“I feel extremely confident heading into this weekend.” Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, said this before Saturday. He won the 2023 Charlotte Xfinity race, owning 6 top-fives and 12 top tens in the event. However, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s champion driver may have exceeded his confidence levels for the 2025 BetMGM 300 race. Locked in a fight with Cup Series high-flyer William Byron, Allgaier made a crucial mistake that cost him plenty, as Denny Hamlin believes.

Justin Allgaier started the NASCAR Xfinity Series season with a bang by clinching two consecutive victories. However, that sparkle has dimmed out as late-race mishaps frequently scuttled his chances. The same sad story played out last weekend, however, it was pretty avoidable.

Denny Hamlin scrutinizes the independent act

In NASCAR, a driver-crew chief relationship is sacred. While the driver has the wheels, the crew chief provides the eyes and ears of the entire racetrack. That basic principle is what Justin Allgaier ignored during the Charlotte Xfinity race. The No. 7 led a race-high 103 laps, mostly coming after stage 2. However, all of that came undone at the exit of turn 4 with two laps to go, where William Byron took the lead.

It all boiled down to lap 180 when Allgaier chose to stay on the track instead of coming to pit road for new tires. The No. 7 crew chief, Greg Ives, knew that tires were going to be a problem and called Allgaier to pit road, but the latter did not pay heed. On the other hand, Byron used his fresh tires to charge for the win after a pit road speeding penalty that had left him reeling.

In the most recent ‘Actions Detrimental’ episode, Denny Hamlin criticized Justin Allgaier’s bold decision. Although the 2024 Xfinity Series champion has a wealth of experience, disregarding his crew chief is never ideal. Hamlin laid out his verdict in 5 words: “Drivers are not crew chiefs.“ He continued, “The most successful way to do things is to just listen to whatever the crew chief says. You could debate them… but they have a way bigger picture than you up on that pit box. To give Justin credit, if the race only had one of those restarts, maybe two, I think he still had a good shot at it. But…the guys with new tires would pick up two spots, caution, pick up two spots, caution, and the next thing you know they’re right on his ass.”

Hamlin rightly pointed out how Allgaier’s refusal to pit ruined his race further because of the slew of cautions at the back end of the race. Overall, 11 cautions were thrown in the 205-lap race, but 5 of them came in the last 50 laps! Naturally, Allgaier’s choice of track position became futile as he ended up having to restart multiple times and run caution laps on tires that were wearing out. Hamlin then went on to detail his mindset when receiving a debatable call to pit.

Denny Hamlin‘s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew is known for its phenomenal strategies and lightning-fast speed. The #11 crew was the reason Hamlin gained spots up to first on the final restart at Darlington earlier this season to win the race, with a blistering 8.3-second pit stop. However, Hamlin’s crew was also at fault for his downfall at the Coca-Cola 600, as a fueling error with 52 laps to go forced him to pit under green while chasing William Byron for the lead.

Having been on both sides of the coin, Hamlin outlined his mindset when he gets a call to pit from his crew chief, “If they say it’s your choice, we think we should pit…then that kind of tells me they think it’s 50/50. I’ll then see who in front of me is pitting, I’ll look in my mirror and see who’s coming behind me, all those things.” 

Well, Allgaier’s call wasn’t 50/50, and that’s why Hamlin believes he should have heeded his tire wear and pitted when he was asked to. The #11 JGR driver added, “He had 30-something laps on his tires. Like, it wasn’t like he had 10, 15…They got some sort of wear to them. And he’s thinking, well, I’m still running a pretty good pace…From his fastest lap on that run to when the caution came out, he had slowed down 8/10ths.”

Clearly, Justin Allgaier’s independent decision ended up biting him in the end. The JRM star duly acknowledged his mistake.

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Learning and moving ahead

Well, Justin Allgaier has been on a stellar streak in 2025. After clinching wins at Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami, Dale Jr.’s star has been consistent. He already has 9 top tens and 9 top fives through 13 races. However, some of those finishes could have easily turned into victories if not for marginal mishaps. For example, Allgaier led a race-high 99 laps in Texas and gave a tough fight to Kyle Larson.

As the duo neared a round of green-flag pit stops, evading a slow lapped car proved impossible. Allgaier made contact with Kris Wright’s car and slammed into the outer wall, finishing 35th. Then, in Talladega, Allgaier also held strong throughout the 113-lap event, but he could not overcome a mad scramble to the finish. Consequently, Allgaier ended up 4th in that race.

After these close misses, the Charlotte fallout must have stung Justin Allgaier badly. In fact, he admitted as much in the post-race interview. He said he should have listened to his crew chief: “I should have just come down pit road. I thought there would be a lot of games played on pit road, and if (those on fresh tires) had to travel through a lot of traffic, we were going to maybe net OK. And all those cautions, one after the other, it was great because we were able to hold those guys off, but they really just hurt us because they (his pursuers) were able to get a spot or two every restart. I’m heartbroken.”

Hence, a lot to learn and a lot to improve upon for Dale Jr’s star Xfinity Series team. Let us see if paying heed to Denny Hamlin’s advice may pay off for Justin Allgaier in the long run.