Justin Allgaier emerged victorious amid a wild and chaotic conclusion to the 2026 Focused Health 250 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, on Saturday, July 11.
The 2024 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion from Riverton, Illinois, led four times for 15 of 172 over-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified in 16th place and used both the draft and on-track teamwork with his JR Motorsports teammates to battle at the front. After settling in eighth place following the first stage period, Allgaier managed to edge teammate Sammy Smith amid a breakup of the pack to win the second stage period.
As the third stage period was mired with a multitude of caution periods, late-race carnages and four red flag periods to have a series of carnage and oil spillages cleared, Allgaier continued to race towards the front and keep his entry intact and pointed straight. Despite triggering a quick caution period when he sent Jeremy Clements spinning during a first overtime attempt, he rallied by pushing Nick Sanchez and Brennan Poole out in front of teammate Carson Kvapil at the start of the second overtime attempt. Then when both Sanchez and Poole wrecked at the start of the final lap, the seas parted ways for Allgaier to storm ahead as the latter fended off Parker Retzlaff and Kvapil to notch an unprecedented sixth victory of the 2026 campaign.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Sam Mayer won the pole position with a lap at 173.554 mph in 31.944 seconds. Carson Kvapil qualified in second place with a lap at 173.369 mph in 31.978 seconds. Prior to the event, the following names that included Blaine Perkins, Jordan Anderson and Nick Leitz dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective entries. Prior to the green flag dropping, Jeb Burton had his entry taken behind the wall due to a mechanical issue.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter Sam Mayer and Carson Kvapil battled dead even in front of two stacked lanes for a full circuit. With both competitors remaining dead even as they cycled back to the frontstretch, Kvapil, who was leading the outside lane, led the first lap by a hair over Mayer. During the second lap, the event’s first caution flew due to Joey Gase laying down fluid on the frontstretch. At the time of caution, Mayer managed to motor ahead of Kvapil, Jesse Love and the field to emerge as the leader.
Following an extensive caution period to have the track cleaned from the oil, the event restarted on the 13th lap as Mayer and Jesse Love occupied the front row in front of Kvapil, Sammy Smith, William Sawalich and Sheldon Creed. At the start, both Mayer and Love dueled in front of the field until Mayer received the upper advantage from the outside lane as he was being pushed by Kvapil through the backstretch. Mayer led the next lap as the field cycled back to the frontstretch and he maintained the top spot over the next two laps while most of the front-runners behind lined up in single-line formation towards the outside lane while following Mayer’s draft.
Through the Lap 20 mark, Mayer was leading ahead of Kvapil, Love, Sammy Smith and Sawalich while Rajah Caruth, Creed, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Nick Sanchez followed suit in the top 10, respectively. A lap later, the event’s second caution flew when Leland Honeyman Jr. spun just off of Turn 4. During this caution period, some including Brent Crews, Ryan Sieg, Josh Bilicki, Harrison Burton, Jordan Anderson, Blaine Perkins and Lavar Scott pitted while the rest led by Mayer remained on the track.
As the event restarted on Lap 26, Mayer and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Kvapil pushed Mayer clear of the field through the backstretch. This allowed Mayer to have both lanes to his control and lead the next lap while Kvapil and Smith dueled for the runner-up spot in front of Love, Caruth, Sheldon Creed, William Sawalich, Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, Jeremy Clements and Nick Sanchez. For the next three laps, a majority of the front-runners lined back up in single-line formation towards the outside lane and behind Mayer’s draft as Mayer retained the top spot by a tenth of a second on Lap 30.
At the Lap 35 mark, Kvapil used a bold move to get beneath Mayer through the first two turns a lap prior and emerge as the leader while Love, Sammy Smith, Caruth and Clements followed suit, respectively. A lap later, Mayer hit the frontstretch’s outside wall and cut down his right-front tire after he got loose. This allowed Kvapil to cycle as the leader while Mayer dropped off the pace. Behind, Love moved into second place as Clements, who made bold moves on the inside lane through the turns, was up into third place. Soon after, Clements, who kept making moves from the inside lane, struggled to get back in formation and dropped to seventh. Meanwhile, Kvapil retained the lead over Love, Sammy Smith, Creed and Caruth by Lap 40.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Kvapil fended off the field to capture his second O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Teammate Sammy Smith emerged in the runner-up spot ahead of Love, Caruth and Creed while Clements, Corey Day, Allgaier, Sawalich and Dean Thompson were scored in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Jones spun through Turn 4 while he went up the track and got loose while reeling in on teammate Sawalich as Jones then got hit by Austin Hill. By then, 33 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while Mayer was pinned the third competitor a lap down in 36th place.
