Justin Allgaier’s post-championship celebration is a half Ironman—and he can’t swim. And while the ‘habitual hobbyist’ usually loves trying new things, he isn’t very fond of taking a deep plunge, quite literally. After braving his first and only triathlon, after his win at the Nashville Superspeedway earlier this year, the driver has taken on the challenge yet again, and at a larger scale than before: He has traded the triathlon for a half Ironman.

Justin Allgaier revealed plans to compete in a half Ironman with his friends this December, although the driver has previously admitted he cannot swim. Andrew Kurland, who interviewed Justin Allgaier at the NASCAR Award Night in Miami, brought up the half Ironman that the duo is about to attempt together, along with seven more friends, next month.

While Kurland tried to cheer up the racer by saying he would beat him on the bike so he would need to swim as fast as he could, the mere thought of swimming left the O’Reilly Champion questioning whether he would even make the cut.

“I’m more worried that I’m not going to make the cutoff for the swim,” said Allgaier as his red carpet host tried to cheer him up by saying he would. “Ironman 70.3 in Florida. So we’ll see what happens. You’ve done plenty of triathlons. I’ve done one to my name, and it was probably the easiest one you can do.”

While many would think having experience would make things easier for the driver, he has only doubled down on his struggle by taking on a half Ironman, twice the distance he covered in his first Nashville triathlon.

Allgaier tried to reassure himself and his friend on the red carpet by adding, “We’re going to have fun, though. You know, we’ve got a great group of us that are all going down. I think there’s nine of us that are going. So we’re going to look good. We’re going to feel fast. And then we’re going to get absolutely pummeled by probably somebody that’s twice our age.”

When Justin Allgaier first prepared for the Nashville triathlon after his win at the Superspeedway, he questioned his decision to take up an endurance activity that required him to take swimming lessons.

“If I’m being honest, it’s not the smartest decision I’ve ever made in my life.” The racer reflected, “It’s what a group of friends will do to you. Our run group that we run with, we talked about it, and we decided it was a great idea. In one theory, it was a great idea.”

“But I can’t swim. I can swim at a pool party, but it’s not my strength. And we only signed up two weeks ago. I’ve been trying to learn how to swim. I’ve been at the lake swimming.”

While the shortest swimming distance for the Ashley Whitney Music City Triathlon was a 300m sprint, while the longest was 0. 68 miles, the December event will test him with a 1.20-mile swimming race.

The upcoming IRONMAN 70.3 Florida will split the distance into 1.2 miles of swimming, followed by 56 miles of cycling, and 13.1 miles of running. After following up his Nashville Superspeedway win with a triathlon excursion right after it, Justin Allgaier’s title win is now followed by an equally challenging Ironman participation.

Although taking on triathlons and Ironman challenges is not something Allgaier follows up with after every race or title win, the pattern is rather new as the racer finds himself circling back to the endurance activity in similar fashion to his first Nashville event.

While Allgaier now looks forward to taking on the challenge with his friends in NASCAR, he had some support at the Nashville competition, too, as his JR Motorsports teammate, Sammy Smith, joined him for the event and competed alongside him.

Besides his resentment towards swimming, Justin Allgaier is a ‘habitual hobbyist’. The racer has always been very adventurous and has explored new activities and sports like wake surfing, cycling, building computers and technology, dirt-track racing, hunting, and golfing. And although he has not written off swimming just yet, his hesitation around the activity clearly suggests it still has a long way to go before he likes it.

While he may be preparing for more off-season challenges and adventures, the O’Reilly driver has just wrapped a sensational 2026 stint with his second title win in the NASCAR Series. The No. 7 Chevrolet driver secured six wins, 19 top-five finishes, 24 top-10 finishes, and led 803 laps across the 2026 season.

Justin Allgaier, who was considering retiring from the sport at the end of this season, has extended his contract after becoming the second-oldest champion in the series history at 40 years old, behind Tommy Ellis. While his ambitions of pursuing his ‘habitual hobbyist’ interest may have to wait a while, his JR Motorsports team boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., believes he has many more wins to fight for.