Sheldon Creed made the inside lane and a late tire advantage work to his favor at the right timing for an overtime shootout that enabled him to capture a late victory in the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 18.
The 2020 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion from Alpine, California, led the final three of 305 over-scheduled laps in an event where he earned a front row starting spot based on a qualifying metric formula and navigated through the event’s first two stage periods with top-10 results. Then while racing in 10th place when a late-race caution flew with 26 laps remaining, Creed was among a handful of competitors who opted to pit for fresh tires while most of the front-runners remained on the track. The late decision to pit paid off for Creed during a 15-lap dash that enabled him to move into the runner-up spot. Following another caution that flew with three laps remaining and sent the event into overtime, Creed used his fresh tires and the inside lane to fend off William Sawalich and the field to double down in the Chase under the lights at Thunder Valley and make another emphatic championship statement.
The event’s starting lineup was determined by a qualifying metric formula due to precipitation canceling Friday’s on-track qualifying session. As a result, Jesse Love, winner of last weekend’s event at World Wide Technology Raceway, was awarded the pole position and he shared the front row with Sheldon Creed. Prior to the event, Lavar Scott dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Jesse Love used the outside lane to gain the first upper advantage and motor his No. 2 Samsara Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead of Sheldon Creed and the field for a full circuit, where the former led the first lap. While Creed was being pressured by Carson Kvapil and Brent Crews for the runner-up spot, Love led by six-tenths of a second by the fifth lap.
Through the first 10 laps, Love led by more than a second over Creed as Kvapil, Crews, Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier, Parker Retzlaff, Brandon Jones, Rajah Caruth and Sammy Smith followed suit in the top-11 spots, respectively. Meanwhile, Austin Hill and Corey Day were mired in 18th and 19th, respectively, as Love stretched his advantage up to one-and-a-half seconds by Lap 15. With Crews moving up into third place, Love, who started to lap the competitors racing at the tail end of the filed, stabilized his early advantage by one-and-a-half seconds just past the Lap 20 mark before his advantage increased by nearly two seconds on Lap 25.
At the Lap 30 mark, Love continued to lead by one-and-a-half seconds over Creed before the latter was overtaken by Crews for the runner-up spot a lap later. Kvapil followed suit in third place another lap later as both Gray and Allgaier, both of whom were fiercely battling for fifth place in front of Mayer, reeled in on Creed for fourth place. Meanwhile, the remaining Chase contenders that include Jones, Retzlaff, Caruth, Sammy Smith, Day and Hill were mired in eight, ninth, 10th, 11th, 14th and 19th, respectively, as Love led by two-and-a-half seconds on Lap 40. With Allgaier proceeding to battle teammate Kvapil and Crews for the runner-up spot, Love added another second to his advantage over the next five laps before the latter retained the lead by more than three seconds over Allgaier at the Lap 50 mark.
By Lap 60, Love maintained his advantage by nearly four seconds over Allgaier while Kvapil, Crews and Mayer followed suit, respectively. By then, 10 of the top-11 spots were occupied by Chase contenders while Day and Hill were the two lowest-running Chasers in 13th and 19th, respectively. Five laps later, Caruth made an unscheduled pit stop under green to have a flat right-front tire addressed. Earlier, Jeb Burton had pitted after he got into the wall and had a flat right-front tire. With Caruth losing multiple laps in the process, Love had his advantage decrease by more than a second over Allgaier at the Lap 70 mark before the latter reeled in and trailed Love by only half a second five laps later.
With Austin Hill pitting under green due to a flat right-front tire by Lap 75, Allgaier trailed Love, who was mired in lapped traffic, by within two-tenths of a second during the next five laps before the former used lapped traffic, including bumping into the rear of Nick Sanchez as Sanchez nearly turned Josh Williams into Jeremy Clements through the frontstretch, to motor his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro entry with a damaged nose ahead of Love with the lead another two laps later.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 85, Allgaier, who grew his lead up to eight-tenths of a second, captured his 10th O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Teammate Kvapil followed suit in second ahead of Crews, Love and Mayer while Sammy Smith, Gray, Creed, Retzlaff and Corey Day were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, nine of 12 Chase contenders racked up the event’s first round of stage points while the remaining Chasers that include Jones, Hill and Caruth were mired in 12th, 37th and 38th, respectively. In addition, 16 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while both Hill and Caruth were three laps behind the leaders.
Under the event’s first stage break period, the lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted. Following the pit stops, Kvapil exited pit road first ahead of Love and Allgaier as Crews, Mayer, Sammy Smith, William Sawalich, Creed, Gray and Day followed suit, respectively.
The second stage period started on Lap 98 as Kvapil and Love occupied the front row. At the start, Kvapil rocketed his No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead of Love, who stumbled on the inside lane, through the frontstretch before Allgaier, who restarted behind Kvapil, also drew himself alongside Kvapil for a full circuit from the outside lane. Allgaier, who outdueled Kvapil at the start, led the next two laps before he was pressured by Kvapil and Crews entering the first two turns. With the latter two nearly pinning Allgaier in the middle of a three-wide battle, Allgaier then put Crews into the backstretch’s outside wall. This allowed Kvapil to get beneath Allgaier and reassume the lead through the first two turns by Lap 101. As Kvapil stabilized his advantage by three-tenths of a second on Lap 105, Love navigated his way into second place over Allgaier as Crews, Mayer, Gary, Sammy Smith, Day, Creed and Retzlaff followed suit, respectively.
