The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series began its western swing this past weekend in the desert at Phoenix Raceway, the first race there since the championship finale back in November.
The GOVX 200 featured an exciting race with multiple battles and 20 lead changes. Ultimately, Justin Allgaier claimed his first victory of the season and his first since Nashville last summer after leading 11 out of the 200 laps.
With Allgaier getting back to victory lane, we’ll take a look at some other stories that played out during the race in this week’s four takeaways.
JR Motorsports Nearly Places All Four Cars In The Top 10
Saturday night was a banner night for the JR Motorsports team, which saw almost all four cars get a Top 10 finish. In fact, all was running inside the Top 10 at one point during the race.
Sammy Smith in the No. 8 led 10 laps and won the first stage, which was his first of the year and wound up in the sixth spot. Carson Kvapil came close to winning his first career O’Reilly AutoParts victory and ran up front, leading 22 laps after starting in the 14th position.
Kvapil finished third for his first top five of the season. William Byron piloted the No. 88 this week and finished in the Top 10 during both stages before sliding back in the 13th position at the end of the night. Needless to say, the JR Motorsports team had a strong night at Phoenix. It’ll be interesting to see if the team can carry its momentum to Las Vegas next weekend.
Anthony Alfredo Nabs Top 10
Anthony Alfredo had a busy weekend at Phoenix. The 26-year-old got the call to replace Alex Bowman this past weekend in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports machine. Prior to Sunday’s race, however, he had his other full-time job to do, which was to compete in the O’Reilly race with the No. 96 Viking Motorsports entry. Alfredo had a solid effort by qualifying fourth and finished in the 10th position.
This was his first Top 10 finish since Talladega last year, where he finished sixth in that race. Unfortunately, his time in the Cup race was cut short at Lap 218 of the 312-lap race as he was caught up in a multi-car accident that relegated him to a DNF and finishing 33rd.
Joe Gibbs Racing Has Disappointing Outing At Phoenix
It appeared as though Saturday night was going to be a great night for the Joe Gibbs Racing team, especially after Taylor Gray and the No. 54 Toyota Camry earned the pole on Friday night. While Brent Crews and Brandon Jones scored stage points in Stage 1, Crews did so again in the second stage along with pole sitter Gray.
Meanwhile, William Sawalich and the No. 18 team crashed late in the race at Lap 175 of 200 and unfortunately, wound up 37th with a DNF. As for the other three, Gray finished 15th, Jones 16th and Crews 18th. Clearly not the night the JGR team needed and they will look to rebound at Vegas on Saturday.
Haas Factory Finishes Fourth and Fifth
After last week’s disappointing Circuit of the Americas finish, where both cars placed outside of the Top 10 (Sheldon Creed – 11th, Sam Mayer – 14th), both cars rallied back for a strong outing this time around.
While Creed was the only one to earn stage points after finishing ninth in the two stages, Mayer had a great finish of fifth for his first top five of the season and led 11 laps to his credit. Creed ended up one spot higher than Mayer in fourth after leading 20 laps.
