Justin Allgaier has had some pretty amazing seasons in NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series competition, but 2026 may end up being the best of them all. Already having the best start to the season of any driver in the series, Allgaier went out and had a perfect day on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.
The driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet paced practice, and then would go on to score the pole position for Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 at Texas.
Starting Lineup: NOAPS Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 at Texas
Allgaier cranked off a lap time of 28.631 seconds in qualifying, which equates to a blistering-fast 188.607 mph average speed around the 1.5-mile speedway in Fort Worth, TX. The pole is Allgaier’s first of the season, and it marks the 13th pole position of his illustrious O’Reilly Series career.
Brandon Jones, who has been close to victory lane this season, nearly topped Allgaier on his qualifying lap, however, Jones slipped a bit late in his lap, which allowed Allgaier to hold serve with a lap time 0.081 seconds faster than Jones.
Kyle Larson was the fastest full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver in the session, as he recorded the third-fastest lap time in the qualifying session. Larson is driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports this weekend.
Connor Zilisch, another full-time NASCAR Cup driver, will start fourth in the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, and 18-year-old phenom Brent Crews locked down the fifth starting spot in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Corey Day, Austin Hill, Jeremy Clements, Ryan Sieg, and Parker Retzlaff rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Saturday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Austin Dillon, driving in this race behind the wheel of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, will start from the 20th position. For Dillon, who was the first car on track in the session, this will be his first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start of the season.
