Justin Allgaier capitalized on a two-lap shootout and a shove from teammate William Byron to drive away from the field. He motored his way to a wild victory in the MillerTech Battery 250 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, June 13.
The 2024 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion from Riverton, Illinois, led four times for a race-high 35 of the 100-scheduled laps. He qualified in fourth place and notched top-five results between the event’s first two stages. He went on to survive an event that with a total of 10 caution periods and a series of on-track carnage. Afterr leading on two separate occasions through the first two stage periods, Allgaier spent the early portions of the final stage period battling with Sam Mayer for the lead. Then, he made his final green flag pit stop with 29 laps remaining. Amid the pit stops, Allgaier was overtaken by Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer. But, through two late-race cautions and incidents, he utilized a push from Byron to storm past Mayer for the lead during a restart with eight laps remaining.
Then, following another late-race caution a lap later, Allgaier capitalized on another push from Byron during a two-lap shootout to drive away from the field. From there, Allgaier fended off Byron and Brent Crews to notch his unprecedented fifth O’Reilly Series victory of the 2026 season and accumulate maximum points to his points lead.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Brandon Jones notched his first O’Reilly pole position of the 2026 season with a pole-winning lap at 164.675 mph in 54.686 seconds. Teammate Taylor Gray started alongside Jones on the front row after the former posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 164.387 mph in 54.749 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names, including Cole Custer, Josh Bilicki, Dean Thompson, Blaine Perkins, Patrick Emerling, and Nathan Byrd, dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective entries. Joey Gase and Dexter Bean also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change and backup car, respectively.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, teammates Brandon Jones and Taylor Gray dueled in front of two-stacked lanes through the frontstretch until Gray gained the upper advantage and led through the first turn from the inside lane. Seconds later, the event’s first caution flew when Corey Day, who was racing in 13th place, got loose exiting the first turn, spun down the track, and was hit by Jesse Love before the former made hard contact against the inside wall. The incident had major implications for both Love and Day, as they were ranked second and third, respectively, in the standings, but were knocked out of further contention for the Pocono event.
The start of the next restart on the sixth lap featured Gray and Jones dueling through the frontstretch and Gray gaining another strong advantage from the inside lane to motor ahead of Jones and lead both through the first turn and the Long Pond Straight. As the field behind jostled for early spots and navigated through Pocono for nearly a full cycle, Gray led the next lap just before the caution returned due to Ryan Sieg getting bumped and turned by Austin Hill towards the frontstretch’s outside wall. Despite sustaining right-front damage and veering sideways, Sieg was dodged by oncoming traffic while Nathan Byrd spun to the frontstretch’s inside wall after he was hit by Cole Custer.
As the event restarted on the 11th lap, Gray fended off Carson Kvapil and Jones to motor ahead and lead from the first turn through Long Pond Straightaway. As the field fanned out while a series of on-track battles ensued through the Tunnel Turn and the final turn of Turn 3, Gray led the next lap. Gray proceeded to lead by more than two seconds over Sam Mayer at the Lap 15 mark while Justin Allgaier, Jones, William Byron, Jeremy Clements, Kvapil, Brent Crews, Sammy Smith and Connor Zilisch trailed in the top 10, respectively.
On Lap 18, the event’s third caution flew due to Natalie Decker dropping off the pace with a mechanical issue as she had smoke billowing out from her Joey Gase Motorsports entry before she stopped below the track in the first turn. During this caution period, some led by Allgaier and including Kvapil, Austin Hill, Harrison Burton, Anthony Alfredo, Parker Retzlaff, Kyle Sieg, Patrick Emerling, Brennan Poole, Patrick Staropoli, Josh Bilicki, Ryan Ellis, Carson Ware, Jeb Burton, Dean Thompson, Blaine Perkins, Lavar Scott and Cole Custer pitted while the rest led by Gray remained on the track.
With three laps remaining in the first stage period, the event restarted as Gray and Mayer dueled in front of the field entering the first turn. As the field fanned out through Long Pond Straightaway, Mayer, who was pinned on the outside lane, dueled with Gray for nearly a full lap before he motored ahead through Turn 3 and led the next lap while Byron tried to reel in from third place. Behind, Jones dropped to fourth place in front of Creed, and Allgaier used his fresh tires to motor up to sixth place. Allgaier moved up to fourth place during the next lap while Gray challenged Mayer to reassume the top spot.
