|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: DESERT DIAMOND CASINO WEST VALLEY 200November 7, 2020Justin AllgaierAvondale, Arizona THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Justin Allgaier. Thanks for taking some time with us. We'll get right into questions. Q. Justin, can you describe the last couple laps and did you feel everything was clean on those? JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Yeah, I mean, you were just seeing the intensity of the race, and we saw this similar scenario play out last night. I knew that when we chose to take that tire, that set of tires, our last thing was wherever you go or whatever, it was going to be a battle to the end. Obviously the end result of the finishing position, we dropped from second to fifth. That one stings a little bit. But Austin had the best car tonight. Hats off to that whole team, Team Penske. They did a fantastic job being prepared for tonight. And we did, as well. I think that's probably the hardest part for me is our Brandt Professional Agriculture Camaro was really good tonight, and I would even dare say that's the best car I've had here at Phoenix in my time in Xfinity, and I think that that's probably the hardest part to swallow I would say for the most part. I'm disappointed; this racetrack for me lost a lot when we put PJ1 down, and I felt like if we had been able to run the bottom like normal and not run stuck in that high groove, I felt like we definitely would have had the best car. So I'm disappointed in that, but at the end of the race today we were on old tires. I knew it was going to be sketchy at best. To be honest with you, to finish the race, it actually really surprises me that we were that close. Austin got that pass and ran through the middle of 3 and 4, and my teammate did a great job of trying to pull up and obviously race for the win. That's what he needed to do. He needed to end the season strong. But I thought if he could have just got up a little bit in front of the 22 and been able to block that run, we may have had a little bit more of a shot, but it just wasn't meant to be. Ultimately to come out of here fifth, to finish second in points after the year that we've had, after the year that we've all had, I'm not complaining. I'm going to get probably a couple days' rest and grab the bootstraps and start getting ready for 2021. Q. Did you think that you couldn't run the bottom because of where the traction compound was? JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Yeah, the traction compound was just so hard to‑‑ it was so hard to beat. Even when I felt like the balance of my car was a lot better on the bottom, my car‑‑ on the bottom honestly my car was fantastic. That was probably the most frustrating part is just how good our car was on the bottom, but the speed was just on the top. What we've done in the past year, kind of the base setup that we've run has been to be good on that bottom because that's usually where we end up racing, and unfortunately just today it didn't work out that way for us. We'll have to go back to the drawing board. Obviously no practice probably affected that a little bit. We'll go back to the drawing board and look at a lot of photos and try and figure out what those guys did to beat us on the top and the PJ1 and alter our setup. That's the unfortunate part about all this is you come here with what you think is the best, and they just did a little bit better job tonight. Q. Your wife has been pivotal in your racing career, and I know how much she appreciates and loves being at the racetrack, so what did it mean to have Ashley here and how will you guys prepare for 2021 knowing the uncertainty of whether sponsors and fans and even your family will be able to come to the racetrack? JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Yeah, you know, Chase talked about it with Marissa, and I feel like they're a lot the same way we are. They're a really close family, and for me, my wife and my daughter are truly a major part of what I do and who I am as a person. What I enjoy about the sport, let's be honest, I grew up going to the racetrack with my parents and watching these races, whether it be the ARCA series or the Cup Series or the Xfinity Series, Truck Series, didn't matter. When we would go to the racetrack and we would be there, I went with my family. I went with my wife before she was my wife. We went with some of her family. We went to Bristol and camped out and watched races. Racing has always been and always will be about family for me, and that goes even further, too. I look at everybody that works in these race teams as family. All these guys, whether they be on our team at JR Motorsports or any of the teams in the garage, we travel up and down the road so many times throughout the course of the year and we're together. This pandemic has been tough on me. It's been tough on a lot of us. That's a weighted answer because obviously outside of our sport, there's been a lot of things that have gone on, and there's a lot of our fans and industry folks that haven't fared as well as what we have, and so that's added to it. I think that makes it really, really tough. But to have them here today, I was actually lucky enough that my wife and my daughter and then my parents and my in‑laws were all able to come out and be a part of this. But there's nothing more that I wanted than to be able to have them up on stage with me and hoisting that trophy. Harper takes so much pride into how she paints for me every year for the playoffs. She painted the cacti on my helmet