Under the event’s first stage break period, a majority of the field led by Kvapil pitted while the rest led by Crews and including Ryan Ellis, Harrison Burton remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Ryan Sieg exited pit road first and he was followed by Sammy Smith, Caruth, Love, Day, Creed and Kvapil.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Crews and Harrison Burton occupied the front row in front of Ryan Sieg, Caruth, Sammy Smith and Day. At the start, Ryan Sieg was quickly shuffled out of the draft as he dropped towards the rear of the field through the first two turns. Meanwhile, Harrison Burton motored ahead and he led the next lap over Crews and Caruth while Sammy Smith and the rest of the field followed pursuit in close-quarters racing. Crews would then lose a handful of spots as Smith, Love, Creed and Day motored their way to the front.
By Lap 56, Smith cycled to the lead after he made a move beneath Burton and slid up towards the outside lane seconds after. Soon after, Love, Caruth, Day and Allgaier followed suit after all overtook Burton while Creed, Kvapil and Sawalich tried to reel in on the latter for spots. Amid the battles, Smith used the draft to retain the lead by Lap 60 while Patrick Staropoli, who spun through the apron of Turns 3 and 4 and blended back on the racing surface from pit road to the frontstretch, managed to proceed without drawing a caution.
Just past the Lap 65 mark, Sammy Smith continued to lead ahead of teammates Allgaier and Caruth while Kvapil was using the inside lane to try and motor ahead of Creed. During the 67th lap, Kvapil navigated his way into fourth place over Creed while Clements challenged Creed from the inside lane for fifth place. With Clements having no drafting help and advantage entering the straightaways, Creed motored ahead with help from Day while Clements filed back in line behind Day. As Day, Creed and Clements continued to battle for fifth place, Smith maintained the lead in front of teammates Allgaier, Caruth and Kvapil at the Lap 70 mark.
Through the Lap 75 mark and with the front-runners breaking up in small packs, Smith maintained the lead ahead of teammates Allgaier, Caruth and Kvapil, respectively, while Day was up into fifth place. Trailing by one-and-a-half seconds in sixth place was Creed as he had Clements pushing him while Love, Parker Retzlaff and Sawalich were scored in the top 10 ahead of Sanchez, Austin Hill, Crews, Harrison Burton and Jake Finch, respectively. Meanwhile, Anthony Alfredo, Brandon Jones, Taylor Gray, Dean Thompson and Jordan Anderson were racing in the top 20, respectively, as Smith remained in the lead at the event’s halfway mark on Lap 80.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Justin Allgaier edged teammate Sammy Smith by 0.003 seconds to claim his seventh O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Smith settled in second ahead of teammates Caruth and Kvapil, both of whom trailed by more than a second, while Day, Clements, Love, Retzlaff, Creed and Austin Hill were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 29 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. During the event’s second stage break period, the field led by Allgaier pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Allgaier exited pit road ahead of teammates Smith, Caruth and Kvapil, respsetcively, while Love, Hill, Creed, Crews, Sawalich and Jones followed suit.
With 65 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as teammates Allgaier and Caruth occupied the front row in front of their other two teammates, Smith and Kvapil. At the start, Allgaier briefly motored ahead from the outside lane before Caruth fought back from the inside lane through the first two turns. Meanwhile, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love and Austin Hill along with Nick Sanchez started to ignite a third drafting lane towards the outside lane. As the field fanned out and started to stack up through three tight lanes, Caruth led the next lap while Allgaier, who was pinned in the middle lane, lost his grasp of the lead with no drafting help. Caruth and Creed then swapped the lead until the caution returned with 63 laps remaining due to Harrison Burton losing an engine and having smoke billow out from his entry.
During the next restart with 54 laps remaining, Caruth and Creed dueled against one another for a full circuit as the field behind fanned out, with every competitor racing within the front pack starting to dice and utilize any drafting advantage to get to the front. As Creed emerged ahead of Caruth while Austin Hill started to navigate his way to the front, the caution returned with 52 laps remaining when Jones, who was racing within the top-10 mark, washed up the track through Turns 3 and 4 and briefly lost momentum. This caused a mini stack-up that involved Alfredo and Thompson while Gray, who also tried to check up, was hit in the rear by Day. This resulted with Gray getting sideways and quickly ricochetting into the outside wall as he got hit hard again by Day, which left the latter two with wrecked race cars and out of contention. The incident placed the event in a red flag period for eight minutes and 11 seconds due to the oil on the track.
