DAYTONA BEACH – Justin Allgaier finished his meet-and-greet duties before Sunday’s Daytona 500 and was aboard a golf cart to leave the BRANDT compound for the seclusion of his motorcoach.

Just as it started to pull away, the driver of the No. 40 Traveler Whiskey Chevrolet, stopped the cart. He hopped off, ran back to the serving table and asked Josh Skipper for a second plate of smoked brisket and a heaping splash of Blue’s Hog Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce.

While the rest of his marketing team waited impatiently on the golf cart, Allgaier talked with Skipper and Ray Forbess while shoving chunks of the meaty goodness in his mouth. As the slices disappeared, Skipper replenished them with more of the drippy pieces of perfection.

“I don't know how many years it's been since they've started coming down here and hanging out with us and cooking for everybody, but it's been really cool,” Allgaier said. “It's been really cool to have them down here and see them be a part of it. They've become part of the group. They fit in so well and become part of the group.”

Others who were part of the meet-and-greet were car owners Dale Earnhardt Jr., sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller and Travelers owner Chris Stapleton.

Skipper and Forbess are part of a pitmaster team from Clay County who are on Earnhardt’s speed dial. They’ve been hired to cook at the Daytona International Speedway, Circuit of America and the Talladega Superspeedway in the last five years, but last weekend’s gig was the biggest.

“It was pretty wild. We had about 55 people on Friday, 128 people on Saturday and 118 people on Sunday,” Skipper said. “And I tell you what, Justin really, I mean, he really got into it. He is awesome. He always talks with us and just spends time with us and gives insight into what he does racing every weekend in and out, and it's pretty awesome. He just treats us like we're part of that team as well.”

Allgaier drives for Earnhardt, and he won the 2024 O’Reilly Auto Parts Championship (formerly Xfinity Series). Skipper, along with Forbess, a Clay County Judge, “Jimbo" and Matthew Mitchell, make up part of the pitmaster team known as the Salty Skipper. They’ve been hired by the Earnhardts and Allgaier’s primary sponsor, BRANDT, for five years to cater large gatherings at several races for the past five years.

And the team never disappoints.

“I’ve been at Daytona four out of the five years,” Forbess said. “What I like is nobody knows what I do. They don’t even know I’m a lawyer. I have so much fun when I work with Josh because he’s so good at this. I really enjoy doing barbecue. Josh is so good at it.”

The Salty Skipper team brought five different grills and smokers, each dedicated to specific meats.

“We cooked a whole hog. We cooked prime rib,” Skipper said. “We did chicken wings. We did briskets, sausage. We did wahoo, filets. We did just about anything and everything you could do.”

The whole hog took 14 hours, and it required Skipper to sleep at the grill so he could keep the fire stoked with wood.

“You have to babysit the grill with that until you get good color on the hog,” Skipper said. “It’s worth the effort.”

While the whole hog was wildly popular, the favorite was using the prime rib to make Chimichurri steak tacos.

“They go wild over those,” Skipper said. “That's like a request. They let me kind of make the menu and do whatever I want to do, but they request that one every time.”

The only leftovers were a few pieces of jalapeño sausage bites after Sunday’s Cup Series race aboard Earnhardt and Stapleton’s No. 40 Chevy.

“Justin wrecked (73 laps short of the checkered flag) and was out of the race early, so a lot of the people left to beat the traffic,” Skipper said. “Otherwise, everything would have been gone.”

Skipper first cooked for Earnhardt, Allgaier and BRANDT in February 2022. Three months later, he was part of the Blues Hog team that won the World Championship at Memphis in May by winning the Whole Hog Division. He hasn’t slowed down since.

“We’ve already worked out being with BRANDT and Justin at the season-finale at Homestead (Nov. 6-8),” Skipper said. “We may have some other dates before that. We’ll see.”