When Jim Pohlman left JR Motorsports to take the job to serve as crew chief for Kyle Busch, Justin Allgaier said that the two-time champion would get back whatever he put into that relationship.
In the end, the Pohlman-Busch pairing lasted just 10 races, with Andy Street returning to a role he occupied on an interim basis last year with the Richard Childress Racing team. Pohlman was replaced on the No. 8 pit box following a start that left Busch just 27th in the championship standings.
There was one exchange from the race at Bristol where Busch and spotter Derek Kneeland seemed to have a defensive relationship with Pohlman. The change was made less than two weeks afterwards.
Meanwhile, Pohlman left JR Motorsports and Allgaier to take the Busch job after winning nine times and a championship. Allgaier still believes in his friend and former crew chief despite how things ultimately played out at Richard Childress Racing.
“Well first of all, I was a big proponent of Jim taking this opportunity and I still feel as though he was the right choice for that job,” Allgaier said to a Motorsport.com question after winning the pole for the O’Reilly Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. “Obviously, it didn’t work out the way that any of us wanted it to
“And look, I’m not going to put that on Jim’s shoulders. Could he have done things better? Absolutely. But I think that everyone in this scenario is going to have to look in the mirror and figure out what they need to do to be better.”
Allgaier said that he talked to Pohlman on Saturday last week at Talladega so the news on Monday did not surprise him.
At the same time, I’m still disappointed and I feel like Jim’s passion is because he has been around the sport long enough and I know he knows what he’s doing well enough that he is the right person for the job, right?”
Allgaier still thinks Pohlman is a Cup Series crew chief.
“I think he can go, in the right circumstance or right scenario, go win races,” he said. “I look at what Jim did for our company, at JR Motorsports, and myself as a race car driver and person, and it’s understated.
“I don’t know what the role looks like for him moving forward. I don’t know what their plan is moving forward, if he stays or goes, or whatever. But I am proud of what he has accomplished in the sport and look forward to seeing what ends up happening. He’s in a good spot to go make a team and driver go out there and have success.”
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– The Motorsport.com Team