When the red flag lifted and the event restarted with 45 laps remaining, Creed and Caruth dueled in front of Crews, Kvapil and the field for a full lap. Creed and Caruth remained dead even during the next lap before the caution returned due to Clements spinning in Turn 2. The event was then placed in a second red flag period, this time for five minutes and 19 seconds, due to having oil on the track cleared, with the oil coming from Mayer’s damaged entry when Mayer ran into the rear of Mason Maggio during the latest restart.
For the following restart that commenced with 36 laps remaining, Creed maintained the lead for two cycles before Caruth made a move to Creed’s outside to motor ahead with the lead. Amid Sammy Smith’s three-wide challenge from the frontstretch, Caruth had the upper advantage to storm ahead along with teammates Kvapil and Allgaier. Caruth continued to lead until the caution was displayed with 31 laps remaining due to Glen Reen spinning in Turn 4.
As the event restarted with 26 laps remaining, Allgaier was pushed ahead of teammate Caruth from Hill from the inside lane through the first two turns until Caruth fought back as he had drafting help from teammate Kvapil from the outside lane. With the field stacked up in two-wide formation, Caruth led the next lap by a hair over Allgaier. Behind the leaders, a tight three-wide action occurred as Smith split Sanchez and Creed in the middle for fifth place while Love and Finch were also involved. For the next lap, the caution returned when Jake Finch, who was racing within the top-10 mark, got loose and hit the outside wall in Turn 4, which damaged to right side of his No. 9 Caroline Carports Chevrolet Camaro entry and ended his late strong charge at the front.
The next restart with 19 laps remaining pitted Hill against Caruth on the front row as Hill used a push from Kvapil that allowed both to motor ahead and slide in front of Caruth through the first two turns. Exiting the backstretch, Caruth then darted to the inside lane, drew alongside Kvapil and challenged him for the runner-up spot. While Hill led the next lap, Kvapil made a move beneath Hill entering the first two turns in a late challenge for the lead. Seconds later, the caution flew due to Finch spinning for a second time, with his latest incident occurring to the inside of Turn 2 when he blew a left-rear tire. Based on the previous scoring loop, Hill was ruled the leader over Kvapil, Allgaier, Caruth and Sanchez.
For the following restart with 13 laps remaining, Allgaier, who restarted beneath Hill on the front row, had teammates Caruth and Smith push him ahead of Hill while Kvapil was pushing Hill. Hill was then pinned in the middle lane as Kvapil darted to his right. As the field cycled back to the frontstretch, Hill was scored in fifth place and pushing Caruth amid the tight three-wide formation he was pinned from within the middle as Allgaier led the next lap ahead of teammates Caruth, Kvapil and Smith. Seconds later, the caution returned when Jordan Anderson, who tried to make a bold four-wide move beneath Creed, Love and Crews while battling for seventh place, barely clipped the apron and slipped up the track into the side of Creed in the first turn. This ricocheted into Love and Crews as all four competitors along with Retzlaff, Sawalich, Jones, Leland Honeyman Jr., Thompson and Nick Leitz piled into the carnage. This latest carnage placed the event in a third red flag period for eight minutes and nine seconds.
During a seven-lap dash to the finish, Allgaier and Kvapil had teammates Caruth and Smith pushing them, respectively, until Kvapil motored ahead from the outside lane with a push from Smith. Smith then darted to the left of Kvapil and both dueled in front of the pack for the next lap that involved Allgaier and a hard-charging Austin Hill. Allgaier then nearly slipped in front of Hill and lost touch of the lead as both Kvapil and Smith continued to duel in front of Hill.
Then with four laps remaining, a tight three-wide battle for the lead ensued as Kvapil, Smith and Hill were dead even against one another for the lead. As Nick Sanchez reeled in to give Hill a boost from the inside lane, Hill got aero-loose in front of Sanchez entering the third turn. This caused Hill to make contact with Smith as both Smith and Caruth hit the outside wall while Hill spun and was hit by Ryan Ellis. This latest incident in the fourth turn not only place the event in a fourth red flag period for eight minutes and a second, but it also sent the event into overtime. At the time of the incident, Kvapil was leading ahead of Sanchez, Ryan Sieg, Clements, Alfredo and Allgaier.
