Justin Allgaier wins Xfinity Series pole at Texas Motor Speedway

For the 10th time in his career, Justin Allgaier has earned the pole award in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. This time at Texas. Allgaier finished just ahead of Trevor Bayne who is making another start with Joe Gibbs Racing. The Texas heat is going to make this a tough race later in the afternoon.

Justin Allgaier won a week ago at Bristol and now he’s got another win in his sights. Starting on the pole is going to give him a great spot to take control of this race and run away with it. Last week, it was a mixed bag for JR Motorsports. This week, they’re hoping to see all four cars perform well in the race today.

Keep an eye on the 7, he’s got strong long-run speed and clearly some quick single-lap speed as well. Bayne loses out on another pole award courtesy of Allgaier and will try to play spoiler today for these playoff drivers.

A big lap from @J_Allgaier!

He wins the pole for today's #NASCARPlayoffs race at @TXMotorSpeedway! pic.twitter.com/pOX0SRbH4W

— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) September 23, 2023

A couple of weeks ago Allgaier was the pole winner at Kansas but was unable to turn that into anything more than a P18 finish. Coming off his win last week from Bristol, the 7 team has a ton of momentum. If they pull off the win today, that would be three wins in five weeks for the JR Motorsports team.

Following Justin Allgaier in the qualifying results were Bayne, Cole Custer, Josh Berry, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Parker Kligerman, Brandon Jones, Chandler Smith, and Riley Herbst. Championship favorite John Hunter Nemechek was P11 in qualifying.

Justin Allgaier making a statement

While the championship race will come down to who finishes better at Phoenixx out of the Championship 4, Justin Allgaier is making a statement early. Gaining this momentum through the first round and heading into the Round of 8, Allgaier could have two wins back-to-back.

While I think the 7-car is going to be strong, Trevor Bayne has been sniffing a win. With all of the work he’s done with JGR this season, is this the time when the youngest Daytona 500 winner ever gets the job done?

Of course, you can never count out Cole Custer or Austin Hilll in these situations. What has surprised me is how poorly JHN was in qualifying.

Right now, I’d list Justin Allgaier, Hill, and Nemechek as my three favorites in the Xfinity Series championship race. Nemechek could fall behind if he isn’t careful later today.