Justin Allgaier now has six wins in the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts season, but the most recent victory came in a wildly unpredictable way. Restarting fifth in double overtime, he survived the chaos to claim his 34th career win.
It was a JR Motorsports 1-2, with Carson Kvapil narrowly snagging second right at the finish line. Parker Retzlaff was third, William Sawalich fourth, and Anthony Alfredo fifth.
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Garrett Smithley, Brandon Jones, Kyle Sieg, Rajah Caruth, and Jeremy Clements filled out the remainder of the top ten.
At the white flag, Brennan Poole was in the lead with Nick Sanchez challenging, but they ended up crashing after contact from Kvapil in the battle for the win. A devastated Poole finished 17th, and Sanchez was 19th.
The race featured a record 13 cautions and four red flags, lasting well over three hours.
Stages 1 and 2
There was a clutch issue for Jeb Burton before the race even began, and he fell out of the event without even taking the green flag.
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Just after the start, there was another mechanical issue, with Joey Gase leaking fluid all over the track. A lengthy cleanup followed, and the race did not resume for over ten laps after that.
There was also some drama for the pre-race favorite, as Hill came down pit road to address a sticking throttle, which the RCR team appeared to rectify.
Things quickly strung out with some single-file running at the front in the next run, with Leland Honeyman ending the green-flag stint with a spin at the exit of Turn 4.
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Later, pole-sitter Mayer lost the lead and immediately struggled in traffic, sliding up into the wall and suffering a flat tire. The race stayed green as he limped his Haas Chevy back to the pits.
Kvapil went on to win Stage 1 as Jones spun in the midfield, collecting Hill and giving the No. 21 slight nose damage.
Crews was now in control after staying out during the stage break, but there was a lot of shuffling in the restart that followed. Crews, H. Burton, S. Smith, and Caruth all took the lead at some point before Smith prevailed.
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Staropoli then went for a spin on the apron, but the race remained green as the field quickly spread out. JRM was fully in control, and gapped the field. At the end of the stage, Smith and Allgaier were all alone, with Allgaier passing him for the Stage 2 in a photo finish.
Stage 3
Austin Hill crashes with others, No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Austin Hill crashes with others, No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
The final stage got underway with 65 laps left in the race. There was a caution soon after as H. Burton lost an engine, resulting in another lengthy cleanup.
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Creed was in control of the race as the green flag finally waved again. He stayed in control as drivers made big moves to try and cut through the field, including Hill, who kept taking other drivers three-wide.
Corey Day and Taylor Gray triggered the sixth caution of the race when they crashed at the exit of Turn 4. This led to a red flag and another lengthy cleanup. Unfortunately, the next run didn’t last very long either, as a restart stackup left Mayer with heavy nose damage. As he limped around the track, Clements went spinning in a separate incident.
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This led to yet another red flag with 40 laps to go. Smith made a bold three-wide move for the lead, which dragged back Creed and helped Caruth to clear both for the lead.
Unfortunately, it was another short run as Glen Reen spun at the back of the pack. The carnage continued as Jake Finch lost control and slammed the wall, causing the next caution. He was running just outside the top five at the time. He also caused the caution after that, struggling with the damaged car.
At the time of caution, Hill was now leading the race. But JRM worked together on the following restart to push him back, putting Allgaier in control. Moments later, the third red flag of the race was set to fly as Jordan Anderson attempted to go four-wide at the backend of the top ten.
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They ran out of room, sending several cars crashing into the wall. Anderson, Love, Creed, and Crews were all destroyed. The wreck also collected several others, including Honeyman, Retzlaff, Sawalich, Jones, Leitz, and Thompson.
During each of these red flag stoppages, JRM team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. was constantly on the radio, coaching his drivers on how to best control the race. His drivers were running 1-2-3-4 for a restart with just seven laps to go.
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It was pure insanity at the front of the field, as Hill cut a path to the front. He got squeezed into the wall by Allgaier, and then moved Allgiaer out of the way in the next corner.
As Smith and Kvapil battled side-by-side for the lead, Hill threw it to the inside in a daring three-wide move for the lead. But in the next corner, he got loose after a mid-corner bump from Sanchez. Hill spun and several cars crashed. Along with Hill, three JRM cars — Smith, Caruth, and Allgaier — were involved. Ryan Ellis also crashed heavily, slamming into Hill’s spinning car. K. Sieg and Staropoli also got a piece of it.
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This led to an exceptional fourth red flag of the race, and pushed the race into overtime. That would quickly become double overtime as Clements struggled to get rolling, and got turned into the outside wall on the restart. Clements also collided with Lavar Scott while spinning, severely damaging both cars.
On the restart, Sieg ran out of fuel, and Sanchez took the lead. Poole then charged ahead, searching for his first ‘official’ NASCAR O’Reilly win, and was leading at the white flag. Sadly, seconds later, he was crashing into the outside wall with Sanchez.
Dragging something and throwing sparks, Allgaier was now in control, and while Retzlaff was right behind him, he had no help. Allgaier claimed the checkered flag, with Kvapil actually passing Retzlaff right at the finish line to make it a JRM 1-2.
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