Seconds later, the caution returned due to Zilisch spinning and wrecking into the first turn’s outside wall after he received contact from William Sawalich, with Sawalich also drifting up the track and hitting the wall on the right side. This caution was enough for the first-stage period to officially conclude under caution. At the time of caution, Gray, who motored ahead of Mayer through the first turn and prior to the caution, was ruled ahead of the field and was awarded his first O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Mayer settled in second ahead of Byron, Allgaier and Jones while Sheldon Creed, Sammy Smith, Crews, Kvapil and Austin Hill were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Under the event’s first stage break period, a majority of the front-runners led by Gray pitted while the rest, led by Allgaier and including those who pitted prior to the second stage’s conclusion, remained on the track, with Allgaier inheriting the lead.
The second stage period started on Lap 30 as teammates Allgaier and Kvapil occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Kvapil used the outside lane to motor past Allgaier through the first turn and lead through Long Pond Straightaway. As the field behind jostled for spots, Kvapil took advantage of his early leap by leading the next lap while Austin Hill, Jeb Burton and Parker Retzlaff followed suit, respectively. Over the next five laps, Burton dropped to 13th place while Gray moved up to ninth place behind Byron and Crews. In addition, Allgaier and Kvapil were ahead of third-place Retzlaff by one-and-a-half seconds as Allgaier, who reassumed the lead on Lap 34 over Kvapil, led by four-tenths of a second.
On Lap 36, the caution returned for a three-car accident in Turn 3 that involved Leland Honeyman Jr., Patrick Staropoli and Brennan Poole. Select names that included Gray and Sawalich pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track. The next restart on Lap 42 did not last long as Patrick Emerling spun off the front bumper of Poole in the second turn. During the latest caution, most of the field pitted while the rest, led by new leader Crews and Retzlaff, Zilisch, Clements, Caruth, Thompson and Gray, remained on the track.
As the event restarted on Lap 45, Retzlaff managed to slide in front of Crews to lead through the first turn. Amid Crews’ challenge, Retzlaff led the next lap while Clements, Zilisch and Rajah Caught occupied the top-five spots over Allgaier, Dean Thompson, Byron, Nick Sanchez and Kvapil, respectively. Behind, Kyle Sieg barely scrubbed the outside wall in Turn 3 after he shot up the track and was sideways, but the event remained under green flag conditions.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 50, Crews, who reassumed the lead two laps earlier, captured his second O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Allgaier, Retzlaff, Caruth, Byron, Zilisch, Mayer, Clements, Alfredo and Kvapil were scored in the top 10, respectively, while 31 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. During the event’s second stage break period, Crews, along with Retzlaff, Caruth, Clements, Sawalich, Poole, Ryan Sieg, Bilicki, Ryan Ellis, Zilisch and Thompson, pitted while the rest, led by Allgaier, remained on the track.
With 44 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as teammates Allgaier and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier received a shove from Mayer to motor ahead of Byron before Mayer attempted to get beneath Allgaier and challenge him for the lead entering the first turn. With Allgaier still out in front, Mayer drew alongside Allgaier in a battle for the lead through the Long Pond Straight, but Allgaier managed to fend off the latter to lead the next lap. With a series of late on-track battles ensuing within the field, Allgaier continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over Mayer with 40 laps remaining while Creed, Alfredo, Byron, Sammy Smith, Gray, Clements, Jones and Crews were racing in the top 10, respectively.
Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Mayer was locked in a heated battle with Allgaier for the lead. By then, names like Sammy Smith, Gray, Kvapil, Custer and Creed made pit stops under green before Allgaier pitted during the next lap. Mayer then pitted from the lead during the following lap, and he managed to blend back on the track and regain pace ahead of Allgaier, but both were trailing Creed as Creed pitted a lap prior to Allgaier and two laps prior to Mayer. During Mayer’s pit stop, more names like Byron, Alfredo, Caruth, Hill, Bilicki, Sanchez, Jones and Staropoli all pitted while Crews, who was among a handful of competitors who had yet to pit, was leading with 27 laps remaining.
As the event reached its final 24-lap mark, Mayer overtook teammate Creed on track through the third turn for fifth place. Behind, Allgaier, who reeled in the two Haas Factory Team entries, dueled with Creed before overtaking him entering the Tunnel Turn. By then, Dean Thompson, who assumed a brief lead from Crews, pitted while Ryan Sieg, Harrison Burton and Ryan Ellis were the trio of competitors still racing out in front of Mayer. Burton then assumed the lead from Sieg with 20 laps remaining while Mayer, Allgaier and Creed moved up to third from fifth in the leaderboard, with Mayer trailing the lead by more than two seconds.
Then with 18 laps remaining, the caution flew when Patrick Emerling was turned by Crews and sent for a spin through the frontstretch as he hit the inside wall head-on. By then, Burton had maintained a narrow advantage over a hard-charging Mayer while Allgaier, Sieg and Creed were in the top five. During this caution period, some led by Harrison Burton and including Sieg, Clements, Retzlaff, Sawalich, and Jeb Burton pitted while the rest, led by Mayer, remained on the track as Mayer inherited the lead.
