NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 7, 2026

Justin Allgaier

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Series champion, Justin Allgaier.

We'll get started with questions.

Q. At this point in your career, what does a second championship mean?

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Yeah, I said it on TV earlier. The first championship I really wanted. I don't want this to sound wrong, but I wanted it for myself. I spent all these years racing, and I didn't really know if I'd ever get one. It was for myself.

I think one's a little bit different. Definitely less tears in this one, but not because it wasn't any less emotional. I felt like this is for the men and women that not only won tonight that worked on the 7 car, but really throughout the course of my career. This one means as much just in a totally different way. I'm super proud of that.

This group we have, these guys, they work their tails off, and they're so good at what they do. They're so calculated, never give up under pressure.

I think tonight I added a little more pressure than I should have. But I knew that we weren't quite as good as we wanted to be. We were having some challenges there. I just said to myself I got to get up there and rim ride and try to save as much as we can and keep the points where we can.

Ultimately the strategy to pit there after only having a couple of laps on the green flag was the right strategy. We still faded, but I thought it was the right call.

Just beyond meaningful to have my family here, to have friends here, to have my whole team. The pit crew has put in hours, Eddie D'Hondt, my spotter, the effort that's gone in behind the scenes that the general fan probably never will see, how many hours they work. This one means a lot.

I think it goes back to JR Motorsports as a whole, how much effort we've put in to win to being good. I thought the 1 was going to win the race, I was pretty pumped on that, because it was going to be a JRM victory and a championship. Ultimately, I don't know what happened in the end there. But it's still a great night. Good season for our company, with all five numbers getting wins, multiple drivers. It's really special.

I'm proud of tonight in a lot of different ways, but the resiliency of this team is the biggest reason.

Q. After you won at Nashville, we asked you about being one win away from matching your career high total. You were quick to point out that five-win season did not go the way you liked. You were not very happy thinking about that season.

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Yep.

Q. Now you surpassed that career total, won a second championship, the oldest driver to win a championship in the series.

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: I don't like that stat (smiling).

Q. Beyond that stat, how do you feel about the rest of this season, compared to the five-win?

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Hmmm...

I think I'm glad that the format changed this year, right? If I'm looking at it objectively, I think that definitely played into it. We definitely weren't good enough to win a championship.

I look at the Chase. I go man, I'd love to have Gateway back, Bristol back, Vegas back. All these races where it didn't go the way it should have. We still came out here as a champion, even not having the night we wanted to have.

At the end of the race, I just kind of conceded to the fact that either one of those guys win up front, really the first three or four win, we're still in good shape, and don't make mistakes like I made in the second stage and get a flat tire.

I think for me, I had an opportunity earlier to meet with the folks at Chevrolet, right? They came over, had their executive team here. One of the things I thought was really cool is Dr. Warren had a stat card. He said most wins, most top fives, most top 10s, most stage wins. He's rattling off all these things which I didn't know, which is great. You try to win the race every week. I don't get too caught up in it.

But I said there's one thing missing on there that you didn't cap off for the season, and that's a championship. It's not on there. I said we got to get the job done tonight. If we do that, I'll consider this as a successful season.

It's odd to think if we hadn't won the championship tonight, I still don't think I would have considered it a successful season. But I'm proud of the team for what we accomplished. It's not that I wasn't that, I just felt like we needed to cap tonight off. We did that. Ultimately I can look at all these races and I could say as much as I'm sad about the way my finishes were, I can equally look at my competitors and say they all had similar challenges or issues or whatever.

I can genuinely say that I loved every lap that we ran this year. Regular season, Chase, all the competitors we battled against, my teammates. We grew as a company because our teammates, really we thrived in that, whether that be mechanics, crew chiefs, engineers, drivers, all of it.

We've done a fantastic job of building a culture and a team that is capable of doing what we did tonight. That was really special for me, something that I'll -- I'll probably remember more that than I will anything else. Next year could be an absolute flop and disaster. I guess I'm sad I didn't choose to stay retired at the end of this year because this would have been a heck of a way to go out. It's got me fired up to come back next year and try to do it all over again.

