Brandon Jones weathered through an extensively delayed start by winning the return of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Cuervo 300 at Chicagoland Speedway between July 4-5 in overtime.
The 29-year-old Jones from Atlanta, Georgia, led four times for 12 of 201 over-scheduled laps in an event where he took the green flag from 29th place and motored his way up to 14th place at the first stage’s conclusion. After settling in sixth place following the second stage’s conclusion, Jones, who continued his march to the front, gained his first sniff at the lead while battling teammate Taylor Gray during a restart with 61 laps remaining.
Beginning on Lap 162 through Lap 189, Jones led 10 laps, and he primarily duked with Gray and Chase Elliott towards the front amid four late-race cautions and three ensuing restarts. During an overtime shootout, Jones dueled and motored ahead of Elliott for nearly a full circuit and prior to the final lap mark. Amid Elliott’s pair of final-lap challenges, Jones was not to be denied, and his race-long fight prevailed with a victorious ending under the lights, along with winning his first event of the 2026 season in Joliet, Illinois.
The event’s starting lineup was determined by a metric qualifying formula from the NASCAR rule book after NASCAR replaced the event’s qualifying session with a lone practice session for Saturday. This was because the event’s initial practice session was postponed from Friday, July 3, due to inclement weather. As a result, Connor Zilisch was awarded the pole position, and he shared the front row with rookie Brent Crews.
*This event was delayed for nearly five hours due to inclement weather, thunderstorms, and heavy precipitation that resulted in the event commencing under the lights.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Connor Zilisch and Brent Crews dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes until Zilisch gained the upper advantage and motored his No. 1 KOA Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead from the outside lane entering the backstretch. As the field cycled back to the frontstretch, Zilisch led the first lap over Crews while Corey Day, Jesse Love, Carson Kvapil and the rest of the 38-car field pursued from behind.
Over the next four laps, Zilisch stretched his early lead to one-and-a-half seconds Crews and nearly two seconds over third-place Love while Day, Kvapil, Chase Elliott, Sheldon Creed, Sam Mayer, Parker Retzlaff and Sammy Smith were racing in the top 10, respectively. As Elliott squeezed his way past teammate Kvapil to crack into the top-five mark in fifth place, Zilisch added another second to his advantage as he led by more than two seconds over both Crews and Love by the 10th lap.
Through the first 25 laps, Zilisch continued to extend his advantage as he led by more than four seconds over Love. Behind, Day and Elliott occupied third and fourth, respectively, while Crews dropped to fifth place. Kvapil, Creed, Mayer, Retzlaff and Taylor Gray, the latter of whom started 25th, were racing in the top 10 ahead of William Sawalich, Justin Allgaier, Anthony Alfredo, Austin Hill, Jeremy Clements, Cole Custer, Brandon Jones, Nick Sanchez, Ryan Sieg and Dean Thompson, respectively.
At the Lap 35 mark, Zilisch stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Love and Day while Elliott and Creed were racing in the top five ahead of Gray, Mayer, Kvapil and Sawalich. Meanwhile, Crews dropped to 10th place, and he had Retzlaff, Allgaier, Anthony Alfredo, Cole Custer and Austin Hill reeling in from behind while teammate Gray had gained an additional four spots on the track.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Zilisch, whose lead stood at nearly five seconds, cruised to his fourth O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Love and Day settled in second and third ahead of Elliott and Creed while Gray, Mayer, Sawalich, Allgaier and Alfredo were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 26 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the event’s first stage break period, Zilisch fell off the pace due to having no fuel pressure and had to have his entry pushed to pit road. This allowed Love to assume the lead as he led the field to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Elliott cycled to the lead over Love while Day, Gray and Creed followed suit. Meanwhile, Zilisch, who managed to remain on the lead lap, dropped to 27th place while William Sawalich was penalized for a safety violation.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Elliott and Love occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out and jostled for spots through the first two turns as Elliott fended off Love with strong momentum from the outside lane to retain the lead. As Elliott led the next lap, Day occupied third place in front of Mayer, Creed, Allgaier, Gray and Kvapil while teammates Jones and Crews battled for ninth place. During the following lap, Crews outdueled Jones and Jones fell back to 11th place while Crews battled Kvapil for eighth place. While Zilisch carved his way back up to 13th place, teammate Elliott led by nine-tenths of a second over Love on Lap 60.
By Lap 70, Elliott was leading by more than two seconds over Love while third-place Day was being pursued by Mayer and Allgaier. Behind, Gray, Crews, Creed, Jones and Zilisch were racing in the top-10 mark ahead of Custer, Kvapil, Hill, Retzlaff and Alfredo while Clements, Harrison Burton, Kyle Sieg, Jeb Burton and Ryan Sieg trailed from the top-20 mark, respectively. A few laps later, both Mayer and Gray overtook Day for third and fourth on the track before Allgaier overtook the latter for fifth place on Lap 75. Meanwhile, Elliott maintained his lead by more than two seconds over Love at the Lap 80 mark.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Elliott cruised to his first O’Reilly stage victory in his first of two series starts of 2026. Love settled in second place for a second consecutive time during a stage’s conclusion while Gray, Allgaier, Mayer, Jones, Creed, Day, Zilisch and Crews were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 27 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while a fog patch started to overshadow Turns 3 and 4 of the speedway circuit.
