NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 14, 2026

Justin Allgaier

Pit Lane Interview

Q. Exciting is a good word to describe your last couple of laps too. You took a hard push. You were giving some hard pushes. How ultimately did it shake out for you at the end?

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Well, if I was a cat, I think I burned all nine of my lives. So maybe this is a cue to go to your local Humane Society and adopt an animal because I think I lived all those nine lives tonight.

But really proud of our time at JR Motorsports. Everybody on the 7 team, Andrew Overstreet, new crew chief, you know, coming in here and really leading what was a great night for us.

I was looking off screen as you were getting ready to do this interview, and I think the 7 car was in the middle of all of those crashes, which is not ideal. Not the way that I wanted it.

Damage repair, all the things that we did, we were able to get up there. Just a little bit short. I was disappointed. I was really working well with Brandon there at the end and trying to give him the shove to make a run.

These last few laps were wild, but really proud of the effort we gave, the Hendrick engine shop, everyone at Chevrolet, all of our partners. Cool night, O'Reilly Auto Parts, first time in the sport. They've made a big push with you guys on the CW, and it's been fun to watch. I wanted to win, but hats off to Austin Hill and his whole team. We'll live on to next week and hopefully go get one there.