Q. The relationship with Andrew, is that why your guys' radio works so well, alternating between serious conversations about strategy, unhinged comments, random jokes?

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: I'd be remiss if I didn't say Jim Pohlman, before Andrew, changed me as a human being, right? We had success on the racetrack, we won a championship together. There's a lot of things that he instilled in me that have made me better because of it.

One of those things, honestly, was my relationship with people, how I valued people, what that looked like. This off-season when I got Andrew as a crew chief, I sat down with my team, my guys that I've had for the last few years, and I said, What does this look like? Who do we think is the right person for this job? Who do we think can lead this team to race wins, to a championship?

The answer was pretty unanimous, that Andrew was that guy. We spent the off-season really more personally than professionally just figuring out what we needed to do to be strong and to be better and have that camaraderie amongst our group. We did that, right? Our team bought in.

I'd laugh if you saw our group chats. They're funny, right? You go from exactly what you mentioned on the radio. There's jokes, there's serious, there's scripture, there's lots of AI photos, just all kinds of fun stuff that goes through.

This week we had a wrestling GIF that was posted this morning about going and getting after it. This team has rallied behind that.

I love the relationships and the camaraderie that we have because it really means a lot. When you can go to battle with your team, pit crew, mechanics, and you know they got your back and you equally have theirs, that's what it's all about.

I'll tell you, Vegas, I mentioned Vegas a minute ago. Vegas probably made me realize more than any other time in my entire career how important the people around you are. We did it for one lap, to get one point that we didn't even need to get because he was already disqualified. These guys busted their tail to get a car back out there that had no fenders on it, no front bumper, no nothing, and we went out there and we made one lap and got one point.

Those guys were beyond proud of that fact because of what that meant to them. That could have been the difference-maker tonight. Ultimately it wasn't. But that could have been. That's pretty special for me.

Q. One of the things you said in February is that 2026 is a year of fun because I'm enjoying the moment more and that can be good ammunition on the racetrack.

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Yeah.

Q. Has that played out this season as you expected it to?

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Absolutely. I talked to the cast on CW before this week. We did Media Day, all these different things. I felt like when I came here to you guys, had media, the media scrum, did all the things, one of the things for me is that I'm enjoying every minute of this one, right? I've had more fun this year than I think I've ever had. I think a lot of that came from the fact that I knew this is probably going to be it.

When we talked in February, I already made up my mind. This was December of last year that I told JRM, Look, this is it, I'm not coming back. It was all the way until, shoot, probably September when we actually finalized the deal, October maybe even. I guess it was September 1st we kind of really started the process.

Kelley announced it on Sirius. What's funny is is that we had just had the conversation, like if we can make this work, if we can get partners to buy in and do all the different things, would you be interested? I was like, yeah, I would have interest in that.

She announced it two days after that, and we didn't have anything done. It was quite amusing.

Again, I think I've spent this year in a totally different mindset than I've ever had in my entire career. I've been so proud of what we've accomplished through that. It makes me realize that next year is going to be all about fun just as much as this year was.

I don't know how many more races my parents are going to get to come to. My oldest daughter is playing every sport under the sun. If you have any kids in youth sports, you know it's insanely expensive. I think that's the only reason I'm coming back to race (smiling).

You guys see them at the track a lot. Their presence hasn't been as much this year. Just there's so many things that I think I'm having to, like, pull enjoyment out of at the racetrack. I'm doing a better job of that. I definitely don't want to lose that.

You can make yourself really miserable in this sport. I'm definitely enjoying the moment tonight, all year this year.

Q. You said "I haven't accomplished everything I could accomplish, but I've exceeded my own expectations." How do you now put that in context when you have a season where you move to sixth all time on the wins list and two championships?

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: When I signed my first contract to come into this sport, I was about a month away from my career-ending period, right? We were out of money, spent everything we had. I had an opportunity to sign with Team Penske.

But if that conversation and that contract hadn't been signed, I was literally out of the sport. I mean, I owe everything in my life to my parents. They spent every dime they could possibly scrounge up. We used every resource we could possibly find to keep going to the racetrack, as racers do.

