MOORESVILLE, N.C. (April 6, 2021) – When the latest edition of the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Dash 4 Cash gets under way Saturday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, JR Motorsports will have a 50-percent chance of taking home another big check.
Should either Justin Allgaier (race winner at Atlanta) or Noah Gragson (fourth-place at Atlanta) win the prize, it will be the 14th such reward for a JRM driver. Gragson won last year at Atlanta for his only Dash 4 Cash triumph, while Allgaier has won it four times. The other drivers in the Dash 4 Cash are Harrison Burton and AJ Allmendinger.
JR Motorsports has enjoyed considerable success in the annual bonus races presented by series sponsor Xfinity. Allgaier’s four victories came at Indianapolis in 2016, Phoenix and Richmond in 2017 and Dover in 2018. He shares the team lead with Regan Smith, who won at New Hampshire in 2013 and 2014 and at Dover and Indianapolis in 2015. Brad Keselowski won the first two Dash 4 Cash bonuses awarded, winning at Memphis and Iowa in 2009, while William Byron (Dover 2017), Elliott Sadler (Talladega 2018) and Gragson (Atlanta 2020) have the other JRM triumphs.
For Allgaier, the opportunity to race at Martinsville for another victory and a whole lot of cash is what it’s all about.
“I’m excited,” the Illinois driver said. “What Xfinity does for this series and the sport as a whole is really unmatched. I’m pumped up because we qualified for Dash 4 Cash and we’re going to a track that I really like. However, if you look at the four of us who are going to battle for the $100,000, I don’t think you could have picked four more competitive guys at Martinsville.
“We know we’re going to have our work cut out for us, we know it’s going to be a difficult event. We know that the three other competitors we’re racing against...one of them is a teammate, so I know what he’s got. There’s a lot of thought and effort is going to go into making sure we’re competitive, but it’s right in what we want to see as a race track, and having the momentum from Atlanta will really help.”
Gragson was of similar mind on the opportunity to race at Martinsville with a chance at $100,000.
“I think it will be cool,” the young Las Vegas native quipped. “We won the first one last year, and that was really cool. It’s another opportunity to dig a little deeper. I think I give 100 percent every week, but with an extra $100,000 on the line that can go to the team and the guys and everyone else...it’ll be worth fighting for even more. I’m excited, I’m ready.”
Gragson brings up a good point. The bonus paid to the drivers also benefits the team and JR Motorsports.
“Obviously, the Dash 4 Cash has been great,” Allgaier said, having won four of them already. “Winning those bonuses has been a shot in the arm and a great benefit to our race teams, helping with the budgets and making sure we can help advance our race team. Obviously, we have a great, solid foundation as a race team, but anything we can do to help advance and make it better...that’s what it’s all about, to go out and do the best we can and take the money home.”
Gragson is the only JRM driver eligible for the Dash 4 Cash that has won a NASCAR race at Martinsville, taking the fall race there in 2017. Josh Berry, driver of the team’s No. 8 Chevrolet, won the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 for NASCAR Weekly Series Late Models at Martinsville in 2019, setting a track record and leading all 200 laps in doing so.
“I’ve been able to win at Martinsville in the Truck Series and I know how to get around there,” Gragson said. “The Dash 4 Cash is like a mini-race inside the race, and it is a little more pressure, but it’s also more of an opportunity to get our name out there.”
The 22-year-old driver did not realize he’d qualified for the Dash 4 Cash at Atlanta Motor Speedway until later, when he read it on social media.
“I actually didn’t know that Atlanta was a Dash 4 Cash qualifier,” Gragson said with a laugh. “I forgot about that. I didn’t know I was in it until I read it on Twitter. Martinsville will be a fun one, it’s always a good time. It’s flat and I think we can build on our setup from last year and really put it on those guys. I think we’ll have a good opportunity.”
Of course, winning the race is the ultimate goal, and Allgaier has admitted to thinking about what he would do with a grandfather clock trophy from the venerable Virginia short track.
“As far as I know, my parents have always had a grandfather clock at the bottom of the stairs at their house,” he said. “You understand how important that clock is. It’s a tradition, and there’s a lot to be said for that in our sport. I was fortunate to get a Bristol trophy, and it’s funny...with today’s trophies going to a lot of exotic materials, getting that wooden trophy with a big bowl on the top of it had a lot of meaning. It’s no different at Martinsville, where you have that heritage of a grandfather clock.
“It would be really special to get one of those and bring it home. I have space in my house, and I’d love to put one up. Just knowing that you were able to conquer that track, as difficult as it is...to come up short last year like we did, to be that close and finish second, that made it hurt a little bit, but I feel like we have a lot of motivation, we have a great race team behind us and obviously it’s a great opportunity to go win one of those clocks.”
Allgaier, Gragson, Michael Annett and Berry will compete for JR Motorsports on the .526-mile oval Saturday, all hoping for solid finishes on the day in hopes of qualifying for the second Dash 4 Cash race, set for April 24 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Allgaier and Gragson have 100,000 reasons to be the first of the Dash 4 Cash drivers under the checkered flag.