Dale Earnhardt Jr. proud of Nashville Xfinity winner Justin Allgaier and rest of team

LEBANON – Dale Earnhardt Jr. spent May 31 in victory lane a day before returning to the Amazon Prime Video broadcast booth for the NASCAR Cup Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

The former Cup Series driver and owner of JR Motorsports joined his driver Justin Allgaier, who won the Xfinity Series Tennessee Lottery 250. Making the moment even more enjoyable for Earnhardt was that Allgaier passed another JR Motorsports driver, Connor Zilisch, for the win. Zilisch finished second.

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"This is a great racetrack for Justin; he always runs good here," Earnhardt said. "Jim Pohlman (Allgaier's crew chief) puts a really great racecar on every single racetrack we go to for Justin. Justin's coming off an (Xfinity Series) championship. He's chased that for so many years and I feel like now that he has that out of the way his race craft is as good as it's ever been."

It was the third win this season for Allgaier. He won back-to-back at Las Vegas and Miami in March and is coming off a fourth-place finish last week at Charlotte.

Allgaier now has 10 top-5 finishes this season.

Zilisch took to the lead on Lap 123. After pole setter William Sawalich spun out, Allgaier past Zilisch on the restart on Lap 141 and stayed in the lead the rest of the way.

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Allgaier was joined in his No. 7 Chevrolet to victory lane for the first time by his daughters Harper and Willow.

Earnhardt said Allgaier's ability to stay calm through races like the Tennessee Lottery 250 has been the key to his success.

"He makes way, way less mistakes (than earlier in his career)," Earnhardt said. "He's just really calm. He's put great races together. He's really dangerous for the rest of the competition at this point, I think, in his career."

Allgaier said winning the championship changed the perspective on his career.

"I always thought I was pretty calm," Allgaier said. "But winning the championship for me was an incredible eye-opening moment. That changed my mentality for how these races go. I used to think it's got to be the perfect night (to win).

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"We sort of had that tonight. But five years ago I probably would have driven myself into the fence trying to get back to the clean air. I would have maybe made a mistake on one of those restarts, put myself in a really bad position and wrecked myself or somebody else."

Zilisch, 18, made his Cup debut in the 2025 Daytona 500. He won the Xfinity race at the Circuits of America two weeks later and finished second last week at Charlotte.

"Zilisch was just really strong (on May 31)," Earnhardt said. "He's still got a lot to gain and grow and understand and he's already pushing Justin for a win tonight. As he continues to develop he's going to be sensational."

JR Motosports' other three entrees also ran well with Ross Chastain finishing fifth, Carson Kvapil ninth and Sammy Smith 10th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. looks forward to second Amazon Prime NASCAR Cup race broadcast

Earnhardt was happy with the first Amazon Prime Video broadcast for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. It exceeded his expectations, which were high.

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"That was a fun race; the 600 has been one of the best races, a lot of people say it might be the best race in the series," Earnhardt said. "So we had a really good race to kick off our coverage. We have a lot of flexibilities on a streaming platform that allow us to do things a little differently the networks don't have. We were in a position to succeed and I'm glad people enjoyed what they saw."

The pressure is now on for Earnhardt and the rest of the Amazon crew that includes Carl Edwards, Adam Alexander, Steve Letarte, Trevor Bayne and Kim Coon to keep produce another strong broadcast.

"We have an incredible team of people; some that I've known very briefly, some that I've known for years," Earnhardt said. "It's weird, it's like a race team with that same competitive spirit, the same want-to, the get-up-and-go, the hustle. All of that is present in the TV compound just like it is in a race shop or garage."

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Dale Earnhardt Jr. proud of Nashville Xfinity winner Justin Allgaier