Carson Kvapil capitalized through two overtime shootouts to double down as a two-time race winner in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division, with his latest victory occurring in the HyVee Perks 250 at Iowa Speedway on Saturday, August 8.
The 2021 CARS Super Late Model Tour champion from Mooresville, North Carolina, led the final nine of 260 over-scheduled laps in an event where he qualified in third place, notched four stage points in the first stage period and navigated his way through a war of on-track attrition with multiple cautions and late pit strategies ensuing throughout the final stage period.
Kvapil was initially trailing teammate Ross Chastain for the lead with five laps remaining when a late caution stacked up the field for an overtime shootout. Kvapil capitalized on the first overtime shootout by overtaking Chastain for the lead before a multi-car wreck that involved teammate Justin Allgaier sent the event into a second overtime shootout. For the latest shootout, Kvapil motored away from the field and fended off teammate Rajah Caruth to notch his second consecutive victory in the O’Reilly division within a three-week span.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Ryan Sieg achieved his first career pole position with a pole-winning lap at 131.436 mph in 23.966 seconds. Ross Chastain qualified in second place with a lap at 131.086 mph in 24.030 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, pole-sitter Ryan Sieg, who elected to start on the outside lane, wasted no time bolting away from Ross Chastain and the field through the frontstretch. Entering the first turn, Rajah Caruth, who qualified in fourth place, briefly snapped and went up the track. This caused Caruth to slip out of the top-five mark on the opening lap as Carson Kvapil, Sheldon Creed, Justin Allgaier and Sammy Smith moved up ahead of Caruth through the backstretch. Amid the early battles within the field, Sieg led the first lap over Chastain.
Through the Lap 10 mark, Ryan Sieg stretched his early advantage to more than a second over Chastain as Allgaier, Kvapil and Creed trailed by as far back as nearly four seconds on the track. Behind, Sammy Smith occupied sixth place ahead of Jesse Love, Caruth, Corey Day and Brandon Jones as Sieg continued to stretch his advantage to more than two seconds by Lap 20.
On Lap 26, the event’s first caution flew when Nathan Byrd spun in Turn 4. During the event’s first caution period, some, including Nick Sanchez, Blaine Perkins, Jeremy Clements, Mason Maggio and Joey Gase, pitted their respective entries while the rest, led by Ryan Sieg, remained on the track.
The start of the next restart on Lap 33 featured Ryan Sieg gaining another strong launch from the outside lane as he motored away from Chastain, Allgaier and the field entering the first turn. As Sieg led the next lap, Allgaier and Chastain were locked in a tight battle for the runner-up spot that included Creed, Kvapil, Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer.
Then prior to the Lap 35 mark, Love dropped off the pace through the backstretch due to his entry having issues staying in fourth gear. As he continued to limp his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro entry around the track, he then spun sideways between Turns 3 and 4 before he drove through pit road and to his pit lane without drawing a caution. Despite returning to the track, Love was penalized for speeding on pit road. He eventually took his entry to the garage to have a transmission changed. Amid Love’s issues, Ryan Sieg maintained the lead.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 60, Ryan Sieg cruised to his first O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Allgaier settled in second ahead of Creed, Chastain and Sammy Smith while Mayer, Kvapil, Brandon Jones, Day and William Sawalich were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the field led by Ryan Sieg pitted. Following the pit stops, Creed exited pit road first ahead of Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Kvapil, Jones and Mayer while Sieg dropped to seventh place ahead of Day, Sawalich and Taylor Gray. During the pit stops, Brent Crews made a second trip to pit road due to missing his pit stall during the first pit cycle.
The second stage period started on Lap 70 as Creed and Sammy Smith occupied the front row. At the start, the latter two dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Creed used the outside lane to motor ahead through the backstretch. As Mayer executed a three-wide move beneath Jones and Kvapil to challenge for fourth place, the field fanned out as Creed led the next lap.
Following a caution that flew on Lap 75 due to Kyle Sieg spinning through the first two turns, the next restart on Lap 80 featured Creed motoring away from the field entering the first two turns. As Mayer tried to execute a three-wide move beneath Sammy Smith and Allgaier for the runner-up spot, Allgaier acquired the spot. As Allgaier reeled in on Creed for the lead, Creed led the next lap. Amid Allgaier’s challenge for the lead, Creed proceeded to lead by the Lap 90 mark while Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg, Mayer, Austin Hill, Day, Sawalich, Brent Crews and Chastain were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Then on Lap 101, Allgaier overtook Creed for the lead through the second turn. Allgaier proceeded to lead by seven-tenths of a second by the Lap 105 mark before the latter’s lead increased to more than a second by the Laps 110 and 115 marks.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 120, Allgaier cruised to his eighth O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Creed followed suit in second place by more than two seconds ahead of Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg and Mayer while Day, Crews, Sawalich, Austin Hill and Rajah Caruth were scored in the top 10, respectively.
