When Justin Allgaier heard that he was set to lose his crew chief, Jim Pohlman, to Kyle Busch, the 39-year-old was initially a bit confused before supporting him in the career shift. Although it was Pohlman who led Allgaier to his maiden Xfinity title last season, the reigning champ actually encouraged his crew chief about the new opportunity. He said that Jim “would be an idiot if he didn’t take.”

But the duo still has one race left before they say their goodbyes. As the Illinois native gears up to defend his Xfinity title against his JR Motorsports teammates and Richard Childress’ Jesse Love, Allgaier cannot help but reflect on the time spent with Jim Pohlman.

Justin Allgaier reveals that he didn’t want Jim Pohlman to leave so soon

Speaking on the Dale Jr. Download, the 2024 Xfinity champion said, “And so for him to get the opportunity to go work for Kyle Busch and go back to RCR, you know, LW and I were laughing, and he’s like, ‘He’s (Jim) still got time on his contract. We can tell him he’s got to stay.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, but you called and asked up there if we could get him out of his contract.’ And he said, ‘I know. I wanted you to have the same answer I did.'” 

Giving a behind-the-scenes look at the situation, Justin Allgaier shared a lighthearted moment, one where they could still hold Pohlman back from the Cup Series because of the contract he signed. The crew chief-driver pairing has won nine races together since the beginning of 2023, but their highlight was securing last year’s title at Phoenix Raceway, an emotional milestone. In fact, Pohlman will forever be grateful to Justin for giving him his first breakthrough into the full-time crew chief role and running with it.

In fact, last week, Jim Pohlman gave insight into what it feels like to leave JRM. Pohlman believes that “Justin is the guy that put me on the map. Without JRM, this opportunity doesn’t exist. It’s very hard to leave Justin; he’s a great friend and has been a friend for a long time. We’ve won ARCA championship, and we’ve won an Xfinity championship; hopefully, we’re going to win two. To walk away from the possibility of winning three in a row was very heavy on my mind.”

But Allgaier also understands that it was Pohlman’s long-standing dream to be a crew chief in the Cup Series. And what better way to make an entrance than to be a two-time Cup Series champion’s right-hand man? Allgaier added, “So to see him be able to go up there and have that opportunity — look, I wanted Jim Pohlman because of, I mean, you’re talking about Danny Stockman, right? Danny and Jim were both RC racers, and I’ve watched guys in the RC world — their attention to detail is so much different than anything else, right? But they’re also both students of the sport.” 

However, this isn’t Pohlman’s first rodeo with Richard Childress Racing. Although the veteran crew chief and Kyle Busch have crossed paths for over two years, he admitted that they’re not particularly close, having shared only limited conversations. Pohlman’s resume includes 20 Cup starts as a crew chief, 17 of them with Juan Pablo Montoya in 2011, where they secured two top 10 finishes. He also served as crew chief for two races with Richard Childress Racing in 2022, one each for Austin Dillon in the No. 3 Chevy and Austin Hill in the team’s part-time third car.

And the main reason to get Pohlman back into the RCR mix was because of Kyle Busch’s devastating 2025 season. It is no secret that ‘Rowdy’ has struggled with his equipment and the No. 8 team in the last few years, facing a lot of DNFs but still being able to stand in the early 20s of the driver’s standings.

And for a championship-caliber driver, the No. 8 team is definitely looking for a turnaround. In fact, even Denny Hamlin backs the move. But for now, it can be said with much certainty that the JR Motorsports driver wants to make the most of this year with his crew chief.

Justin Allgaier eyes a repeat title at the Phoenix showdown

Amid Allgaier sharing his words of wisdom with the young drivers he is set to face in the Championship 4, the Illinois native hasn’t sidelined his title push. Amid Connor Zilisch, Jesse Love, and Carson Kvapil’s rise to fame, Allgaier has experience that these young aces don’t, and he is going to capitalize on that.

Speaking on the Dale Jr. Download podcast, he said, “We had a great car here in the spring, and I feel like we have a really strong notebook for what we will need when we unload on Friday. If we can just go out and execute to the best of our abilities, I think we are going to have a strong chance to accomplish something great on Saturday night.” 

On paper, Justin has proven capable at Phoenix Raceway. He led a race-high 130 laps in the spring event before ultimately settling for a fifth-place finish. The familiarity with the track and the ability to recover from any type of adversity make him a real threat as he takes on competition from his teammates.