It was the end of the line, and we knew that. When I got the opportunity to go and sign my contract, obviously it's a great team, great organization, but we built O'Reilly team from the ground up. They didn't have it at the time. We were the first really full-time that they had run maybe ever, but at least in a while, right?

I look back at that and I remember thinking if I could win a race, just one, that that would be, like, life goals. I could walk away from the sport at that point, be perfectly content with everything I'd ever done in my racing career.

Let alone thinking you'd be here almost 20 years later, not quite, still doing it, still winning races, getting a second championship. Those are things for me that I'll never take for granted.

It's surreal, especially when I look at the list of names that my name is by. Yeah, I laughed this week. I was joking with somebody. Somebody asked me about catching Mark Martin, right? I laughed because that's a lofty spot to get to catch Mark Martin before I retire. That's still not even halfway to what Kyle Busch accomplished, right?

I definitely don't have that in me, but I can promise you there's nobody probably in this garage that respects this sport and wants the history of this sport to grow and go on like I do.

I love Dale Jr.'s personality, his outlook on the sport. I feel like I hopefully at some point can be as loving of this sport as he is, 'cause he's a great role model in that regard. Just in life in general, as a dad, as a car owner, as an icon of the sport.

I hope that I can share his love to his level of this sport before I quit. That's why I still want to do what I do and I still love being here.

Q. You mentioned how sweet it would have been to do a walk-off if you won the championship. Have you thought at all about how sweet it would be to be the first guy to win a third title yet? Maybe do a walk-off in that situation?

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: No, no walk-offs here. It would be special.

Man, I tell you, I think about the rookies that we battled with this year, the guys that figured it out. I think about the veterans that I battled with this year, how good they've been through this Chase.

I think that's why I respect tonight that much more, 'cause I know how difficult of a season it was. I look at the drivers that are coming in, the drivers that are staying next year, I know it's going to be equally or maybe even more difficult next year than it was this year.

Listen, I'm going to enjoy this one till January. We go to February, go to Daytona. I'm going to get right back to work. I'm going to try to amass as many points as I can just like last year. Getting to 265 they said earlier, that was a cool moment for me. I wish I'd have done it in the Chase. I want to be more like Kyle Larson when I grow up. I want to amass all the points in the Chase, not in the regular season.

Look, I love O'Reilly Auto Parts coming in this year. That was a big moment, having Xfinity, being part of Busch Series, all this stuff, it's cool to have partners come in and be a part of this. To win this this year, being the changeover to the green, all of their customers, employees, that was cool. Hopefully they don't leave anytime soon. I'd love to win another O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship.

That all being said, I want to be relevant. When I walk away from this sport and I do finally hang it up -- I had a conversation with a couple drivers on the stage tonight. I'm like, I can't imagine this being it. I was ready. I'm 100%. I could walk away right now and be happy. But there's a part of me that goes I'm not sure I know I'm ready for that last curtain call. I don't know what it's going to feel like Monday morning when you wake up and you're done.

You got to enjoy it when you got it. You got to enjoy the people that we're around. We could never win another race, another championship. That's very viable. I hope it's not true. But I've been blessed to have what I have and do the things we do and be able to celebrate with great people around me. I'll never take that for granted.

Q. Dale Jr. talked about how he was watching you rim ride over the last 20 laps. He was trying to go over channel two and say what is the right thing to say on the radio.

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Get off the wall (laughter).

Q. Did you get the feeling they were trying to tell you that?

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Oh, 100%.

Q. What kept you rim riding?

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Because I didn't want to lose any more positions. The competitor in you takes over.

Even knowing that I hit it earlier and popped the tire, even knowing that was the wrong thing to do, there's a piece of you as a driver that just goes, I can't concede until the checkered flag falls, if the caution comes out, if something happens, if Jesse were to be able to get up there and drive to the lead. Those are all things that I'm thinking about as you're running around.

I just couldn't bring myself to getting off the wall. I knew how slow I was on the bottom. I wasn't great tonight. It wasn't for lack of effort. We weren't as good as we wanted to be.