By Lap 115, Kvapil extended his lead up to a second over Love, Allgaier, Crews and Mayer while Gray, Smith, Day, Creed and Retzlaff continued to trail in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Jones, Hill and Caruth were mired in 16th, 25th and 34th, respectively, with Hill being scored two laps behind and Caruth three laps behind. Kvapil retained his lead up to nine-tenths of a second on Lap 120 before the caution flew three laps later due to Natalie Decker spinning below the backstretch after she got bumped by Anthony Alfredo. During the latest caution, Jones and Nick Sanchez pitted their respective entries. More names that included Clements, Stefan Parson, Anthony Alfredo, Hill and Jeb Burton pitted while the red led by Kvapil remained on the rack.
Kvapil proceeded to fend off Allgaier, Love and the field for the next start on Lap 131. By Lap 140, Kvapil’s lead grew up to eight-tenths of a second before his lead stood by more than a second at the event’s halfway mark on Lap 150. By then, 18 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap as eight Chasers led by Kvapil and including Allgaier, Love, Mayer, Gray, Day, Creed and Retzlaff were in the top-10 mark, respectively. Meanwhile, Jones and Sammy Smith were mired in 15th and 17th while Hill and Caruth continued to run multiple laps down in 25th and 31st, respectively. Through the on-track battles that had brewed since the event’s start and continued to ensue around Bristol, Kvapil added another second to his lead as he led by more than two seconds over Allgaier and Love at the Lap 160 mark.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 170, Kvapil motored his way to his fourth O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Allgaier, Love, Mayer and Gray followed suit in the top-five mark while Crews, Day, Sawalich, Creed and Retzlaff were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, eight of 12 Chasers (Kvapil, Allgaier, Love, Mayer, Gray, Day, Creed and Retzlaff) racked up the events second round of stage points while the remaining Chasers that include Jones, Sammy Smith, His and Caruth were mired in 14th, 17th, 25th and 30th, respectively. In addition, 18 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Kvapil returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Kvapil maintained the lead by exiting pit road ahead of Allgaeir, Gray, Mayer and Love while Sawalich, Crews, Creed, Day and Nick Sanchez followed suit, respectively.
With 118 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as teammates Kvapil and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Kvapil fended off Allgaier amid a scattered start to lead the following lap. With the field behind jostling for late spots, Kvapil led by four-tenths of a second with 115 laps remaining over Allgaier, Gray, Love and Mayer while Crews, Sawalich, Creed, Sanchez and Harrison Burton followed suit, respectively.
Down to the final 100 laps, Kvapil was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Gray, Love and Mayer trailed in the top five, respectively. Behind, teammates Crews and Sawalich battled for sixth place in front of Creed, Sanchez and Retzlaff while Harrison Burton, Day, Jones, Dean Thompson and Ryan Sieg were in the top 15, respectively. Behind, Sammy Smith trailed in 16th place, Hill was mired a lap down in 23rd place and Caruth was pinned three laps down in 27th place.
With less than 90 laps remaining, Kvapil increased his late lead by nearly two seconds over Allgaier while third-place Gray trailed by two seconds. Behind, fourth-place Love trailed by three seconds and fifth-place Mayer trailed by four seconds as Kvapil stabilized his lead by two seconds over Allgaier and Gray with 80 laps remaining. Despite having the advantage decrease to a second with 70 laps remaining, Kvapil retained the lead over Allgaier as Gray, Love and Mayer continued to trail in the top five, respectively.
As the event reached its final 55-lap mark, Kvapil, who was mired in heavy lapped traffic and reporting a loose wheel on his entry, continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Gray, Love and Mayer trailed by as far back as three seconds in the top five, respectively. Meanwhile, Hill, who pitted a lap earlier due to a flat right-front tire under green, lost an additional four laps as he was mired in 27th place.
Soon after, Allgaier assumed the lead from Kvapil through Turns 3 and 4 with 52 laps remaining. Gray followed suit shortly after into the runner-up spot while Kvapil, who started to have smoke coming out from his entry, fell back to third place. Kvapil then dropped off the pace and limped his entry below the apron before he pitted under green within the final 45-lap mark. With Kvapil mired back in 24th place and four laps behind, Allgaier led by half a second over Gray with 40 laps remaining.
Down to the final 30 laps, Allgaier maintained his late lead by seven-tenths of a second over Gray while third-place Love trailed by nearly four seconds. Meanwhile, Sawalich was the highest-running non-Chaser in fourth place ahead of Mayer, Crews and Retzlaff while Day, Sanchez, Creed and Jones followed suit, respectively. As Sammy Smith was mired in 15th place, Kvapil occupied 23rd place in front of Caruth, both of whom were four laps behind, while Hill was also four laps down in 26th place.