The next restart with 13 laps remaining featured the field fanning out as Mayer used the inside lane to slide in front of Allgaier and maintain the lead from the first turn and through Long Pond Straightaway. Seconds later, the caution flew when Byron got loose beneath Gray and sent the latter spinning through the Tunnel Turn. As Gray proceeded to spin towards the bottom of the track, Sammy Smith also spun when he got loose beneath Alfredo as the rest of the field scattered to avoid the carnage. The incident occurred as both Byron and Gray were battling in the top five, leaving Gray with flat-spotted tires on the right side.
As the event restarted with eight laps remaining, Mayer received a brief upper advantage as he motored ahead of Allgaier through the frontstretch while being pushed by teammate Creed from the inside lane. Soon after, Allgaier, who was pushed by teammate Byron before both disconnected entering the first turn, used the outside lane to assume the lead from Mayer. Amid the stacked competition and late-race battles ensuing behind, Allgaier led the next lap over Mayer before the caution returned with six laps remaining. This was due to a three-car accident on the frontstretch that involved Jeb Burton, Lavar Scott and Dexter Bean as the event was placed in a red flag period for seven and a half minutes.
When the red flag lifted and the event restarted with two laps remaining, Mayer was pinned in the middle of a tight three-wide formation through the frontstretch as teammate Creed elected to drive beneath Mayer instead of drafting him. With Creed not receiving a strong shove from Crews, Allgaier received one from Byron on the outside lane that allowed Allgaier to clear the field through the first turn while Creed briefly got loose and held up teammate Mayer, which allowed Byron, Crews and Rajah Caruth to motor past the two Haas competitors. As Byron assumed the runner-up spot, Crews settled in third place, and Mayer reeled in on Caruth for fourth place while Creed dropped to sixth place. Meanwhile, Allgaier motored away from the field.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier remained in the lead by four-tenths of a second over Byron. With both Byron and Crews unable to mount a tandem to reel in Allgaier, the latter was able to cycle around Pocono’s trio of turns for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by six-tenths of a second.
With the victory, Allgaier notched his 33rd career win in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, his fifth of the 2026 season and his second in a row in recent weeks after he won at Nashville Superspeedway in late May. In addition, Pocono Raceway became the 21st track in which Allgaier achieved an O’Reilly victory, and he achieved back-to-back victories for the fourth time in his illustrious career.
Allgaier’s Pocono victory marked the 15th O’Reilly victory of the 2026 season for the Chevrolet and the 11th for JR Motorsports as the organization notched its fifth victory at the Tricky Triangle.
“First of all, I got to say a huge thank you to William Byron,” Allgaier said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “Without that shove at the end of the race, it was probably game over. [I’m] Just so proud of this race team. This season has been special and [crew chief] Andrew Overstreet and this whole No. 7 team, this pit crew right here, the effort that goes into it. We’re gonna go celebrate this one, for sure.”
Brent Crews edged William Byron by 0.040 seconds to finish in the runner-up spot for a third time in his career while Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Anthony Alfredo, Rajah Caruth, Brandon Jones, Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were 18 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The event featured 10 cautions for 39 laps. In addition, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 17th event of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, Justin Allgaier continues to lead the standings by 250 points over Jesse Love, 267 over Corey Day, 273 over Sheldon Creed and 295 over Brandon Jones.
Results:
- Justin Allgaier, 35 laps led
- Brent Crews, nine laps led, Stage 2 winner
- William Byron
- Sam Mayer, 14 laps led
- Sheldon Creed
- Anthony Alfredo
- Rajah Caruth
- Brandon Jones
- Connor Zilisch
- Carson Kvapil, four laps led
- Harrison Burton, five laps led
- Cole Custer
- Dean Thompson, two laps led
- Austin Hill
- Parker Retzlaff, two laps led
- Jeremy Clements, one lap led
- Taylor Gray, 24 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Brennan Poole
- Sammy Smith
- Blaine Perkins
- William Sawalich
- Josh Bilicki
- Nick Sanchez
- Ryan Ellis
- Patrick Staropoli
- Ryan Sieg, four laps led
- Carson Ware
- Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident
- Lavar Scott – OUT, Accident
- Dexter Bean – OUT, Accident
- Patrick Emerling – OUT, Accident
- Kyle Sieg – OUT, DVP
- Leland Honeyman Jr. – OUT, Accident
- Natalie Decker – OUT, Engine
- Nathan Byrd – OUT, Accident
- Joey Gase – OUT, Engine
- Jesse Love – OUT, Accident
- Corey Day – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule is the series’ inaugural United Rentals Drive to Serve 250 on San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, June 20, and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM.