this year, and she knew that it was going to come down to Phoenix, and we came close. At the end of the day we had a shot so I'm bummed for them because I know how much they wanted it. My wife made a great post today, though, on social media and it just basically said, look, no matter what we want to happen, no matter how perfect the race goes, we can call the best race, we can have the best race car and we can have the best pit crew, we can do everything right, and if it's meant to be, it will happen; if it's not, it won't. And tonight it just wasn't meant to be; it wasn't in God's plan, and I can't change that. I have to relish in the fact that we get to come and be a part of a sport that is truly an incredible sport, and she's definitely the reason that I'm grounded like I am along with my parents. Q. Can you talk about Rick Brandt and how pivotal he's been to your racing career? His belief in you and the relationship that you guys have has only seemed to get stronger and stronger over the years and now you guys are going racing together again in 2021. JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Yeah, the Brandt family is truly incredible, all the employees, the customers of Brandt Professional Agriculture, to me part of this racing program the last 10 years, I don't think a lot of our fans realize how much of an integral part they are. Our pit crew guys, our road crew guys, our guys back at the shop, they have a good relationship with Rick Brandt. And I don't feel like that goes through the garage with a lot of other teams or sponsors. I don't feel like there's a lot of other sponsors that have that one‑on‑one relationship like Rick Brandt does with our race team, with myself. Rick to me is family. He's been‑‑ whether we race or not, we're as close as‑‑ I'm probably as close to Rick as I am anybody outside of my dad, right, and I think that that says a lot. He's just a great person, and I was pumped that they were here tonight. They were in a little bit different area than where my wife and everybody was at, but they were here tonight, and it's been hard not having them at the racetrack and being a part of it and being here week in and week out like normal. Again, going back to what we talked about earlier, so many irregularities in 2020 that make this season tough, but we're battling through it and hopefully whatever time in 2021 we can get everybody back, I feel like that's going to be a lot of fun when we can get everybody back together. Q. Justin, considering your past Championship 4 appearances, is this one tougher to swallow because you were so close? JUSTIN ALLGAIER: No, not necessarily. Again, kind of going back to earlier, I didn't feel like we were the best car tonight. We had a great car but we just weren't the best car, right. You know, I'm probably more bummed that we didn't finish second in the race. If that last caution hadn't come out we were going to run second, and I felt like that was going to be a solid night for me, second in points, second in the race. We did everything we could. But when the caution came out, obviously it gave us a shot at it, and it didn't work out and we finished fifth. How crazy would it have been if we would have been able to hold those guys off, and I think if we'd have had two or three more guys that stayed out with us, maybe we could have, but ultimately it wasn't in the cards, it wasn't meant to be, and we did everything we could do tonight to try to win a championship and just came up a spot short, and ultimately it's a heartbreaker. I'll be the first to tell you I'm beyond disappointed that we didn't win a championship, but when I walk out of this racetrack this evening, I can tell you 100 percent that I gave 100 percent, and there's nothing left on the table whenever we took the checkered flag, and that's all you can ask for. Q. I was wondering if you thought it was weird how similarly the truck and Xfinity races played out and if there were discussions about tires because of how the truck race ended last night? JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Yeah, you know, I laughed about it when the caution came out at the end there because I couldn't believe how similar it was to the truck race. I think that it was interesting to me probably more than anything that Chase was the caution. I wasn't expecting that, and I think that really surprised me that he would spin out like that, but when we took our set of tires with 30 to go, I really thought we had done the right thing. I really thought we made the right choice. So did Grant last night, and it didn't work out for him. You know, again, I think if we drag another two or three cars down with us, we win the race‑‑ or excuse me, stay on the racetrack with us and not go down pit road, we win the race or at least win the championship, and that's probably the most disheartening fact of all of it is they were all able to come down pit road and put tires on. But that's just how it goes. You win some, you lose some, and my team did a great job. The strategy was perfect. I wouldn't change it. It just didn't work out for us. Q. Is this something the Cup guys should be wary about now, like three in a row maybe? JUSTIN ALLGAIER: I hope not for their sake. I really‑‑ from a fan standpoint it obviously adds a lot of action. The folks that were here tonight got a great show at the end. The folks at home watching on TV, they obviously got a great show. Anything can and will happen in these things, and I'm just bummed that it wasn't us that came out on top. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|