Motorsports 101 Debate: Where Will Justin Allgaier Race in 2013?

 

Justin Allgaier’s future is still up in the air; the 26 year old driver from Riverton, Illinois still doesn’t have a contract for the 2013 season. His contract with his current team, Turner Motorsports, runs out at the end of the 2012 season.

 

 

 

At first when thinking about where Allgaier would land I thought I had it nailed. Allgaier, whose career has been good in the Nationwide Series, would be leaving a Nationwide only team and moving to JR Motorsports, where they would use Hendrick resources and he would bring his sponsor Brandt along for the ride. It looked like Allgaier would go there. That was until it was announced that both Cole Whitt and Regan Smith will drive for the organization in 2013 and in the press release there was no mention of Justin Allgaier. It made me really sit there and wonder.

Then it came to me. A great realization came to me. Justin Allgaier would indeed be moving to greener pastures and what a move this would be for him. It wasn’t JR Motorsports, no Allgaier and his sponsor Brandt will be picking up and moving to Richard Childress Racing next season for Allgaier to drive the #2 Brandt Chevrolet, in the car that will be vacated by Elliott Sadler. It will be Allgaier’s chance to prove that

he is a championship caliber racecar driver with top notch equipment. Sadler is rumored to be moving to Joe Gibbs Racing and is rumored to be taking his sponsor One Main Financial with him.

 

Who knows if Allgaier will really go to RCR, but it will be a perfect fit. Childress will still have two cars running for a championship in Nationwide, Allgaier is one of the nicest guys in the series and will bring a lot of positivity to the race team and you have someone who can potentially be a Cup driver in the right situation. Could we see Justin Allgaier in a fourth Richard Childress car for a few races in Cup next season? Could he be Jeff Burton’s full-time replacement? Allgaier now has the funding to do so.

 

It should be interesting to see because it would take a big time offer for someone to woo someone away from Turner Motorsports, but an offer from Richard Childress Racing could certainly do that.

 

 

Everyone knows that NASCAR rides are at a premium and a lot of times are based on solely on being able to attract sponsorship dollars. Justin Allgaier seems to have a loyal sponsor in Brandt that will follow him to basically any ride. If Allgaier is even thinking of leaving Turner Motorsports, a very competitive Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series team, then it has to have Sprint Cup Series ends.

 

Most of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series rides are already spoken for though. One team that has not said what it’s 2013 plans are, is Phoenix Racing and owner James Finch. He ran Kurt Busch to start the 2012 season in the No. 51 car and then has had AJ Allmendinger in the car since Busch has moved to Furniture Row Racing. For the final two races of 2012 Regan Smith will drive for Phoenix Racing.

 

Before Allmendinger and Smith were named as Busch’s replacements, Allgaier was one of the names rumored to be on the short list. Finch has said he desperately needs a driver that can attract a sponsor and isn’t even sure if he will run his team in 2013 if he can’t find sponsorship. Signing Allgaier and having Brandt come on board as a full-time sponsor would allow for Phoenix Racing to grow and become a competitive team week in and week out.

 

 

 

This scenario most likely will not happen, especially since Allgaier did not get any of the final 2012 races with the organization. What is more likely is that Allgaier stays in the Nationwide Series for 2013 and then would have a chance at moving to Cup in the future from there. The 2008 ARCA Racing Series champion has competed in all 135 Nationwide Series races the past four seasons with Penske Racing in 2009 and 2010 and Turner Motorsports in 2011 and 2012. He has three wins and 68 top 10’s in that time.

 

Richard Childress Racing would make some sense for Allgaier to be looking at for 2013. It might not be the best end game for a Sprint Cup ride though since Austin and Ty Dillon both have to figure to be two future drivers there. Joe Gibbs Racing announced on Tuesday that Brian Vickers will be in a full-time roll with the team in 2013 in the Nationwide Series and rumors are that so will Elliott Sadler. That basically takes JGR out of the running for Allgaier.

 

Would Roush Fenway Racing be looking to bring Allgaier on board with Brandt to be a full-time teammate to Trevor Bayne next year? Maybe but right now odds are on RCR to land Allgaier or it would make sense for him to stay put at Turner Motorsports.