Connor Zilisch spoiled teammate Kyle Larson’s dominant run by snatching a late NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory in the Suburban Propane 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 11.
The 19-year-old Zilisch from Charlotte, North Carolina, led three times for 24 of 300-scheduled laps in an event where he started in 15th place and methodically drove his way to the front. As the event transitioned into nighttime racing, Zilisch’s No. 1 entry from JR Motorsports gained fast pace. After recording a total of 11 points from the event’s first two stage periods, Zilisch spent a bulk of the final stage period racing within the top-five mark.
Then, during a late-race caution with 27 laps remaining, Zilisch was among three competitors who opted to remain on the track with the exact tires used before the start of the final stage period, while the rest, led by Larson, pitted. Despite fending off Larson to retain the lead during a late-race restart with 22 laps remaining, Zilisch’s late charge was stalled when a spin by Anthony Alfredo drew another caution and stacked up the field with 18 laps remaining.
In the early portions of an 11-lap dash to the finish, Zilisch was outdueled by Brent Crews, but the former spent the next four laps challenging the latter until Crews hit the backstretch’s outside wall. With the lead back in his possession, Zilisch spent the final laps fending off Larson to capture his first checkered flag of the 2026 NASCAR campaign and his first at the Last Great Coliseum.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, William Sawalich secured his first O’Reilly pole position of the 2026 season and the third of his career with a pole-winning lap at 122.733 mph in 15.634 seconds. Sheldon Creed started alongside Sawalich on the front row after the former posted his fastest qualifying lap at 122.404 mph in 15.676 seconds.
Before the event, Carson Kvapil dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change that was made to his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro entry. Rajah Caruth also started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet Camaro entry and prevented him from qualifying on the track.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter William Sawalich launched his No. 18 Soundgear Toyota Supra entry ahead from the outside lane and he quickly transitioned to the inside lane through the first two turns. Just as Sawalich cycled back to the frontstretch and led the first lap over teammates Brandon Jones and Taylor Gray, along with Sheldon Creed, the event’s first caution flew due to Mason Maggio getting loose and spinning in the backstretch.
The beginning of the next restart on the sixth lap featured Sawalich getting pushed by teammate Brandon Jones. This allowed him to fend off Creed from the outside lane to retain the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. As Sawalich led the next lap, teammate Jones and Creed battled for the runner-up spot before the latter motored ahead of the former to retain the spot. With Sawalich leading at the Lap 10 mark, Creed and Jones followed in pursuit while Kyle Larson was fending off Sam Mayer and Taylor Gray for fourth place.
Through the first 25-scheduled laps, Sawailch was leading by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Larson while Creed, Jones, Mayer, Gray, Justin Allgaier, Jesse Love, Parker Retzlaff and Brennan Poole were racing in the top 10 ahead of Ryan Sieg, Corey Day, Connor Zilisch, Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton, respectively. Behind, Connor Zilisch trailed in 16th place ahead of Anthony Alfredo, Kyle Sieg, Harrison Burton and Carson Kvapil. Austin Hill and Rajah Caruth were mired in 23rd and 28th, respectively.
Three laps later, Larson used the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4 to overtake Sawalich, who was navigating through lapped traffic over the previous lap, and led for the first time. Larson proceeded to stretch his advantage to half a second by the Lap 30 mark, eight-tenths of a second by the Lap 35 mark and more than a second by the Lap 40 mark. Behind, Creed, who overtook Sawalich for the runner-up spot just past the Lap 30 mark, retained the runner-up spot over Sawalich, Jones and Allgaier while Mayer, Love, Retzlaff, Gray and Ryan Sieg trailed in the top 10, respectively.
At the Lap 50 mark, Larson, who lapped 14 competitors, including Rajah Caruth, extended his lead to two seconds over Creed while Sawalich, Jones and Allgaier trailed in the top-five mark by under five seconds. Larson proceeded to grow his advantage to five seconds by Lap 60 before the caution returned two laps later. The latest caution was for Austin Green dropping off the pace and being unable to steer his entry from the top to the bottom of the track to pit.
When pit road became accessible, nearly the entire lead lap led by Larson pitted for service, while the rest led by Ryan Sieg, Anthony Alfredo and Jeremy Clements remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson exited pit road first ahead of Jones, Sawalich, Creed and Allgaier.