During the event’s second stage break period, Jeremy Clements had a left-rear wheel detach from his entry, and he had sparks trailing from his entry as he limped to his pit stall. The incident resulted in Clements being held in his pit stall for two laps as a penalty. Once pit road became accessible for the field, Elliott led the field for service. Following the pit stops, Gray exited pit road first ahead of Love, Elliott, Allgaier, Creed, Mayer, Jones, Day, Sawalich and Zilisch. Soon after, Allgaier was penalized and sent to the tail end of the field due to a safety violation on pit road.
With 101 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Gray and Love occupied the front row. At the start, Love motored ahead with the lead from the inside lane while Elliott and Creed placed Gray in the middle of a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot. As Elliott motored ahead for the runner-up spot, Love led the next lap while Gray retained third place in front of Creed, Mayer and Jones. Meanwhile, Zilisch and Day battled for seventh place in front of Hill, Crews and Custer while Elliott battled Love for the lead.
After stalking and challenging Love a lap prior, Elliott used the inside lane and the frontstretch’s apron to power the No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead with 97 laps remaining. Love, though, fought back from the outside lane as both he and Elliott spent the next two laps duking for the lead, which allowed Taylor Gray to join the battle. Amid the tight battle for the lead, Creed made an unscheduled pit stop to have a flat right-front tire addressed.
Soon after, Gray, who had a strong No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota Supra entry on long runs and had overtaken Love for the runner-up spot a few laps prior, overtook Elliott for the lead through Turns 3 and 4 with 91 laps remaining. With 85 laps remaining, Gray extended his lead to more than a second over Elliott. Gray’s lead over Elliott grew to more than two seconds with 80 laps remaining as Jones, Love, Mayer, Hill, Zilisch, Custer, Sawalich and Crews trailed in the top 10, respectively.
Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Gray led by nearly three seconds over Elliott while Jones, Love, Hill, Zilisch, Mayer, Custer, Sawalich and Crews occupied the top-10 mark, respectively. Behind, Day, Retzlaff, Allgaier, Alfredo, Ryan Sieg, Kvapil, Nick Sanchez, Dean Thompson, Patrick Staropoli and Kyle Sieg trailed in the top 20, respectively. Then with 68 laps remaining, a caution flew due to Zilisch hitting the outside wall while racing in sixth place as a tire carcass also rolled out from Zilisch’s entry through Turns 3 and 4. During this latest caution period, the field led by Gray pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Gray maintained the lead by exiting pit road first while Jones, Elliott, Sawalich and Love followed suit along with Mayer, Hill, Crews, Day and Allgaier.
The next restart with 61 laps remaining featured teammates Jones and Gray duking it out dead even for the lead for a full lap as the field fanned out. Through the frontstretch, Elliott made a bold three-wide move beneath both Jones and Gray to assume the lead through the frontstretch and entering the first turn, though Jones led the previous lap. Elliott then cycled back as the leader during the next lap while a variety of on-track battles ensued, primarily within the top-10 and 15 marks. Amid the battles, Elliott maintained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Gray with 55 laps remaining. The former continued to lead the latter by half a second with 50 laps remaining while third-place Jones trailed by more than a second.
With 45 laps remaining, the caution flew when Zilisch was involved in his second incident of the event, this time for a spin in the second turn. During the caution period, Elliott led the field back to pit road for service, but Jones managed to beat Elliot off of pit road first as they were followed by Love, Sawalich and Gray, respectively.
As the event restarted with 38 laps remaining, Jones motored ahead with the lead while a brief four-wide battle for the runner-up spot between Elliott, Gray, Love and Ryan Sieg ensued, with Sieg quickly being overtaken by the field. As Jones led the next lap, Elliott outdueled Gray for the runner-up spot, and he pursued Jones for the lead while Love was pursued by Kvapil, Sawalich and Crews for fourth place. The caution returned with 36 laps remaining when Crews bumped and sent teammate Sawalich for a spin below the backstretch.
The next restart with 30 laps remaining featured Gray outdueling his teammate Jones amid a side-by-side battle as the former returned atop the leaderboard and led the next lap while a variety of battles ensued. While Gray maintained a steady lead, Elliott fiercely battled Jones for the runner-up spot and slid from the top to the bottom of the track through the frontstretch while trying to fend off Jones for the spot. Elliott then managed to slide in front of Jones and maintain the runner-up spot with 26 laps remaining before Jones fought back. The late side-by-side action between Jones and Elliott allowed Love to reel in, though Jones reclaimed and muscled away from both with the runner-up spot, while Gray motored away with the lead by more than a second.
