Justin Allgaier snapped a two-month winless drought and prevailed in a late battle with Brent Crews to win the Sports Illustrated Resorts 250 at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, May 30.
The 2024 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion from Riverton, Illinois, led three times for 50 of 188-scheduled laps. Allgaier started in 17th place based on a random draw. He then motored his way to a third-place result at the conclusion of the first stage period. After outdueling Jesse Love to win the second stage period, Allgaier briefly lost the lead due to a slow pit service during the second stage’s break period, but he quickly bolted his way back towards the front at the start of the final stage period. Then, during a late cycle of green flag pit stops, Allgaier, who pitted from the runner-up spot with 43 laps remaining, trailed the leader, Brent Crews, as the pit stops cycled.
As the laps dwindled, Allgaier managed to drag-race and spend the next several laps engaging in a fierce battle with Crews for the lead. Once Allgaier cleared Crews with 15 laps remaining, he never looked back as he built his advantage over Crews to more than a second in the closing laps and when the checkered flag flew, with the veteran JR Motorsports driver notching his fourth O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory of the 2026 and his third in Music City in Lebanon, Tennessee.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a qualifying metric formula due to on-track qualifying being canceled due to inclement weather. As a result, Jesse Love, the reigning O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion, was awarded the pole position and he shared the front row with teammate Austin Hill. Before the event, Parker Retzlaff dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change after he lost his primary one during Saturday’s practice. Garrett Smithley, Sheldon Creed and Brandon Jones all dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, teammates Jesse Love and Austin Hill dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Love used the inside lane to motor his No. 2 Whelen Aerospace Technologies Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead and clear Hill entering the backstretch. Hill was then locked in a side-by-side duel with Corey Day for the runner-up spot throughout the remaining two turns while Love led the first lap.
Over the next four laps, Love stretched his early advantage to more than a second over Day as Day prevailed in his side-by-side duel with Hill for the runner-up spot by the fourth lap. Love proceeded to stabilize his lead to more than a second over Day at the lap 10 mark while Hill, Carson Kvapil, William Sawalich and Kyle Larson trailed by within three seconds in the top-six mark, respectively. Behind, Ryan Sieg, Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Dean Thompson were racing in the top 10 ahead of Anthony Alfredo, Jeb Burton, Leland Honeyman Jr., Taylor Gray and Patrick Staropoli while Brent Crews, Blaine Perkins, Sam Mayer, Kyle Sieg and Austin Green rounded out the top 20 over Jeremy Clements, Parker Retzlaff, Brandon Jones, Sheldon Creed and Rajah Caruth, respectively.
Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Love extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Day while third-place Hill trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Kvapil, Larson and Sawalich trailed by five seconds in the top-six mark while Justin Allgaier, who started 17th, was up to seventh in front of Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith and Thompson. Love added another second to his advantage as he led by four seconds over Day at the Lap 30 mark while Hill continued to trail in third place by five seconds. Meanwhile, teammates Kvapil, Larson and Allgaier fiercely battled for fourth place in front of Sawalich while their fourth teammate, Sammy Smith, remained in ninth place between Ryan Sieg and Thompson.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Love cruised to his third O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Day followed suit in second as he trailed by nearly six seconds, while Allgaier, Hill, Larson, Kvapil, Sawalich, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith and Brent Crews were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 28 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while Logan Bearden outdueled Cleetus McFarland to be the first competitor scored a lap down and be awarded the free pass from 29th place. Meanwhile, McFarland plummeted to 36th place after he spun to the bottom of the track in Turns 3 and 4 while trying to claim the free pass berth over Bearden.
Under the event’s first stage break period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Love pitted for the first time of the event while JJ Yeley remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Love exited pit road first and he was followed by Allgaier, Kvapil, Hill, Day, Sawalich, Larson, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith and Crews, respectively. Yeley eventually pitted prior to the start of the second stage period, which allowed Love to cycle back as the leader.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Love and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Love and Allgaier dueled for the lead through the first two turns before Love used the inside lane to motor ahead and clear the field for a second consecutive time. As the field fanned out and jostled for spots, Love fended off Allgaier to lead the next lap before the latter dueled and overtook the former from the backstretch to assume the lead for the 55th lap. Behind, Larson was shuffled back to 10th place after he got sideways and aggressively battled Hill from Turns 3 and 4 through the frontstretch before Hill bumped Larson to express his displeasure over the aggressive racing. Amid the aggressive racing, Kvapil, Day and Sawalich were racing in the top five ahead of Crews, Sammy Smith, Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg and Mayer. Meanwhile, Lrson and Hill were mired in 11th and 15th, respectively, while Allgaier maintained his lead to four-tenths of a second by Lap 60.