As the event restarted on Lap 70, Ryan Sieg, who restarted on the outside lane, managed to fend off and motor ahead of Clements through the first two turns as Clements nearly got loose entering the backstretch. With Clements losing a bevy of spots while trying to regain pace, Larson battled Alfredo for the runner-up spot as Sieg led the next lap. Sieg continued to lead just past the Lap 75 mark while Larson started to reel in Sieg from the runner-up spot. Behind, Creed, Jones and Allgaier overtook Alfredo to move into the top five while Clements dropped to 18th place. Soon after, Larson dueled with Ryan Sieg for the lead on Lap 80 before the former used the four fresh tires to reassume the lead.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 85, Larson captured his third O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Creed navigated his way into the runner-up spot while Ryan Sieg fended off Allgaier to claim third place. Jones, Sawalich, Zilisch, Love, Mayer and Corey Day were in the top 10, respectively. By then, 30 of 38 starters were on the lead lap.
Under the event’s first stage break period, some led by Ryan Sieg and including Alfredo, Clements, Caruth, Kyle Sieg, Josh Bilicki, Blaine Perkins, JJ Yeley, Lavar Scott, Logan Bearden, Gray Gaulding, Patrick Staropoli and Harrison Burton pitted their respective entries while the rest led by Larson remained on the track.
The second stage period started on Lap 97 as teammates Larson and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Larson launched his No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead from the outside lane and he led through the first two turns and the backstretch. Larson led the next lap and Creed motored his way into the runner-up spot while Jones battled and overtook Allgaier for third place. Larson’s lead stood at three-tenths of a second at the Lap 100 mark while Creed, Jones, Allgaier and Zilisch followed suit in the top five, respectively.
Following another caution that flew on Lap 101 due to both Logan Bearden and Garrett Smithley spinning from the rear of the field through Turns 3 and 4, the next restart on Lap 107 featured Larson gaining another strong launch from the outside lane and quickly leading the next lap while a three-wide action between Brent Crews, Jesse Love and Carson Kvapil within the top-10 mark ensued. Amid the on-track actions within the field, Larson led by four-tenths of a second over Creed just past the Lap 110 mark while Allgaier, Jones and Zilisch followed suit in the top five over Sawalich, Mayer, Crews, Day and Austin Hill, respectively.
On Lap 125, Larson stabilized his lead to nine-tenths of a second over Creed while Allgaier, Zilisch, Crews, Jones, Sawalich, Mayer, Day and Kvapil were racing in the top 10 over Austin Hill, Love, Jeb Burton, Ryan Sieg, Retzlaff, Gray, Dean Thompson, Sammy Smith, Brennan Poole and Caruth, respectively. Larson proceeded to grow his lead to nearly two seconds by Lap 135 and by exactly two seconds on Lap 140 while Creed continued to trail in the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Zilisch trailed by more than two seconds in third place while teammate Allgaier and Crews remained in the top five.
At the halfway mark on Lap 150, Larson extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Creed while Zilisch only trailed Creed by a tenth of a second in a bid for the runner-up spot. With teammate Allgaier and Crews remaining in the top five, Jones, Sawalich, Mayer, Day and Kvapil occupied top-10 spots. They were followed by Love, Austin Hill, Jeb Burton, Ryan Sieg, and Retzlaff with 23 of 38 starters on the lead lap.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 170, Larson cruised to his second O’Reilly stage victory of the event as his lead stood to more than three seconds. Creed, Allgaier, Zilisch and Crews settled in the top five while Sawalich, Jones, Mayer, Day and Kvapil completed the top 10. By then, 20 of 38 starters were on the lead lap.
During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Larson pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Larson retained the lead by exiting pit road first ahead of teammates Allgaier and Zilisch, while Creed and Sawalich followed suit, respectively.
With 118 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as teammates Larson and Zilisch occupied the front row. At the start, Larson rocketed ahead from the outside lane and led through the first two turns while teammate Allgaier zipped past Zilisch for the runner-up spot. As Larson led the next lap, Allgaier retained second place while Creed and Zilisch dueled for third place in front of Sawalich. With the field also fanning out, bumping and jostling for late spots, Larson led by six-tenths of a second with less than 110 laps remaining.
Then with 106 laps remaining, the caution returned due to Mason Maggio blowing up and leaving a thick trail of smoke and oil, starting from the backstretch as Maggio nursed his No. 91 SI Yachts Chevrolet Camaro entry below the apron and behind the pit wall. Maggio’s entry then erupted in flames and thick smoke while parked, though he managed to exit his entry.
With the amount of smoke and oil that erupted and was left on the racing surface, the event was placed in a red flag period for three minutes and five seconds. Once the track was cleaned, the red flag was lifted. The field led by Larson proceeded at a cautious pace. During the caution period, some, including Clements, Blaine Perkins and Josh Bilicki, pitted while the rest, led by Larson, remained on the track.
