NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 Media Day Notebook

Today at 03:17 PM

Justin Allgaier is poised and prepared to run for elusive NASCAR Xfinity title

JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier arrives at Phoenix Raceway as the most seasoned NASCAR Xfinity Series driver competing for the 2024 championship.

The 38-year-old Illinois-native will be making his seventh appearance in the Championship 4 Round and third in a row — but will be racing for the first title in a 25-win, 15-year career in the series in Saturday‘s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race (7 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Allgaier‘s two Phoenix wins in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet (in 2017 and 2019) are most among the four Championship-eligible drivers, but his best showing in the final championship standings is runner-up last season and in 2020.

This season, Allgaier has 19 top-10 finishes, including a pair of victories (at Darlington, S.C., and Michigan) and has led 705 laps, his second-highest total in the last four years, with a race still remaining.

"I think it‘s understated what this team has really accomplished,” Allgaier said Thursday during NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 Media Day at the track. "[Crew chief] Jim Pohlman told me two weeks ago, 'We‘re going to go win Phoenix, it‘s just a matter of whether you race for a championship or not. If we‘re going to raise a trophy, I‘d rather it be the big one rather than the little one.‘

"He‘s very confident in that, and to have your leader of your group that confident kind of exudes confidence through everybody.”

"The confidence level is high. We‘re ready to go,” he added. "When you show up here with a group that you know is capable of executing at a high level, it makes it a lot more fun, knowing everybody‘s on the same page.”

Allgaier conceded his experience overall—and specifically at racing for a championship—has played a major role in his approach.

"I feel like in years past, I‘ve kind of carried it on my back of like, you have to go here and there, lead every lap, qualify on the pole," Allgaier said. "You get caught up in that mentality. Last year, I spun out on Lap 5 just trying to get in front of the other Playoff cars. That‘s not what we needed to do.

"I‘m just looking at this [Championship Race] a lot differently than I have in years past. I don‘t feel the pressure of the championship like I have in years past. I come to this weekend, and I think being here as many times as I have and it‘s not worked out, you get this sense of peace of like, 'I‘ve been here before and not been able to accomplish it.‘ So, with a different mindset we‘ll see what happens.”

Cole Custer wants to cap Stewart-Haas career with another title

Cole Custer‘s life is about to change again—and he wants it to happen with as much gusto as possible.

The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion is carrying the banner for Stewart-Haas Racing, which will cease to exist at season‘s end.

Next year, Custer will return to the NASCAR Cup Series with reconstituted Haas Factory Team, but he would like nothing better than to reward the current ownership and employees at Stewart-Haas with a second straight title in the No. 00 Ford.

"We had a going-away party on Tuesday and seeing all the people that have been there for so long… everybody‘s had a part in our team," Custer said. "We used a lot of notes from the Cup guys (Chase Briscoe, Ryan Preece, Noah Gragson and Josh Berry).

"We asked a lot of questions. A lot of guys have touched that car. It definitely means a ton if we can try to finish this thing out strong… It would mean so much to everybody in that building, but at the same time, I think it would be so cool to see (co-owners) Tony (Stewart‘s) and Gene (Haas) names go out on top."

From a personal perspective, Custer would join an impressive list of consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series title winners that includes Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tyler Reddick.

"It would be huge," Custer said, "and from another standpoint, just having the shot to win a championship in NASCAR—you don‘t get a ton of shots at that, so you want to make every single opportunity at that count.

"So, we‘re going to try to make that happen and hopefully have that title again."

To accomplish the goal, Custer will have to beat veterans Justin Allgaier and AJ Allmendinger, along with Championship 4 newcomer Austin Hill. He‘ll also have to deal with a challenging one-mile, irregularly-shaped race track.

"You‘re taking a 3,000-pound stock car and trying to make it go around a flat corner," Custer said. "So, it‘s very difficult to make the car do that. The two ends are different, and trying to get the car to work at every single point isn‘t easy, because it‘s so different.

"(The track is) starting to get some age to it, so the tires are falling off throughout a run, so you have to have a little bit of everything here."

— NASCAR Wire Service —