During the event’s second stage break period, the field led by Allgaier returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Allgaier retained the lead by exiting pit road first while Creed, Sammy Smith, Mayer, Day, Ryan Sieg, Sawalich, Hill, Crews and Caruth followed suit, respectively.
With 121 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Allgaier and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Allgaier fended off Creed by a fender for a full lap as the former led the next lap while Sammy Smith, Mayer, Day and Ryan Sieg followed suit, respectively. While Day slipped out of the top-10 mark as he slid up the track and tapped Sawalich, Allgaier maintained the lead by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Creed with 110 laps remaining.
Then with 101 laps remaining, the caution returned when Anthony Alfredo spun off of the fourth turn. During this caution period, select names like Brandon Jones and Kyle Sieg pitted their respective entries. As the field restarted with 95 laps remaining, Allgaier maintained the lead for the next three laps before the caution flew due to Sawalich spinning in the second turn after he got hit by Patrick Staropoli.
For the next restart with 85 laps remaining, Allgaier, who was among the select few competitors who did not pit during the previous caution, maintained the lead over Mayer and the stacked field for a full cycle. Shortly after, the caution returned due to Cody Ware wrecking in the first turn after he got hit by Love. Allgaier then barely fended off Mayer for a full lap during the next restart with 77 laps remaining before a spin by Lavar Scott stacked the field with the caution flying.
With 71 laps remaining, Allgaier and Mayer dueled at the next restart’s launch, with Allgaier maintaining the advantage from the outside lane. Allgaier continued to maintain his advantage over the next three laps before a spin by Mason Maggio through the frontstretch drew the event’s ninth caution period. During this caution period, Allgaier and Mayer pitted as Jeb Burton cycled to the lead.
When the event restarted with 62 laps remaining, Jeb Burton maintained a steady lead over Chastain and Kvapil for half a lap before the latter two went beneath Burton through Turns 3 and 4. This caused Burton to drop to fourth as Kvapil also briefly went up the track and settled in front of Burton with the runner-up spot. As Ryan Sieg came to play and battled both Kvapil and Burton for second place, Chastain motored away to lead the next lap. Chastain led the next four laps under green flag conditions before the caution flew when Day wrecked hard against the Turn 1 wall following contact with Sammy Smith.
For the next restart that flew with 50 laps remaining, Chastain and Ryan Sieg dueled for the top spot in front of Hill, Kvapil and the field for a full lap as Chastain barely led the next lap from the outside lane. With Chastain just managing to clear and motor ahead of Sieg through the first two turns, the former retained the lead with 40 laps remaining. Chastain led by three-tenths of a second over Sieg and four-tenths of a second over Kvapil with 30 laps remaining before Chastain’s lead grew to more than a second with 20 laps remaining. By then, Kvapil assumed the runner-up spot from Sieg as Chastain led his teammate by eight-tenths of a second with 10 laps remaining.
Then with five laps remaining, Jeb Burton, who had dropped to 19th place, spun in the second turn. By then, Chastain was leading by half a second over Kvapil while Allgaier had carved his way up to third place ahead of Ryan Sieg and Creed. Burton’s incident sent the event into overtime
The start of the first overtime attempt did not last long as the front-runners stumbled through the frontstretch and the field fanned out as Kvapil stormed beneath Chastain to take the lead. Seconds later, Crews slipped up the track, made contact with Ryan Sieg and ran into the side of Allgaier. This caused the latter trio to wreck against the first turn’s outside wall as Mayer also spun while being clipped by Sammy Smith in the process. More names like Carson Brown, Patrick Staropoli and Joey Gase wrecked against the wall while Kvapil, Chastain, Hill, Caruth, Creed, Sawalich and the rest of the field escaped the carnage.
The start of the second overtime attempt featured Kvapil gaining an advantage from the outside lane as he motored his No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead entering the first turn. Behind, Caruth motored his No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry into second place as Hill made slight contact with Chastain, which caused the latter two to briefly lose their momentum. With Hill dropping towards the top-10 mark, Sawalich battled Chastain for third place while Kvapil led Caruth through the backstretch.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Kvapil remained in the lead by three-tenths of a second over teammate Caruth. With Caruth unable to reel in on Kvapil’s rear bumper for a final circuit, Kvapil smoothly navigated his way back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by three-tenths of a second.