Down to the final 20 laps, Gray stretched his lead to nearly two seconds over Jones while Elliott, Love and Kvapil occupied the top-five spots, with Kvapil trailing by four-and-a-half seconds. Four laps later, the caution flew due to Ryan Sieg blowing a right-front tire and shredding the right-side sheet metal from his No. 39 SciAps Chevrolet Camaro entry . By then, Gray maintained his lead by more than a second over Jones, and Hill moved up to fifth place behind Elliott and teammate Love while Crews, Kvapil, Allgaier, Retzlaff and Custer were scored in the top 10.
During the next restart with 11 laps remaining, Love and Elliott pinned Jones and Gray in a tight four-wide battle for the lead. Ultimately, the latter two briefly lost momentum, with Gray slipping out of the top-five mark and Jones settling in third while Elliott cycled back as the leader for the following lap. As the laps dwindled, Gray was locked in a heated battle with Allgaier for sixth place, but he trailed the lead by two seconds and he had Love, Hill and Crews in front of him. Meanwhile, Jones started to reel in on Elliott for the lead, but the caution flew with five laps remaining due to Brennan Poole, Patrick Staropoli and Kyle Sieg spinning and wrecking through the first two turns.
As the field restarted in overtime, Jones and Elliott dueled for the lead in front of the field that fanned out through the first two turns. With both Jones and Elliott receiving no drafting momentum at the overtime’s start nor gaining an advantage of one another, they dueled from the first two turns and the backstretch as Jones mounted a fierce fight beneath Elliott. Jones then gained the upper advantage from the inside lane as he motored his No. 20 Menards Toyota Supra ahead of Elliott’s No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry through Turns 3 and 4.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Jones remained in the lead by a tenth of a second over Elliott. Though the first two turns, Elliott nearly scraped the outside wall while trying to reel in Jones. He then tried to make a move beneath Jones through Turns 3 and 4. Ultimately, both moves did not prevail as Jones cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by a tenth of a second over Elliott.
With the victory, Jones, who became the 11th winner through 20 events of the 2026 season, notched his eighth career win in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division, his third on a 1.5-mile circuit and his first since Kansas Speedway in September 2025. He also became the third competitor from Joe Gibbs Racing to win in the O’Reilly division this season and he racked up the third victory of 2026 for Toyota.
“I had to earn that one,” Jones said on the frontstretch on CW. “I haven’t had an exciting one like that in a long time. Thank you, guys, for sticking this out, through the rain and everything. It’s been an up and down year. We’ve had some success early on. We’ve been in a little bit of a runt the last couple weeks, so it’s just nice to [win] it like we did today. We had to earn that one. I think it says a lot about just how resilient we are and how hard we’re working at this. Chase [Elliott] made it really difficult on me. He’s one of the best in this sport. I knew he was gonna be difficult. We were all on old tires. That was a blast to slide around and duel it out like that…Let’s go on a roll and let’s get a couple more [wins] here before the Chase starts.”
Chase Elliott, who led a race-high 78 laps and won an O’Reilly event at Chicagoland in 2014, settled in second place for a seventh time in his O’Reilly career after he was unable to outduel Jones during the overtime shootout. Elliott will make a second start in the No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet entry for JR Motorsports at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25.
“[I] Ended up having momentum going the wrong way into Turn 3,” Elliott said. “I tried to drive in really hard and got myself super tight. Super bummed about that, honestly. It was kind of an up-and-down night. Credit to Brandon [Jones]. He did a good job. He had a good restart, stayed side by side through [Turns] 1 and 2, and he had momentum going the right way into Turn 3. I got myself in a bad spot and paid the price.”
Jesse Love, Brent Crews and Austin Hill finished in the top five. Points leader Justin Allgaier, Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Cole Custer and Connor Zilisch, the latter of whom set the event’s fastest lap time, completed the top 10 in the final running order.
This event featured 16 lead changes for six different leaders, and a total of seven cautions for 40 laps. In addition, 30 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 20th event of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, Justin Allgaier continues to lead the standings by 195 points over Jesse Love, 224 over Corey Day, 225 over Sheldon Creed, 255 over Austin Hill and 265 over Brandon Jones.
Results:
- Brandon Jones, 12 laps led
- Chase Elliott, 78 laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Jesse Love, five laps led
- Brent Crews
- Austin Hill
- Justin Allgaier
- Taylor Gray, 55 laps led
- Sam Mayer
- Cole Custer
- Connor Zilisch, 48 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Carson Kvapil
- Nick Sanchez
- Sammy Smith
- Parker Retzlaff
- Harrison Burton
- Sheldon Creed
- Dean Thompson
- Garrett Smithley
- Corey Day
- Jeb Burton
- Leland Honeyman Jr.
- Ryan Ellis
- Myatt Snider
- Rajah Caruth
- Brennan Poole
- Anthony Alfredo
- Patrick Staropoli
- Lavar Scott
- William Sawalich
- Kyle Sieg
- Ryan Sieg, one lap down, three laps led
- Blaine Perkins, two laps down
- Tyler Tomassi, two laps down
- Joey Gase, three laps down
- Jeremy Clements, three laps down
- Josh Bilicki, five laps down
- JJ Yeley – OUT, Power
- Dawson Cram – OUT, Engine
Next on the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule is EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, for the Focused Health 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, July 11, and air at 7 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM.
