NASCAR fan favorite reveals wife stopped him from retiring

NASCAR veteran Justin Allgaier has revealed his wife once shot down his plans to call it quits on his racing career.

At 39 years old, Allgaier continues to race full-time in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series heading into 2026, and his record in the division is incredible.

So far, the JR Motorsports driver has racked up 505 races in the series, winning 28 times and finishing inside the top five on 128 occasions.

However, those statistics might not look quite as impressive had the Illinois native had his way a few seasons ago.

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Justin Allgaier: Wife shot down retirement plan

Allgaier recently recalled a time when he considered retiring from the sport if he was to win the championship finale at Phoenix. However, the 39-year-old says his plans were well and truly shot down by his wife, Ashley.

“She, like three years ago, I guess. Almost four now. Friday night before Phoenix, right? We're sitting at dinner, and I knew that at the time that I was getting ready to get a new crew chief and things were kind of just struggling,” Allgaier recalled to SpeedFreaks.

“I didn't know that Jim Pohlman was going to be my crew chief yet, and I told my wife, I said, ‘If I win a championship tonight, I'm standing on that stage and I'm dropping the mic and I'm out’.

“And she's like, I mean, this is in front of…we had 25 people at dinner, and she's like, ‘No, you're not’. And I was like, ‘Yeah, I am,’ and she's like, ‘No!’.

“But I realised in that moment how much I still love the sport, and I realised that there's still value to give, right? There's still things to go do.”

Allgaier will be glad his wife intervened. He went on to win the Xfinity Series championship in 2024, and will once again be one of the favorites for the title heading into 2026, particularly considering the return to The Chase.

Allgaier's season will get underway at Daytona International Speedway in February, where he'll be driving in the O'Reilly Series as well as attempting to qualify for the 500 with JR Motorsports, just as he did in 2025.