstreet takes over the pit box from Jim Pohlman, directing a team that fell just eight points short of a second straight championship last year in the season finale. The only new addition to the 2026 teams is mechanic Ethan Mohler.

The 2025 group won three races and posted 15 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes in 33 races. The victories came at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway, and Allgaier made the Championship 4 for the sixth time in eight seasons.

Despite leading more than 1,000 laps for just the second time in his career, Allgaier fell short in the final race and wound up third in the series standings last season. Overstreet, who guided the No. 1 team and driver Carson Kvapil to the Playoffs, takes over from Pohlman primed for another run to a championship, albeit with a different points system in place.

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

With long-time partner BRANDT Professional Agriculture back for the bulk of the season, Overstreet is blessed with continuity on the sponsor side as well as within his team, and having Allgaier as a driver is about as good as it gets for Allgaier’s 11^th season with JRM.

EXPERIENCE MATTERS: Last season, Overstreet brought up-and-coming driver Carson Kvapil to the Championship race. This year, he’ll attack the new format with an experienced hand in Allgaier.

“This is the first time I’ve had a seasoned driver since I worked with Timothy Peters on the Truck side back in 2014,” Overstreet said. “That’s a long time. But you’re not trying to teach how these races play out. It’s more of focusing on how to make speed and how to execute. It’s nice to have a group that has been around. You have a notebook, you have the guys that did it. It’s not about trying to understand. You can say, ‘let’s try it,’ and if it doesn’t work, you have a very good baseline to refer to every week.”

THE ALLGAIER FACTOR: Allgaier has been there and done that in the NOAPS, and with a format change to more of a Chase-type program, that will be an important factor for Overstreet to have in his notebook.

“Obviously, you know, Justin’s been there and done that,” Overstreet said. “With the new format, it’s going to be about executing every week. and not letting situations throw you off. If it means that you’ve got to go take a fifth-place finish instead of the win, but you filled your points bucket up, it’s all part of the bigger picture. You’re not worried about Hail Marys, you’re worried about grinding it out every single week and putting points up.

“I feel like Justin, being a seasoned veteran, and what I’ve seen him do over the years, he’s the best at just grinding it out, being there every week, up front, get his stage points. And I think now it’s just about not worrying about how they did it last year or what they were thinking. Now you have the group and you can talk about it. We have a very good baseline to work off this year.”

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS: Overstreet said that the new format for Cup drivers racing in the NOAPS is just a new wrinkle for 2026. “Don’t worry about what they do, just go and focus on the No. 7 car’s race, and we’re working towards the big picture and being top three at the end of the regular season before the reset for the Chase. I think if you can do that and put yourself in that position, that puts you in a great spot to go challenge for the championship.”

SUMMER LOVIN’: Allgaier has been at his best in the hotter months, and that’s one thing Overstreet has been focused on for 2026.

“I know that he tends to get in a really good rhythm in the summertime,” Overstreet said. “I know he’s had ups-and-downs the last couple years with this Hail Mary-style format, but you look back at 2017, 2018 and 2019, he would be there every single week through the summer. He’ll E’ll be consistent every week and that’s where we’re going to feed off him. I believe in Justin. We’ve known each other a long, long time. That’s why we’re excited that it finally worked out, that we could work together finally.”

RELATIONSHIPS MATTER: Overstreet and Allgaier have known each other for quite some time, back to when Allgaier drove for Penske Racing. Such a long-term relationship will benefit both, Overstreet said.

“Just having a friendship with Justin for 15 years, it’s easier to communicate and you know where each other’s head is at all times,” Overstreet said. “We know a lot about each other, we know how each other competes, so that speeds things up. When I was offered this opportunity, knowing that the No. 7 team is the leader of the organization, we set the tone for being the benchmark, being the cornerstone. If the other teams get off a little bit, you know that the No. 7 car is the one you can look at and say, “OK, what are they doing?”

BRANDT RED RULES: Experience and talent are good things to have, Overstreet said, but there’s one bonus that can only come with leading the No. 7 team at JR Motorsports: BRANDT Red.

“This year, I get to have BRANDT Red,” Overstreet said. “It’s cool that it’s a full-circle moment for me and Justin because we talked about it. Fifteen years ago, I interviewed to be Justin’s race engineer at Turner Motorsports, and they said I didn’t have enough experience, so they sent me to the Truck side. I still filled in as Justin’s race engineer from time to time when he drove the No. 31 car in 2011 and 2012.”