The event’s first overtime attempt did not last long when Clements, who was restarting behind Sanchez on the second inside row, got turned by Allgaier amid a stack-up and wrecked with Lavar Scott. The event’s second overtime attempt cycled through for a full lap despite a wild start that commenced when Ryan Sieg was shoved out of line and he dropped off the pace due to running out of fuel. With Kvapil having no drafting help from the outside lane, Sanchez was pushed clear out in front by Brennan Poole and Allgaier until Poole made a move beneath Sanchez and stormed to the lead through the backstretch.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Poole remained in the lead despite having Sanchez reeling in from the outside lane as Sanchez was being pushed by Kvapil. Then entering the first turn, Sanchez, who darted to the left to get beneath Poole, was turned by Kvapil into Poole as the latter two wrecked against the outside wall and lost their momentum. The event, however, remained under green flag conditions as Allgaier, who had sparks flying beneath his damaged No. 7 Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet Camaro entry, muscle through with the lead ahead of Retzlaff, Kvapil, Sawalich and Alfredo. With both Alfredo and Kvapil not gaining enough of a draft from one another and the scattered pack to reel in Allgaier, the latter maintained the lead for a final circuit before he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by a tenth of a second.
With the victory, Allgaier notched his unprecedented sixth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career win of the 2026 season, his second at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway and the 34th of his career. Allgaier, who became the sixth competitor to win an O’Reilly event on Atlanta’s current reconfigured racing surface, also recorded the 18th victory of the 2026 season for the Chevrolet manufacturer and the 13th for JR Motorsports.
As an added bonus, Allgaier, who increased his lead in the points standings to 240, secured the 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Regular Season Championship with three regular-season events remaining until the Chase commences in early September during Labor Day weekend. This marks Allgaier’s second regular-season title in the series after he achieved his first in 2018.
“[I’m] So proud of everybody at JR Motorsports,” Allgaier said on the frontstretch on CW Network. “We had five great Chevrolets today. I knew at the end, there was gonna be some guys close on fuel. You just never give up. [Crew chief] Andrew Overstreet, this whole No. 7 team, Eddie D’Hondt, spotter, they talk over and over again about not giving up and that’s what this team’s all about. I didn’t know what was gonna happen at the end of the race there, and it came down to one. It’s been a rough week. We’ve had all kinds of stuff going this week. This [win] makes it a little sweeter.”
Carson Kvapil, who led 29 laps compared to Allgaier’s 15, edged Parker Retzlaff to finish a career-best runner-up for a fifth time in his O’Reilly career. William Sawalich and Anthony Alfredo finished in the top five. Garrett Smithley, Brandon Jones, Kyle Sieg, Rajah Caruth and Jeremy Clements completed the top 10 in the final running order, respectively.
Notably, Ryan Sieg ended up in 18th place while Brennan Poole and Nick Sanchez settled in 17th and 19th following their last-lap incident. Sammy Smith, who led a race-high 34 laps, finished in 18th place while Austin Hill, who was unable to continue following his late multi-car wreck, was scored in 22nd place. Jesse Love, who despite was eliminated from a multi-car accident with nearly 10 laps remaining and was ranked in 26th place in the final running order, was confirmed to have secured an O’Reilly Chase berth in 2026 along with Allgaier.
This event featured 19 lead changes for 11 different leaders, and generated 13 for 76 laps. In addition, 18 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results:
- Justin Allgaier, 15 laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Carson Kvapil, 29 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Parker Retzlaff
- William Sawalich
- Anthony Alfredo
- Garrett Smithley
- Brandon Jones
- Kyle Sieg
- Rajah Caruth, 18 laps led
- Jeremy Clements
- Mason Maggio
- Josh Bilicki
- Patrick Staropoli
- Dean Thompson
- Glen Reen
- Ryan Sieg
- Brennan Poole, one lap led
- Sammy Smith, 34 laps led
- Nick Sanchez, one lap down
- Blaine Perkins, one lap down
- Lavar Scott, three laps down
- Austin Hill – OUT, Accident, seven laps led
- Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident, one lap led
- Brent Crews – OUT, Accident, five laps led
- Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident, 27 laps led
- Jesse Love – OUT, Accident
- Jordan Anderson – OUT, Accident
- Leland Honeyman Jr. – OUT, Accident
- Nick Leitz – OUT, Accident
- Jake Finch – OUT, Accident
- Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident, 33 laps led
- Corey Day – OUT, Accident
- Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident
- Harrison Burton – OUT, Engine, two laps led
- Logan Bearden – OUT, Fuel Pump
- Carson Ware – OUT, Suspension
- Joey Gase – OUT, Engine
- Jeb Burton – OUT, Brakes
Next on the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule is Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, for the Pennzoil 250. The event is scheduled to occur on July 25 and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network and SiriusXM.
