While many NASCAR fans (including this one) may not have been able to see the rain-delayed Cuervo 300, it was the extended pre-race show for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race that may have provided the biggest news of the day.
While being interviewed, Justin Allgaier, driver of the #7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, let it slip that he had been contemplating retiring at the end of the season. The commentators were quick to point out that Allgaier is having an incredible season.
They’re not wrong. Allgaier is leading the O’Reilly Series Points standings, outdistancing his closest rival, Jesse Love, by 240 points. He has already wrapped up the regular season championship with several races left to go. To give you a sense of how dominant Allgaier has been this year, even Denny Hamlin, the inevitable Cup Series champion (but that’s another column for another time), only has four wins. Tyler Reddick, who many felt was on his way to the Cup title, has another five. Allgaier has already racked up six wins. No other O’Reilly Series regular has more than two.
The statistics have led some commentators and pundits to suggest that, with him being so dominant, Allgaier shouldn’t be planning to retire any time soon.
I disagree, and I say this as someone who will certainly find himself cheering Allgaier on a regular basis. I think 2026, especially if the season ends in a second O’Reilly Auto Parts championship for him, should be Allgaier’s swan song in terms of his full-time NASCAR career.
Allgaier has nothing left to prove. A former Rookie of the Year, he’s won the O’Reilly’s Auto Parts Series championship (2024) and 34 races overall. In a series that’s all too often dominated by Cup Series regulars, he’s the Series’ all-time leader in Top 10s. His consistency, success and overall commitment to the Series haven’t gone unnoticed by the fans, as he is a six-time Most Popular Driver recipient. He even represented JR Motorsports in the Cup Series, helping the team make their Cup debut in the 2025 Daytona 500, finishing ninth.
If these were his statistics from his Cup career, there’d be no question that Allgaier would be at least in the conversation for the Hall of Fame. (Actually, 34 Cup wins would tie him with Kurt Busch, a Hall of Famer, and Martin Truex Jr.) I would argue that his numbers are even more impressive when you consider they came in a series too often dominated by Cup Series regulars looking for extra practice, to have some fun, or to get an ego boost.
So why am I calling for his retirement? Not necessarily because he turned 40 on June 6, but NASCAR history is full of stories of great drivers and champions who held on too long. Richard Petty won his final race in 1984 but continued racing in an attempt to recapture his past glory until his final season in 1992 when, in his own words, “I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, and I went out in a blaze” after the 1992 Hooters 500. Darrell Waltrip’s career ended with a string of backmarker finishes and non-competitive performances. Even Jimmie Johnson went winless over the course of his final three full-time years and has but one Top 10 since his return to part-time competition.
If Allgaier were to call it a career at the end of the season, he would leave NASCAR as perhaps the most successful O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver of all time, a future Hall of Famer and most importantly, at a point where he was still competitive week in and week out.
johnmilner.ca 