Huge day for Jr. Motorsports

Beyond Wallace’s success, the feel-good story of the first Duel goes to Justin Allgaier, and by extension Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the Jr. Motorsports team. Attempting to qualify as a one-off open car, Allgaier had a tough battle going with JJ Yeley, but made a strong run the final two laps and earned his way into the 500. It’s the first-ever start for Jr. Motorsports in the Cup series. 

“This just means so much to Dale, Kelley and L.W.  and everyone at JR Motorsports. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to come make this happen, and it seems like no matter what we’ve done, it hasn’t went the way we wanted it to go. We said anything worth having is worth working for and it’s going to be hard. We’ve proven it time and time again, whether it be last fall at Phoenix or here this weekend,” Allgaier said after qualifying for the 500. “Dale told me before the race – if it’s meant to be, it will happen, and it did. Just really proud. This might seem like not that big of a deal to a lot of people, but when I think about our small team at JR Motorsports –- as big as it is, it really is a small family team. To see this happen tonight, it takes a lot of weight off my shoulders.”

While there are no plans for future races at the moment, I think fans, and NASCAR as a whole, would love to see Dale make the leap at some point and join Cup full-time, 

Who’s on first?

The second Duel was a bit more controversial.

Penske’s Austin Cindric was leading when Erik Jones got a great run on the outside and inched past Cindric at the start/finish line. So Jones naturally drove out to the frontstretch expecting to celebrate, claim the checkered flag and do the winner’s interview.

One problem: He hadn’t actually been declared the winner. That’s because due to cars wrecking behind the leaders, a caution came out just a tiny bit ahead of the start/finish line, so the result was based on location at the time of the caution being thrown.

The question raging after the race: Should NASCAR have thrown the caution?

I can see both sides of this, but part of me believes that it stinks. If the cars are within spitting distance of the checkered flag, what difference will be made if the caution is thrown? I’m all about safety, but it seems like any damage is already in motion with just a few hundred feet remaining in the race.

The awkwardness was on high levels after the race, with Jones initially celebrating near the flag stand but then pausing for confirmation. After several uncomfortable minutes, when Jones heard he did not win, he had to slink back into his car and drive it away.

Later, Cindric took a long walk from pit road to go pick up the checkered flag, but the flagman had apparently left by that point (that’s a new one for me). It was like a sitcom.

Jones explained his perspective on the end of the race.

“After the restart, I was just trying to get to the top, and it finally kind of opened up there on the final lap – I felt like I put myself in a good spot and set myself to try to beat him to the line and did, but unfortunately, the yellow came out before,” Jones said. “It is a bummer – you think you win the race, and I’ve never had that happen so I feel for all of the others in that spot – it’s not fun. Either way, we will go make it up on Sunday.”

He didn’t dwell on the disappointment of the loss, and said he’s hoping to be in the position to pull out the victory in the 500. 

“It’s unfortunate, but either way I feel like the Advent Camry was really fast. It was fun running upfront, fun leading some laps, fun contending for the win. I did everything I could. It just didn’t work out and hopefully we can be in that same spot again on Sunday.”

New point leaders

With the duels being points races, Austin Cindric is now tied with Bubba Wallace for the points lead in Cup. This is the first time in his career that Bubba has led the Cup point standings, and for Cindric it’s his first time at the top of the standings since February of 2022, when he led the list for two weeks at the start of his rookie season.

Open drivers battle for spots

The excitement of having 4 spots open in the 500 lineup for 9 open drivers this year was a nice change of pace. The number grew to 5 with the special provisional added this year, which Helio Castroneves will be the first person to use as the 41st starter.

Making the 500 on qualifying speed were Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr.

Racing their way in via the Duels were Justin Allgaier and Corey Lajoie.

The less fortunate drivers who will miss the race are Chandler Smith, JJ Yeley, Anthony Alfredo and BJ McLeod. 

“When you have to race your way in, you appreciate the event. You appreciate how hard it is. You appreciate the attention it gets,” Lajoie said after qualifying for the 500. “To earn one of those four open spots is really special. You take it for granted when you show up and you know you are racing. It is a different feeling for me driving my motorhome down here with eight hours of windshield time wondering when I am going to be driving the motorhome back, Friday morning or Monday morning? I was never planning for it to be Friday.”

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