Corey Day made a late pass on Justin Allgaier to claim an upset victory in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ BetRivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 16.
The 20-year-old Day from Clovis, California, led the final four of 200-scheduled laps. He qualified in third place and netted top-10 results through the event’s first two stage periods. Despite making early contact with the outside wall in the opening phases of the final stage period, Day navigated his entry through short-run strategies and five cautions that flew throughout the stage to race towards the front.
Then, after navigating into the runner-up spot with 22 laps remaining, Day began reeling in Justin Allgaier for the lead. Then, as Allgaier had issues navigating past the lapped competitor of Blake Lothain, Day capitalized. He used the outside lane through the first two turns to overtake Allgaier. Day then assumed the lead with four laps remaining. From there, Day never looked back. He continued using the outside lane to fend off Allgaier, storming to his second O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career victory in his rookie campaign.
On-track qualifying determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday. Ross Chastain claimed the pole position with a pole-winning lap at 154.394 mph in 23.317 seconds. Brandon Jones started alongside Chastain on the front row with the second-fastest qualifying lap at 154.030 mph in 23.372 seconds.
Before the event, Parker Retzlaff started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments. David Starr also started at the rear of the field due to an engine change.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Ross Chastain and Brandon Jones dueled for the lead for nearly a full lap. Then Chastain used the outside lane to motor his No. 9 Roto-Rooter Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead of Jones while cycling back to the frontstretch. After leading the first lap, Chastain stabilized his lead to within two-tenths of a second over Jones over the next four laps. Rajah Caruth, Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Corey Day, William Sawalich, Jesse Love, Sheldon Creed and Carson Kvapil followed suit, respectively.
Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Chastain was leading by three-tenths of a second over Jones. Gray was racing in third place ahead of Caruth and Mayer. A lap later, the event’s first caution flew. Ryan Sieg made contact while battling underneath Brent Crews, which forced the latter up to the wall through the first two turns. As a result, Jeb Burton, who checked up to avoid Crews’ incident, was hit in the rear by Retzlaff and both spun, with the latter getting hit by Lavar Scott while Burton made head-on contact with the inside wall.
The next restart on Lap 18 featured Jones gaining an advantage over Chastain as he motored his No. 20 Menards Toyota Supra entry ahead from the inside lane through the frontstretch, the first two turns and the backstretch. Following a single lap, Jones maintained the lead over Chastain. He led the next lap (Lap 20) while Mayer motored up to third place in front of Gray and Caruth. Sawalich, Kvapil, Love, Corey Day and Creed were in the top 10, respectively. Jones continued to lead by four-tenths of a second at the Lap 25 mark.
At the Lap 30 mark, Jones retained his early advantage by four-tenths of a second over Chastain. Mayer, Gray, Caruth, Sawalich, Kvapil, Love, Corey Day and Creed all continued to pursue in the top 10, respectively. Behind, Ryan Sieg occupied 11th place. He was followed by Justin Allgaier, Harrison Burton, Austin Hill and Jeremy Clements. Sammy Smith, Dean Thompson, Brennan Poole, Kyle Sieg and Blaine Perkins trailed in the top 20, respectively.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Jones captured his third O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Chastain settled in second place while Mayer, Gray, Caruth, Kvapil, Sawalich, Day, Love and Allgaier were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the field led by Jones pitted for a first round of pit service. Following the pit stops, Chastain exited pit road first. Gray, Caruth, Corey Day and Love followed. Jones lost seven spots on pit road to eighth place after his pit crew had issues changing his tires. Mayer also dropped from third to ninth after exiting his pit stall.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Chastain and Gray occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead for nearly a full lap. Then Chastain barely motored ahead of Gray from the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4. He cycled ahead through the frontstretch and led the next lap. With Chastain leading, Gray retained second place over Caruth and Day. Love occupied fourth place in front of Kvapil, Sawalich, Jones and Mayer.
Following a Lap 59 caution that flew when Blaine Perkins wrecked hard in Turn 3, the next restart on Lap 67 featured Chastain using the outside lane to gain a stronger advantage. He motored ahead of Gray through the first two turns. Chastain proceeded to lead by four-tenths of a second by Lap 70. Meanwhile, Gray was being challenged by Caruth for the runner-up spot.
On Lap 71, Caruth overtook Gray for the runner-up spot. He then proceeded to reel in teammate Chastain for the lead as the laps in the second stage dwindled. Amid Caruth’s challenge through every turn and straightaway, Chastain maintained the top spot past the Lap 80 mark.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Chastain captured his first O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Caruth settled in second ahead of Gray, Love and Mayer. Kvapil, Day, Allgaier, Sawalich and Ryan Sieg completed the top 10, respectively.
During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Chastain returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Love jumped from fourth to first. He exited off of pit road ahead of Caruth. Chastain dropped to third as Corey Day, Sawalich, Gray, Mayer, Jones, Kvapil and Allgaier followed suit, respectively.
With 101 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Love and Caruth occupied the front row. At the start, Love and Caruth dueled for half a lap. Then, entering Turn 3, Caruth got loose underneath Love, and both slid through the turn. In the process, Love hit the outside wall on the right side. Caruth managed to straighten his entry, though he lost several spots on the track. Amid the incident, Chastain reassumed the lead.
As the event restarted with 95 laps remaining, Chastain used the outside lane to fend off William Sawalich through the first two turns and the backstretch. Chastain muscled ahead with the lead for the next lap. Sawalich then drag-raced with Chastain through the frontstretch before he motored ahead with the lead entering the first turn. As Sawalich led, the caution returned with 90 laps remaining. This was due to Caruth getting loose underneath another competitor for a second time, entering Turn 3. His latest incident involved Harrison Burton, as they battled in the top-15 mark. Both spun from the top of the track to the bottom lane.