With the victory, Kvapil became the ninth competitor to achieve his first two career victories in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division in back-to-back events. He also became the 16th competitor to win an O’Reilly event at Iowa Speedway and the 139th competitor overall to achieve multiple victories in the O’Reilly division. Kvapil’s Iowa victory marks the 20th victory for the Chevrolet manufacturer, the 15th for JR Motorsports and the fourth for JR Motorsports’ No. 1 team led by crew chief Rodney Childress in the 2026 campaign.
“I knew we had a really fast car,” Kvapil said on the CW Network. “I knew [Allgaier] was on fresher tires, so that was really my biggest concern there. I think [Chastain] probably had it, that yellow didn’t come out there at the end. I thought we were fast running them down, but we just didn’t have enough there to fill the gap, but [crew chief] Rodney [Childers] and everyone at Bass Pro Shops, Clarience Technologies with Hendrick Motors under the hood brought a really fast race car. Unlike our first few stages, we were really able to run down the leaders there at the end and it just all worked out. We got that restart we needed and we got the win.”
Teammate Rajah Caruth followed suit to notch a career-best runner-up result in his 45th O’Reilly career start. As a result, Caruth, who is ranked in 14th place in the driver’s standings, is scored 15 points below the top-12 cutline looking ahead to this year’s regular-season finale event at Daytona International Speedway on August 28 that will determine this year’s O’Reilly Chase field.
“We were chasing the balance all day,” Caruth said. “The restarts kind of worked out for us. I was trying to just be the closest to the front because you never know how they’ll shake out. Sometimes, it works out. Sometimes, it doesn’t, and it worked out for us today. I probably wanted a little more and wouldn’t have gone up finishing second, but I guess you can’t complain too bad. A lot to work on still and got to go plate racing in a couple of weeks.”
William Sawalich settled in third place and moved to 11th place in the standings as he is a single point above the cutline to make his first O’Reilly Chase. Ross Chastain and Sheldon Creed, both of whom led a combined 99 laps, finished in the top five, respectively.
Nick Sanchez, Taylor Gray, Dean Thompson, Harrison Burton and Brennan Poole completed the top 10, respectively, on the track. Notably, Justin Allgaier, who led a race-high 83 laps, ended up in 24th place. In addition, pole-sitter Ryan Sieg, who led 65 laps, fell back to 33rd place as he was unable to finish following his first overtime accident.
Meanwhile, Sammy Smith clinched a Chase berth despite finishing in 17th place at Iowa. Parker Retzlaff, Sam Mayer, William Sawalich and Brent Crews currently occupy the remaining four vacant spots to the Chase with a single regular-season event remaining on the schedule.
This event featured seven lead changes for seven different leaders, and 12 cautions for 72 laps. In addition, 25 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 23rd event of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, Justin Allgaier leads the regular-season standings by 238 points over teammate Carson Kvapil, 266 over Sheldon Creed, 299 over Jesse Love and 321 over Corey Day.
Results:
- Carson Kvapil, nine laps led
- Rajah Caruth
- William Sawalich
- Ross Chastain, 63 laps led
- Sheldon Creed, 36 laps led
- Nick Sanchez
- Taylor Gray
- Dean Thompson
- Harrison Burton
- Brennan Poole
- Austin Hill
- Kyle Sieg
- Parker Retzlaff
- Brandon Jones
- Carson Brown
- Brent Crews
- Sammy Smith
- Patrick Staropoli
- Anthony Alfredo
- Blaine Perkins
- Sam Mayer, one lap led
- Joey Gase
- Ryan Ellis
- Justin Allgaier, 83 laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Nathan Byrd
- Derek Lemke, one lap down
- Jeb Burton, one lap down, three laps led
- Lavar Scott, one lap down
- Garrett Smithley, two laps down
- Jeremy Clements, three laps down
- Josh Bilicki, three laps down
- Tyler Tomassi, four laps down
- Ryan Sieg – OUT, Accident, 65 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Mason Maggio – OUT, Suspension
- Jesse Love, 60 laps down
- Corey Day – OUT, Accident
- Carson Ware – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule is the Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, which will also cap off this year’s regular-season stretch and determine the 12-car Chase field. The event is scheduled to occur on August 28 and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM.