The team never quit. They never stopped. They just kept pushing, doing all the things that we do. I think that's what made it so much fun tonight, is that even when the chips were all in, they were all the way to the checkered flag, we were still able to come out of here as a champion. I'll take solace in that fact that we didn't give up. I probably conceded a little bit, but at the same time I still was up there.

I think I hit the fence on the white flag lap. I hit it fairly hard. I was, Why am I an idiot like this? At that point I will back this thing across the finish line if I have to to win this championship. I'm pretty proud of the fact we were able to pull it off.

Q. Dale mentioned that he wouldn't have had the patience to handle some of the friction you deal with from younger drivers, noting how often you have to bite your tongue on track. Andrew added that your mentorship extends way beyond JRM, like after the Dover incident, where instead of holding a grudge, you took him under your wing. When those mistake-driven moments happen on track, what is your mindset? Why is it investing in those guys becomes such a priority for you?

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Number one, first and foremost, I had great mentors when I came into this sport. Guys that were my idols. They were my heroes. They were kind enough to take me under their wing and teach me things that until you've done it, you don't know, right?

You don't know what you don't know. We say that all the time. It's really true. There's so many guys in the sport that have made it to a level of really high, high caliber race teams, opportunities. They just have never learned. That's not the fault of their own. It's just the circumstance of it.

Jesse and I have had some spirited battles on the racetrack. We'll just say that. We had some spirited conversations off the racetrack. But it was super cool tonight. Jesse came to Victory Lane. I could see the disappointment on his face, right? Also, he made it very clear that he was going to miss racing with me and he was going to miss the times we had conversations together.

I remember actually sitting here at this racetrack last year and having conversations with Jesse about he was getting ready to make some Cup Series starts. I was an open book. I told him everything he needed to know that I could divulge information.

He left and came back, You weren't kidding. You didn't hold anything back.

I said, No, and I won't.

Whether they be young drivers, veteran drivers, teammates, non-teammates, my job is to leave this sport in a better spot than where I found it.

I think it's unique, right? I'm helping guys that have gone on and been serious contenders in the Cup Series and won races and won championships, right? That's a weird feeling when you don't have that opportunity to move on.

I think for me, those that are good teachers don't necessarily always have what they know, but they're able to learn it and able to teach somebody else. They're able to use that information and go be better.

If I get beat by something that I tell somebody, I'm be perfectly happy with that. I'm at the end of my career almost, right? These guys are young, they're coming in.

Again, too, I think sometimes you help people that you never know when they're going to be your teammate, you never know when you're going to be battling with them. Maybe it saves yourself, right?

I will never shy away from helping these young drivers, especially because I want to see our sport grow to a point of when they leave here and go to the Cup Series, go back down to the Truck Series, when they stick around in the O'Reilly Series, they're better for it, both on the track and off the track.

I still want to beat 'em. Nights like tonight are more fruitful when you beat those guys because you know you helped them. It sucks getting your butt kicked by some of these guys you know you've helped them along the way. You smile in it, enjoy it. You definitely take a lot of solace in that.

THE MODERATOR: Justin, congratulations on the second championship. Enjoy the celebration. Have a great off-season.

JUSTIN ALLGAIER: I appreciate it. I got to go do some shopping now. We talked about this. I don't think my attire matches this week's festivities yet. I'm not bold enough yet. Maybe I need to do some Miami South Beach shopping. Who knows what I'll show up in the banquet with or dinners. If you see me this week and it looks odd, sorry. We got to have some fun.

Got one more day that you guys all got to be here. Equally as much as the people on the racetrack, thank you all for being here, thank you all for the time you put in, the promotion of our sport. I don't think you guys know how much we appreciate y'all.

Sometimes you catch us with a microphone, it's not the most ideal time. I try to be nice in those moments. I do want to say thank you from our team, all of our PR staff. I know they do a good job of trying to work with you guys.

I don't even know what time it is. It's 10:30. Y'all have been here all day. I appreciate the effort and the time. It never gets old seeing your faces even when we don't want to talk. I promise you guys, we appreciate it a lot. Thank you all for what you guys do.