The next restart, with 83 laps remaining, only lasted two laps. Chastain, who was outdueled by Sawalich for the lead, got sideways by Gray entering the frontstretch. In the process, Gray got sideways after he was sandwiched in between Chastain’s sideways entry and in the rear by Mayer. This sent Gray spinning and hitting the inside wall head-on.
The next restart, with 75 laps remaining, featured Austin Green and Andrew Patterson on the front row amid mixed pit strategies ensuing within the field. Green led for nearly a full lap until Allgaier used the outside lane to motor past Green, Patterson and the field to lead the next lap. As Allgaier led, Harrison Burton and Sawalich navigated their way to second and third while Day was challenging Green for fourth place. Allgaier continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second with 73 laps remaining when the caution flew due to an incident involving Garrett Smithley in Turn 2.
When the event restarted with 68 laps remaining, Allgaier rocketed ahead from the outside lane and he maintained the lead for a full lap ahead of Sawalich, Harrison Burton and Corey Day while the field behind fanned out and dueled for late spots. Allgaier proceeded to lead by nine-tenths of a second with 60 laps remaining and by eight-tenths of a second with 50 laps remaining, both over Sawalich, when the caution returned with 41 laps remaining due to Smithley shredding a right-rear tire and wrecking in Turn 4.
The latest restart with 34 laps remaining featured Allgaier fending off Sawalich from the outside lane and through the first two turns to retain the lead. As Allgaier led by seven-tenths of a second with 30 laps remaining, Mayer reeled in and battled with Sawalich for the runner-up spot until the former claimed the spot with 26 laps remaining. Day then followed suit to move into third place a lap later before Day overtook Mayer for the runner-up spot with 22 laps remaining. Amid Day’s late charge to the front, Allgaier led by a second with 20 laps remaining.
Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Allgaier had his late lead reduced to half a second over Corey Day. Day then trailed Allgaier by four-tenths of a second with 10 laps remaining and the former continued to reel in the latter as the laps dwindled. Then, amid little lapped traffic, Day used the outside lane and the lapped competitor of Blake Lothian to drag-race Allgaier through the first two turns. Despite hitting the backstretch’s outside wall, Allgaier got loose, which allowed Day to motor his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead with the lead. As Allgaier tried to use the inside lane to regain his momentum with his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro entry, Day kept using the outside lane to maintain a steady advantage.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Day remained in the lead by four-tenths of a second over Allgaier. With Allgaier reeling in Day but not having enough to draw even for a final challenge, Day used his late momentum to cycle back to the frontstretch and claim the checkered flag by four-tenths of a second.
With the victory, Corey Day, who scored his first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career victory at Talladega Superspeedway three races prior, notched his second career victory in his 25th series start and he joins Allgaier, Kyle Larson and Connor Zilisch as the only competitors to repeat as an O’Reilly winner this season. He also recorded the 29th O’Reilly career victory for Hendrick Motorsports and the organization’s first at Dover in the series.
“Man, I was hoping that’s how [the battle for the win] would play out,” Day said. “I saved so hard there early in the last run once we put on tires and the yellow came out and I thought, awe, this is just going to be a caution fest and it was all for nothing, but oh man, it all just worked out good…This one feels really, really good. The Talladega [win] was unexpected at a superspeedway, but we earned this one.”
Allgaier, who confronted Blake Lothian following the event, was left disappointed on pit road after having a late dominant run by leading a race-high 71 laps, concluding with a runner-up result for a third time this season.
“Good teaching moment,” Allgaier said. “Blake [Lothian] and I spoke a couple of times. Obviously, just super talent. He kind of made a move to go inside, then back outside and I just didn’t know which lane he was going to go in. Unfortunately, it allowed [Day] to get to my outside, but hats off to Corey and that whole No. 17 team. He was running me down there at the end. Proud of our team. It wasn’t the day we wanted early on, but the team worked really hard all day long…Just disappointed to walk out of here with a second after leading that many laps at the end.”
Sam Mayer, William Sawalich and Austin Hill finished in the top five while Brandon Jones, Carson Kvapil, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith and Anthony Alfredo completed the top 10. Notably, Ross Chastain, who led 68 laps, settled in 13th place, one spot ahead of teammate Rajah Caruth.
There were 12 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The event featured nine cautions for 54 laps. In addition, 24 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 15th event of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, Justin Allgaier leads the standings by 175 points over Sheldon Creed, 177 over Jesse Love, 195 over Corey Day and 205 over Brandon Jones.
Results:
- Corey Day, four laps led
- Justin Allgaier, 71 laps led
- Sam Mayer, one lap led
- William Sawalich, 15 laps led
- Austin Hill
- Brandon Jones, 31 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Carson Kvapil
- Ryan Sieg
- Sammy Smith
- Anthony Alfredo
- Brennan Poole
- Austin Green, four laps led
- Ross Chastain, 68 laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Rajah Caruth, one lap led
- Jeremy Clements
- Harrison Burton
- Kyle Sieg
- Sheldon Creed
- Andrew Patterson
- Dean Thompson
- Patrick Staropoli
- Brent Crews
- Jesse Love, four laps led
- Myatt Snider
- Ryan Ellis, one lap down
- Blake Lothian, one lap down
- Josh Bilicki, two laps down
- Dawson Cram, two laps down
- BJ McLeod, five laps down
- CJ McLaughlin, seven laps down
- Garrett Smithley, 11 laps down
- Taylor Gray – OUT, Suspension, 17 laps down, one lap led
- David Starr – OUT, Vibration
- Blaine Perkins – OUT, Accident
- Logan Bearden – OUT, Brakes
- Lavar Scott – OUT, Engine
- Jeb Burton – OUT, Accident
- Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule is the Charbroil 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, May 23, and air at 5 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM.