At the Lap 70 mark, Allgaier stabilized his lead to two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Love while Kvapil, Sawalich, Day, Crews, Mayer, Retzlaff, Larson and Ryan Sieg trailed in the top-10 mark, respectively. Love then dueled beneath Allgaier through the frontstretch on Lap 75 before he used the first two turns and the inside lane to reassume the lead and lead the next lap. Allgaier kept Love’s rear bumper close within his sights through every turn and straightaway, but the latter maintained the top spot by a mere two-tenths of a second just past the Lap 80 mark.
Then on Lap 85 and with the leaders mired in lapped traffic, Allgaier dueled and overtook Love through the frontstretch to return atop the leaderboard. Love, though, crossed over and quickly reassumed the lead before both then swapped the lead over the next handful of laps. Amid the battle, Allgaier prevailed before both he and Love dueled through the frontstretch to start the final lap of the second stage period, when Allgaier briefly slipped up the track through Turns 3 and 4. Love then missed his mark through the first two turns and Allgaier motored ahead of Love entering the backstretch.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Justin Allgaier fended off Love to capture his sixth O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Love settled in second ahead of Kvapil, Sawalich, Crews, Day, Mayer, Retzlaff, Larson and Ryan Sieg, respectively, while 28 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Allgaier returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Love exited pit road first ahead of teammate Kvapil, Sawalich and Crews, while Allgaier, who endured a slow pit service on the right-front tire area, dropped to fifth. Day, Jones, Larson, Mayer and Sammy Smith followed suit, respectively.
With 89 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Love and Kvapil occupied the front row in front of Sawalich, Crews, Allgaier and Day. At the start, the field fanned out as Love motored ahead with the lead through the first two turns. Behind, Allgaier executed a bold three-wide move to drive from fifth to second entering the backstretch. As Allgaier maintained the runner-up spot over Crews, Love led the next lap while Kvapil dropped to fourth in front of Day, Sawalich, Jones, Larson, Taylor Gray and Sammy Smith. Larson then barely saved his entry from spinning after he got loose beneath Jones through Turns 3 and 4. Despite his save, Larson dropped to 14th place as Love led by nine-tenths of a second over a duel between Allgaier and Crews with 85 laps remaining.
Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Love was leading by less than four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Crew. Lovem, however, was reporting a potential loose wheel to his entry. Five laps later, Crews used the outside lane to draw even with Love and then assume the lead through the first two turns. Crews spent the next two laps stretching his advantage to more than a second over Love while third-place Allgaier trailed runner-up Love by seven-tenths of a second. Love then pitted under green to have his loose wheel addressed with 67 laps remaining. By the time he returned to the track, he lost a lap to the leaders and was scored in 29th place in the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Crews continued to lead by more than two seconds over Allgaier and Day with 65 laps remaining.
As the event reached its final 50-lap mark, Crews, who had maintained a steady lead over the previous 15 laps, continued to lead by three-and-a-half seconds over Allgaier while Day and Sawalich trailed by four seconds in third and fourth, respectively. Behind, Mayer trailed in fifth place by five seconds while Jones, Gray, Kvapil, Larson and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Love was pinned as the second competitor a lap down in 29th place and teammate Hill was a single spot outside the top-10 mark on the track while Crews retained the top spot by more than three seconds with 45 laps remaining.
With 46 laps remaining, a late cycle of green-flag pit stops commenced as Sammy Smith and Harrison Burton pitted their respective entries. Kvapil, Retzlaff, Dean Thompson, Jeb Burton, Gray and Anthony Alfredo all pitted during the next three laps. Justin Allgaier pitted from the runner-up spot with 43 laps remaining. The leader Crews then pitted a lap later along with Day, Sawalich, Mayer, Larson, Creed, Blaine Perkins, Logan Bearden and Brennan Poole. Amid the pit stops, Crews managed to cycle back on the track ahead of Allgaier while Hill, who was among a handful of competitors who had yet to pit, was leading with 40 laps remaining.
Once Hill, Ryan Sieg and Patrick Staropoli pitted their respective entries under green, Crews cycled back as the leader with 38 laps remaining. Crews proceeded to lead by one-and-a-half seconds over Allgaier with 35 laps remaining while Mayer and Day fiercely battled for fourth place behind Sawalich. Both Crews and Allgaier would then encounter heavy lapped traffic over the next five laps as Allgaier narrowed the deficit to be within seven-tenths of a second behind Crews with 30 laps remaining.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Crews, who navigated his way through a majority of lapped traffic, continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Allgaier. Crews, who lapped Lavar Scott and was reeling in to lap Jeremy Clements, had his advantage decreased to two-tenths of a second over Allgaier with 20 laps remaining.
A lap later, Justin Allgaier got beneath Crews and both dueled through the frontstretch before Allgaier used the inside lane to motor ahead through the first two turns. Crews then executed a crossover move to draw even with Allgaier through the backstretch, and both continued to duel during the next lap, with Crews almost getting into Allgaier’s left rear and both fiercely battling dead even. Then, as both navigated past the lapped competitor of Ryan Ellis, Allgaier briefly cleared Crews through the first two turns before Crews slightly ran into the rear of Allgaier to draw even through Turns 3 and 4. Amid their fierce duel and Crews’ persistent challenges, Allgaier then managed to clear and slightly pull his No. 7 BRANDT/Trademark Nitrogen Chevrolet Camaro entry away from Crews’ No. 19 Younglife Toyota Supra entry by a tenth of a second with 15 laps remaining.