As the field restarted with 99 laps remaining, Larson fended off teammate Allgaier and Sawalich to lead for a full cycle and the following lap. While Larson led, Allgaier battled Sawalich to retain both the runner-up spot and the lead for the Dash 4 Cash bonus. They were trailed by Creed, Zilisch, Crews, Mayer and Kvapil, with Zilisch moving up into third place with less than 95 laps remaining. As Sawalich was fending off Creed and Crews for fourth place, Larson led teammate Allgaier by seven-tenths of a second with 90 laps remaining.
Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Larson was leading by more than a second over teammate Zilisch while teammate Allgaier, who was overtaken by Zilisch two laps earlier, was trailing the latter by within four-tenths of a second. Despite being scored in third place, Allgaier was in position to claim the first Dash 4 Cash bonus by two spots over fifth-place Sawalich, while Jones and Caruth, two other Dash 4 Cash competitors, were mired in 13th and 16th, respectively.
Fifteen laps later, Larson stabilized his lead to nine-tenths of a second over teammate Zilisch while Creed occupied third place over Allgaier and Crews. Meanwhile, Kvapil was up into sixth place over Sawalich, Mayer, Ryan Sieg and Day while Sammy Smith, Gray, Love, Retzlaff, Jones and Caruth occupied the top-16 spots, respectively. With 21 competitors scored on the lead lap, Larson added two seconds to his advantage over the next 20 laps.
Then, with 31 laps remaining, the caution flew when Love turned the lapped competitor of Gray Gaulding for a full spin through the frontstretch. During this latest caution period, a majority of the field led by Larson pitted while the rest, which included Zilisch, Crews and Corey Day, remained on the track, with Zilisch cycling to the lead.
The start of the next restart, with 22 laps remaining, featured Zilisch motoring ahead through the first two turns while Crews, who restarted behind Zilisch and was bumped in the rear by an accordion effect that included Larson, navigated his way into the runner-up spot. As Day struggled to launch while leading the inside lane, Larson, who restarted as the third competitor in line from the outside lane, quickly bolted his way into third place. During the next lap, however, Larson was locked into a battle with teammate Allgaier for third place and pinned on the inside lane. Nevertheless, both tracked down and battled Crews for the runner-up spot while Zilisch maintained the lead with 20 laps remaining.
The caution then returned two laps later due to Anthony Alfredo spinning in the frontstretch. Before Alfredo’s incident, Jones was tapped sideways by Sammy Smith into Mayer through the backstretch, causing a bevy of competitors to scatter. In addition, Crews used the outside lane and the momentum from the turns to the straightaways to fend off Larson and Allgaier, which also allowed Zilisch to initially drive away.
For the next restart with 11 laps remaining, teammates Zilisch and Larson shared the front row. At the start, both dueled against one another through the first two turns until Zilisch used the outside lane to motor ahead and move in front of Larson through the backstretch. Behind, Crews, who got sideways at the restart’s launch, used the outside lane to draw alongside Zilisch through the frontstretch during the next lap. Amid Zilisch’s slide job attempts through the turns and straightaways while racing the inside lane, Crews had the preferred outside lane to gain the upper hand and lead the next three laps. Meanwhile, Larson settled in behind both Zilisch and Crews.
Then with seven laps remaining, Crews got slightly loose and hit the backstretch’s outside wall. This allowed Zilisch, who spent the previous three laps trying to use the inside lane to regain the lead, to do so. With Zilisch leading, Larson also took advantage by sliding up in front of Crews through Turns 3 and 4. Larson then spent the next four laps trying to reel in Zilisch. Despite keeping Zilisch close through the front windshield, Zilisch fended off Larson’s attempts to lead. Larson then got loose while racing up towards the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4. This allowed Zilisch to increase his advantage from two-tenths of a second to seven-tenths of a second.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Zilisch remained in the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Larson. With Larson unable to use his fresher tires to reel in Zilisch for a final circuit around Bristol, Zilisch was able to motor the No. 1 Roto-Rooter Chevrolet Camaro entry back to the frontstretch for the overall victory by seven-tenths of a second.
With the victory, Zilisch collected his 12th O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career win, his first since he won at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (Roval) in October 2025 and his first driving the No. 1 Chevrolet entry for JR Motorsports, the same organization with which Zilisch won 10 races and finished in the runner-up spot to the 2025 championship battle. Zilisch’s Bristol victory marked the first-ever O’Reilly win for the 2014 Cup Series championship-winning crew chief, Rodney Childers. It also marked the first victory for JR Motorsports’ No. 1 entry since Sam Mayer won at the Royal in October 2024.
Zilisch’s O’Reilly victory at Bristol was a confidence booster for the driver who is currently campaigning as a full-time rookie in the Cup Series division with Trackhouse Racing, but is ranked in 33rd place in the standings with an average-finishing result of 26.0.
