Justin Allgaier Wins at Darlington

The experienced driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Justin Allgaier, leveraged outstanding pit stops during caution periods to overtake Brandon Jones in the final two restarts, securing victory in Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 by a margin of 0.578 seconds. This triumph marked Allgaier’s fourth win at the 1.366-mile track, his second of the 2026 season, and the 30th win of his Xfinity Series career, tying him with Joey Logano for seventh on the all-time wins list.

Following a slow pit stop during the third and final caution on Lap 127, which relegated dominant pole-sitter Kyle Larson to fifth position, Allgaier took the lead from Jones on the last restart with 15 laps remaining and maintained his position to cross the finish line first.

Allgaier became the first driver to secure two victories in the 2026 season, marking the fourth consecutive win for JR Motorsports Chevrolets.

“These guys have persevered all year—they truly won the race,” Allgaier said, referring to his pit crew. “They never gave up. They excelled on pit road throughout the day.

“We certainly weren’t the best all day. Kyle (Larson) was outstanding. He had us outpaced... I didn’t perform well today, to be honest. It was probably one of my toughest days personally at Darlington.

Towards the end, I was concerned about Brandon (Jones)—he had a fast car—and I was worried that the 19 (third-place finisher Christopher Bell) and the 88 (Larson) would navigate through the traffic.”

The 39-year-old added that as one advances in their career, victories become more significant, especially at a venue like Darlington.

Larson led the initial 94 laps from the pole position and dominated the first two stages, but lost the lead during a pit stop and saw Allgaier overtake him on the Lap 99 restart. Although he temporarily regained the lead, following the final caution—caused by a five-car incident involving Dean Thompson, Austin Hill, Kyle Sieg, Alex Labbe, and Lavar Scott—Larson managed to recover only one position, finishing fourth.

“Passing became more challenging,” Larson said. “Towards the end, the pace increased, and it was difficult to maneuver. It’s unfortunate, but that’s racing sometimes. It’s disappointing, but I enjoyed today’s race.”

Jones, who led laps after effective pit stops, opted for the bottom lane during the final restart but couldn’t match Allgaier’s acceleration from the outside.

“The 7 got slightly better launches than I could in that second lane, and he had just a bit more speed on the short runs today,” Jones said. “We were equal to, if not slightly better, on the long runs, but ultimately ran out of laps.”