With 10 laps remaining, Justin Allgaier, who started to reel in Clements and was trying to lap him, was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Crews. Allgaier managed to lap Clements two laps later and grow his lead to a second over Crews with five laps remaining.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier remained in the lead by more than a second over Crews. With both competitors free from lapped traffic and Crews unable to reel in for a final-lap charge, Allgaier was able to smoothly navigate through Nashville Superspeedway for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by more than a second over Crews.
With the victory, Allgaier, who led 50 laps, achieved his fourth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory of the 2026 season. It was his third at Nashville Superspeedway and his second in a row at the track in recent years. It was also the 32nd of his career, which moves him into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time wins list. Allgaier’s Nashville victory was also the 14th O’Reilly victory of this season for the Chevrolet manufacturer and the 10th for JR Motorsports, with Allgaier achieving his 29th as the driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet entry for JR Motorsports.
“First of all, it’s been a rough couple of weeks,” Allgaier, who dedicated his victory to the family of the late two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and to Busch, said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “It’s been an emotional couple of weeks. This [No. 7] team right here, they’re incredible. To win at Nashville, you fans, this place is electric. I love coming to Nashville. I saw Brent [Crews] struggling out that green flag pit stop and I knew that we had a car that was capable of getting there. We struggled on that one run. [Crew chief] Andrew [Overstreet] made some great calls and we got ourselves back in the game. [I] Was able to track [Crews] down and get the win…Just so proud of this team. Wins are understated. It’s a good night.”
Rookie Brent Crews, who led 45 laps, tied his career-best result by settling in second place after he was in a position to achieve his first O’Reilly victory. Amid the disappointment, Crews was left pleased with contending against Allgaier for the victory. With his fifth top-five result through 12 starts of the 2026 O’Reilly season, Crews trails the top-12 cutline to be in Chase contention by 12 points.
“Man, the positive was that I thought we were gonna win that race,” Crew said. “[I’m] Happy for our [No. 19] guys. It turned out to be a beautiful day. Throughout the day, it was not looking nice, but got to start 33rd and work our way up to the lead and lead a lot of laps. I got to race one of the best guys in the series and of all-time in this series for the win there on the last few laps. Couldn’t ask for much more other than to beat him. Just fought really loose there at the end after we put on that last set of tires. Not sure what that was, but that was probably the most fun I’ve had in a race not winning. It’s a positive from tonight.”
William Sawalich came home in third place for his fourth top-five result of the 2026 season, while Sam Mayer and Brandon Jones finished in the top five. Corey Day settled in sixth place ahead of teammate Carson Kvapil, while Kyle Larson, Taylor Gray and Sammy Smith completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Jesse Love, who led a race-high 87 laps and never recovered from his late unscheduled green flag pit stop to have a loose wheel addressed. He cycled back on the lead lap but ended up in 16th place. Teammate Cleetus McFarland, who spun while trying to enter pit road under green in the closing laps, finished in 35th place in his second O’Reilly career start.
There were 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The event featured two cautions for 15 laps. In addition, 17 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 16th event of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, Justin Allgaier continues to lead the standings by 179 points over Jesse Love, 196 over Corey Day, 238 over Sheldon Creed and 258 over Brandon Jones.
Results:
- Justin Allgaier, 50 laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Brent Crews, 45 laps led
- William Sawalich
- Sam Mayer
- Brandon Jones, one lap led
- Corey Day
- Carson Kvapil
- Kyle Larson
- Taylor Gray
- Sammy Smith
- Austin Hill led for two laps
- Parker Retzlaff
- Ryan Sieg led two laps
- Dean Thompson
- Sheldon Creed
- Jesse Love, 87 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Anthony Alfredo
- Jeremy Clements, one lap down
- Rajah Caruth, one lap down
- Blaine Perkins, one lap down
- Brennan Poole, one lap down
- Leland Honeyman Jr., one lap down
- Jeb Burton, one lap down
- Kyle Sieg, one lap down
- Patrick Staropoli, one lap down
- Logan Bearden, two laps down
- Harrison Burton, two laps down
- Mason Maggio, two laps down
- Ryan Ellis, three laps down
- Austin Green, three laps down
- Lavar Scott, four laps down
- Josh Bilicki, four laps down
- Garrett Smithley, four laps down
- Dawson Cram, five laps down
- Cleetus McFarland, six laps down
- Joey Gase, nine laps down
- David Starr – OUT, Suspension
- JJ Yeley – OUT, Rear end
Next on the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule is Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, for the MillerTech Battery 250. The event is scheduled to occur on June 13 and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM.
