The NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) made its second and final stop of the 2013 season at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) for racing underneath the Friday night lights. The one-day show meant a long day for Justin Allgaier and the BRANDT racing team with a two hour, 50 minute practice session to start Friday morning. After running 146 laps in the only practice session of the weekend, Allgaier finished second on the practice chart. Qualifying for the Food City 250 began in the afternoon on Friday. After a short delay due to rain, Allgaier laid down a lap time of 15.382 seconds which put him in the fourth starting position for the 250-lap race and continued his streak of all top-10 starts in the fall race at BMS. After four cautions, three pit stops and staying in the top-10 all night, Allgaier brought his No. 31 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet Camaro home in the fourth position for Turner Scott Motorsports.
Allgaier took the green flag on Friday night as the sun was setting over the 0.533-mile track. He wasted no time working his way up to the second position on lap 2 in the No. 31 BRANDT Chevy. While Allgaier maintained the second position, on lap 22 he reported to crew chief Scott Zipadelli that his BRANDT Chevy was free into the corner and tight late in the center. Allgaier continued to hold onto the second position for the first long green-flag run of the race until the caution came out at lap 65. Zipadelli made the call for Allgaier to come down pit road for Sunoco fuel, four Goodyear tires, an adjustment and to clean the grille. After the pit stop, Allgaier restarted in the third position on lap 71. After a few laps of green-flag racing, Allgaier relayed to Zipadelli on lap 74 that his No. 31 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro was really tight. After reporting his tight condition, Allgaier maintained the fourth position until the second caution of the race came out at lap 103. Zipadelli brought Allgaier down pit road for fuel, four tires and an adjustment. Allgaier restarted seventh on lap 109 after other competitors only took two tires on pit road.
On lap 115, Allgaier slipped back to the 10th position but was able to work his way back through traffic, and on lap 119 he moved into the fifth position. On lap 124, Allgaier reported to crew chief Scott Zipadelli that his car was very good. Allgaier took his good car and moved into the fourth position on lap 143 after he passed Trevor Bayne. The third caution of the race came out at lap 153 and Zipadelli made the call for Allgaier to stay out on the track, and he restarted third on lap 163. After a short green-flag run, the fourth caution came out at lap 167 for an accident on the frontstretch. Zipadelli brought Allgaier down pit road for the final time in the 250-lap race. The No. 31 BRANDT pit crew changed four tires, added fuel and made an adjustment. Allgaier restarted eighth on lap 178 after several competitors did not come down pit road. With fresh tires, Allgaier steadily worked his way through traffic, and at lap 210 he was in the fourth position. Allgaier maintained the fourth position until the checkered flag waved at the 250-lap race. With Allgaier’s fourth-place finish in his No. 31 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet Camaro, he moved into fifth-place in the NNS Driver Point Standings. Friday night’s fourth-place finish was also Allgaier’s best fall finish at BMS.
“We had a really, really good BRANDT Camaro tonight at Bristol [Motor Speedway],” said Allgaier. “We moved up a spot in the point standings which is great and overall we had a good race. Everyone at Turner Scott Motorsports has been working really hard and been giving me great race cars. My crew guys worked hard all day in practice and during qualifying, and we had great pit stops tonight. My teammate, Kyle [Larson] finished right behind; it’s nice to have two Turner Scott cars in the top five. I have to thank all of the fans who came out for the race too. I hope they enjoyed the night.”
The NNS heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway next Saturday night for the Great Clips/Grit Chips 300. Television coverage begins with NNS Countdown on ESPN2 at 7:00 p.m. EDT.
TSM PR