“That was awesome,” Zilisch said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “It’s been a tough past few weeks for me in the Cup Series, and feels good to come back down here and into the O’Reilly Series and remember that I can still do it. It’s tough. You finish in the back every week and you forget who you are, but this feels good. We played strategy. Rodney [Childers] made a great call to keep us out. The tires weren’t wearing much all night. We were able to get our Roto-Rooter Chevrolet in the track position that it needed to go out and win the race. Really cool to be able to race against Kyle [Larson] and learn from him. He’s so talented and such a fast racecar driver. It’s good to be back with [JR Motorsports] and back in Victory Lane.”
As Zilisch celebrated a race victory, teammate Justin Allgaier was also left victorious on pit road. By finishing in fourth place, Allgaier captured the first $100,000 bonus from the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Dash 4 Cash program as he outdueled seventh-place finisher William Sawalich, 14th-place finisher Rajah Caruth and 19th-place finisher Brandon Jones on the track at Bristol. Allgaier’s achievement marked the eighth time he claimed the series’ program’s bonus. He will next square off against Brent Crews, teammate Carson Kvapil and Sheldon Creed for the second Dash 4 Cash bonus next Saturday at Kansas Speedway.
“[Crew chief] Andrew Overstreet and this whole No. 7 team did a great job,” Allgaier said. “Our Carolina Carports Chevy was good. It wasn’t maybe as good as we needed it to be to go try to win the race. Pit stops were on point all night. We executed everything well. It was a great points day for us and obviously, huge thanks to O’Reilly Auto Parts for keeping this Dash 4 Cash program going.
“It means a lot,” he continued. “This is a big deal to these race teams to be able to help make our programs better and keep these things running up and on the road. It’s disappointing to run fourth, but at the same time, to have the points that we did, to lock our way into next week for the Dash 4 Cash, those are all really big positives for us. I’m proud of the effort. Just wish you could have been a little bit better.
Meanwhile, Larson, who led a race-high 230 laps, settled in the runner-up spot in his third O’Reilly event with JR Motorsports and of the 2026 season. Despite having a dominant run spoiled in the closing laps, Larson was left pleased with the strong run. His next O’Reilly start in the JR Motorsports’ No. 88 entry is at Texas Motor Speedway on May 2.
“I needed Connor to run the bottom like one more corner, maybe, and I could have got control to his outside,” Larson said. “He moved up at the right time. I tried to move around a little bit for a lap and a half behind him and it was just not gonna work. Needed him to make a mistake, but I made the mistake behind him, not that it probably would have mattered anyways. I had fun. Obviously, I wish I would have got the win, but all in all, it was another fun Bristol race and got to work through traffic a lot. Connor kept me really honest that last run, too, so I had to pick through it really good. Congrats to him and the No. 1 team. That was fun and hopefully, the fans enjoyed it.”
Brent Crews, who was within reach of achieving his first O’Reilly career victory, settled in a career-best third place ahead of Allgaier while Carson Kvapil rallied from starting at the rear of the field to finish in fifth place. Sheldon Creed, William Sawalich, Corey Day, Parker Retzlaff and Taylor Gray completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were 13 lead changes for seven different leaders. The event featured eight cautions for 59 laps. In addition, 21 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the ninth event of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, Justin Allgaier leads the standings by 130 points over Sheldon Creed, 146 over Jesse Love, 166 over Corey Day and 170 over Carson Kvapil.
Results:
- Connor Zilisch, 24 laps led
- Kyle Larson, 230 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
- Brent Crews, three laps led
- Justin Allgaier
- Carson Kvapil
- Sheldon Creed
- William Sawalich, 27 laps led
- Corey Day
- Parker Retzlaff
- Taylor Gray
- Ryan Sieg, 13 laps led
- Jesse Love
- Sammy Smith
- Rajah Caruth
- Jeremy Clements, one lap led
- Jeb Burton
- Harrison Burton
- Brennan Poole
- Brandon Jones, two laps led
- Sam Mayer
- Austin Hill
- Blaine Perkins, one lap down
- Josh Bilicki, one lap down
- Dean Thompson, two laps down
- Kyle Sieg, two laps down
- JJ Yeley, two laps down
- Patrick Staropoli, two laps down
- Gray Gaulding, two laps down
- Josh Williams, three laps down
- Ryan Ellis, three laps down
- Joey Gase, three laps down
- Lavar Scott, five laps down
- Logan Bearden, five laps down
- Blake Lothian, five laps down
- Austin Green, 10 laps down
- Anthony Alfredo, 13 laps down
- Mason Maggio – OUT, Engine
- Garrett Smithley – OUT, Suspension
Next on the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule is Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, for the Kansas Lottery 300. The event is scheduled for next Saturday, April 18, and will air at 7 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM.
