That said, when the series' past two champions collide on track, nobody walks away quiet. During the closing laps of Friday night's Food City 300 O'Reilly Auto Parts race at Bristol, Jesse Love made a bad decision that shoved Justin Allgaier hard into the outside wall on Lap 287 of 305. It was a stunning meeting that created instant calamity and plenty of post-race heat at Bristol, Tennessee.
After the race wrapped up in overtime with a win by Sheldon Creed, a fourth-place finishing Allgaier rushed straight down pit road to Love's car. He thrust his head inside the cockpit and let loose with some choice words. JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. then stepped in, having an extended conversation with Allgaier by his car to help cool down the moment.
Allgaier made his frustration clear afterward, noting that he had always raced Love extremely clean at the venue. If Love had just nudged him out of the way, it would have been different, but driving him straight into the fence made no sense. When Allgaier confronted him, Love reportedly just shook his head without much of a response, knowing instantly it was a bad call. Still, Allgaier acknowledged that sometimes you are the bug and sometimes you are the windshield when things happen inside of 10 laps to go.
For his part, Love didn't hide from his mistake after tumbling back to a 17th-place finish following a later wall slap of his own. He admitted he possesses the talent to control the machine, but deeply regretted the move anyway. Love explained that he got caught in the moment instead of running his best corner, creating an enemy he simply did not need with JR Motorsports and the number 7 car.
Earnhardt wasn't thrilled with how the number 2 machine raced his driver either, noting that while Love dished it out, he also got a bit of the same medicine later. Yet with championships on the line late in the race, Earnhardt recognized that Jesse knows Justin is going to be hard to beat in the title fight, even if he would have preferred a clean pass.
Thankfully, Allgaier insisted the feud will not bleed into the rest of The Chase presented by Mobil 1. He stated his entire career has been built on avoiding that kind of driving and confirmed they won't have a problem moving forward, even if he wished Love had thought differently in the heat of battle.
