When NASCAR announced a newly adjusted restart zone for the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, many expected chaos. And guess what? Late in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250, we got it.
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Justin Allgaier, who won the opening Stage of the race, and led 10 laps in the race, found himself with a great shot at winning the race. However, Jeb Burton and the No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing team opted to stay on the track on old tires, in order to gain track position in hopes of stealing a win.
The gamble didn’t pay off.
Burton over-cooked the first turn, and skidded into Allgaier, which sent the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro hard into the outside wall. In an instant, Allgaier’s bid to win was over.
Jeb Burton bodyslams Justin Allgaier into the wall! #NASCARPlayoffs | @NBC | @XfinityRacing pic.twitter.com/DOofOGbGTX
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 7, 2023
After the race, Burton was filled with regret for his late-race miscue, which cost Allgaier a good finish, and frustration over the new restart zone.
Jeb Burton says he feels the ROVAL restart line was moved to create what happened to him at the end of today’s race. He profusely apologizes for ruining Justin Allgaier’s day, and hopes Allgaier is okay. Says he’ll talk to him and that he has immense respect for Allgaier. pic.twitter.com/Ez5iO5dDZv
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) October 7, 2023
“I think the reason [NASCAR changed the restart zone] is for what I just did,” Burton said with dejection.
Burton, who was on older tires, says that due to where the restart zone was placed, his No. 27 car was carrying more speed into the Turn 1 zone than it had all race long. As a result, he misjudged the upcoming corner, and all hell broke loose.
“I was on older tires. I think I was going faster than I had been all day,” Burton explained. “I just made a mistake. I hate it for Justin. Hopefully he’s alright.”
While he was frustrated with the restart zone, Burton reiterated that he made a horrendous error behind the wheel, and he owned the incident that destroyed Allgaier’s car.
“I just ran it in there too hard. It was a mistake on my part,” Burton stated.
Burton, who was eliminated from the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs with a 34th-place finish on Saturday, says he will speak to Allgaier and apologize to his fellow competitor.
“Yeah,” Burton answered when asked if he would talk to Allgaier about the incident. “I respect Justin a tremendous amount. We’ve never really had a problem on the race track at all. Yeah, it was a total accident. Total screw-up on my part. I wish he wouldn’t have been there, and I would have just wrecked myself. I was wrecking [whether] he was there or not. He was just a victim of my wreck is what happened.”
