BRISTOL, Tenn. — Justin Allgaier and Jesse Love agreed on one thing — and maybe only one thing — in the post-race heat of Friday night‘s Food City 300 O‘Reilly Auto Parts race: Love made a bad decision in the closing laps.
Battling Allgaier for the lead on Lap 287 of 305, Love pushed Allgaier hard into the outside wall. It was a stunning meeting of the series‘ past two champions, creating a moment of calamity and some tense moments post-race.
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After the race ended in overtime with a win by Sheldon Creed, Allgaier, who finished fourth, rushed along pit road from his car to Love‘s. Allgaier put his head inside the car and had more than a few choice words for Love.
Allgaier returned to his car, where JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had an extended conversation with Allgaier and seemed to cool the temperature of the moment.
“I‘m disappointed in the move that got made, but, at the end of the day, that‘s racing,” Allgaier said. “I feel like we rebounded really well from that and came out of here with a really solid, solid day. A great points day, but just way shorter than I thought.”
Allgaier said he told Love, “that I‘ve raced you extremely clean here and I‘m disappointed. I just don‘t understand it, right? I think that‘s the hardest part. You know, if he‘d have gone in there and moved me out of the way a little bit or something like that, but to drive me into the fence, it just didn‘t make a whole lot of sense.”
Asked how Love responded, Allgaier, said, “I don‘t know that he had a response. He just shook his head. He knew it was a bad decision. … Things will happen inside of 10 to go, and sometimes you‘re the bug and sometimes you‘re the windshield. That‘s how it goes.”
Love, who finished 17th after slapping the wall later in the race, said Allgaier was justified in being angry.
“I‘m not going to say that I don‘t possess the talent to control the car,” Love said. “But that doesn‘t mean I don‘t regret it. I made a bad decision to use him up. I needed to run my best corner, and instead I got caught in a moment racing him.
“I‘ve had run-ins with JR Motorsports but not with the 7 (Allgaier) car or anybody on that team. So I made an enemy that I didn‘t need to make, and I‘m pretty frustrated with myself for, I guess, my lack of awareness of the situation. I know that I know better than to do that. It‘s a bad night to be me right now. I made a bad decision, and there‘s a lot of consequence that comes along with that.
“I‘m not going to tell you what he said to me, but I drove into him, and we all saw what happened.”
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Earnhardt spent more than the usual amount of time talking to Allgaier after the race.
“I didn’t really appreciate how the 2 (Love) raced him there, but he kind of got a little bit of the same medicine,” Earnhardt said. “But it’s late in the race. They’re going for championships. I think Jesse knows that Justin’s going to be hard to beat in this championship. So I would have rather him not have done that and tried to make the corner and pass Justin cleanly, but ended up working out OK.”
Allgaier said the incident won‘t leak into the rest of The Chase presented by Mobil 1.
“I feel like my entire career has been about not being that guy or trying not to be that guy,” he said. “We won‘t have a problem moving forward. I just wish he would have thought differently and made a different decision.”