Drafting at Daytona leaves almost no room for error. One bad read can turn a strong finish into a disaster in an instant, and JR Motorsports looked like it had a shot at a clean sweep late in the race with Carson Kvapil, Rajah Caruth, and Justin Allgaier running together up front and controlling the top line. Then, with the finish close, it all fell apart.
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Allgaier tried a bump draft that didn’t go the way he planned, and it sent Caruth’s #88 Chevrolet spinning, wrecking what had looked like a near-guaranteed good night for the whole team. Instead of blaming the air or the track, Allgaier walked straight to the cameras on pit road and took responsibility for what happened.
JRM star addresses what went wrong in Daytona
Allgaier looked genuinely upset getting out of his car. His #7 Chevrolet held together well enough to finish in the top ten, but that didn’t change how bad he felt about what happened to his teammate.
Speaking to journalist Peter Stratta, the JRM driver said, “Yeah, I mean, you line up just to the right of the bumper and try to do all the things right. And it really wasn’t even a hard push. It was just trying to get our JRM Chevys out front and hopefully create a gap to fourth, right? We did it in Atlanta. We were able to really navigate that. And I think that’s the hardest part is, I know the #88 and Rajah are doing a great job. So I think that’s the most frustrating part about it is, is you’re trying to be as calm and as patient as you can right there.”
In Daytona, a move that feels right from inside the car can go wrong quickly once aero comes into play. Allgaier, clearly feeling bad about the incident, admitted that he thought the push was perfect at the time, but said he would have to talk to Rajah Caruth about what happened.
“I feel awful, obviously. It doesn’t matter how a race car gets torn up. It still stings,” he added.
The good news for Caruth is that the wreck didn’t cost him his season. He finished 32nd, but enough other Chase bubble drivers ran into trouble earlier in the day that Caruth still made it into the 12-driver Chase field on points. Allgaier was relieved when he saw the math. “I’m just thankful. I think it’s five points in. So, thankfully he’s in.”
An underdog emerges victorious in Daytona
While talking about the heartbreaking teammate wreck, former series champion Justin Allgaier paused his interview to celebrate Ryan Sieg, who had just earned his first career win in his 424th start. With the late JR Motorsports collapse clearing the top lane, Sieg took advantage on the overtime restart, while polesitter Kvapil dropped back in the bottom lane, finishing third.
Allgaier had only nice things to say about Sieg and took the moment to shed light on what he and his family have done in the same interview.
“It’s a big deal. He’s got the slow roll because everybody has a lot of respect for him. So, obviously I want to tell him congrats because he means a lot to the sport and it’s cool to see him win”, he continued in his interview with Peter Stratta.
Sieg’s win couldn’t have come at a better time, either. August 23 marked what would have been his older brother Shane Sieg’s 44th birthday. Shane was the first of the Sieg brothers to make it into NASCAR, making 68 career Truck Series starts.
Unfortunately, the NASCAR world lost Shane in 2017 when he was just 34 years old. Paying tribute to his brother, Ryan said, “To do it here at this race, in August, is pretty special. He’s definitely a reason why I’m here today. He was part of the equation, and I wanted to do what he was doing.”
On the other hand, Allgaier heads into the Chase opener at Darlington as the No. 1 seed. The wreck with his teammate wasn’t a good moment for him, but taking responsibility for it right away and then moving on to celebrate someone else’s win says a lot about why Dale Earnhardt Jr. trusts him to lead this team into the postseason.