Then four laps later, the caution flew when Patrick Staropoli spun down the backstretch. During this caution period, some including Crews, Day, Creed, Ryan Sieg, Harrison Burton, Dean Thompson, Sammy Smith, Jake Finch and Jeremy Clements pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.
The next restart with 15 laps remaining featured Allgaier motoring ahead of Love, Gray and the field for a full circuit. Then during the following lap, Love executed a strong run and crossover move beneath Allgaier through Turns 3 and 4 along with the frontstretch to duel alongside Allgaier. With the two champions dueling through the first two turns, Love then moved up the track, rubbed and forced Allgaier into the outside wall. The contact allowed Gray to briefly duel with Gray through the backstretch before Love motored back ahead to lead the next lap. As Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg, Mayer and Day got bobbled up while battling for sixth place behind Creed, Love, who barely scrubbed the outside wall a lap prior, maintained a steady lead over Gray.
With 12 laps remaining, a side-by-side battle boiled over between Love and Gray. The latter two duked it out during the next lap before Gray then tried to slide in front of Love entering Turns 3 and 4. Instead, both made contact and Love hit the outside wall. In the process, Gray lost his momentum as teammate Sawalich moved into the lead with 10 laps remaining. Allgaier also motored his way up to battle Gray and Creed for the runner-up spot while Love fell back to fifth. As Love continued to lose ground of the front-runners, Creed used his fresh tires to move into second place over Gray and Allgaier with nine laps remaining while Sawalich maintained the lead. Sawalich proceeded to lead by less than six-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Creed while Allgaier, Gray, Retzlaff, Crews, Ryan Sieg, Day, Mayer, Harrison Burton and Love followed suit, respectively.
Then with three laps remaining, the caution flew when Ryan Sieg, who was locked in a tight three-wide battle with Day and Retzlaff for sixth place, got forced into the left-front area of Retzlaff by Day through the backstretch. The contact turned Sieg right-side into the outside wall. After bouncing off the wall, Sieg’s No. 39 Sci Aps Chevrolet Camaro entry turned left into the right-rear end of Day’s No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry in an attempt to keep the former’s straight before Sieg veered back to the right and hit the outside wall a second time in Turns 3 and 4. The incident knocked Sieg out of contention and sent the event into overtime. At the time of caution, Sawalich maintained the lead over Creed, Allgaier, Gray and Crews, respectively.
The start of overtime featured Creed using his fresh tires to motor his No. 00 Ollie’s Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead from the inside lane while Crews tried to follow suit in the runner-up spot next to teammate Sawalich. With Allgaier, Day and the rest of the field pursuing behind, Sawalich used the outside lane to motor ahead of Crews through the backstretch. He then tried to mount a charge through Turns 3 and 4, but Creed maintained a slight advantage from the inside lane though Turns 3 and 4.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Creed remained in the lead by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Sawalich. Sawalich then used the outside lane to nearly draw himself alongside Creed through the first two turns, but Creed managed to motor ahead from the inside lane entering the backstretch. With Sawalich unable to mount any momentum from the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4, Creed used the inside lane to cycle back to the frontstretch out in front and claim the checkered flag by two-tenths of a second.
With the victory, Creed earned his third career win in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division both of the 2026 season and of his career. He became the first repeat winner in this year’s Chase and he notched his first victory at Bristol Motor Speedway after finishing in the runner-up spot in the fall event over the previous two seasons. Creed’s Bristol victory was also the 24th of the 2026 season for Chevrolet and the third for Haas Factory Team.
As an added bonus, Creed, who entered Bristol Motor Speedway with the points lead by three points, added another eight points to his lead as he continues his pursuit for his first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship with six Chase events remaining in 2026.
“Just great call by my crew chief and engineer there to put tires on,” Creed said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “Great pit stop by my guys to get my out first to be the first one on tires. To be honest, I wasn’t really good all night. I struggled with the balance of our Ollie’s Chevrolet. Man, just hats off to these guys. They just never give up. I just think the [overtime] restart there, I tried to time [Sawalich] well. Just me being on a lot newer tires, it was easier for me to get going. I got clear and I was trying to watch [Sawalich] up top and it seemed like he had good momentum, but just extremely proud of everyone at Haas Factory Team.”
“I don’t know if [winning tonight] makes us a title favorite,” Creed added. “[There’s still] A long way to go. Six [races] to go. I thought we were gonna just lose some points tonight, but winning kind of helps us salvage that a bit. I’d like to think we’re a favorite. If not, we’re at least talked about now. It’s really a team effort to get out here and do this. Just to open [the Chase] up with one, two, one [finishes] is amazing.”
As Creed celebrated the race victory, Allgaier was left dejected on pit road and wasted no time marching his way to Love’s entry, sticking his head inside of Love’s cockpit and exchanged words to express his displeasure over Love’s late-race contact that forced Allgaier to scrub the wall and lose both the lead and the eventual event. Allgaier, who led 49 laps, settled in fourth place while Love fell back to 17th place. As a result, Allgaier trails points leader Sheldon Creed by 11 points while Love trails by 41 points while situated in fourth place in the Chase standings.
“[I’m] Really disappointed,” Allgaier said. “I felt like we raced clean all night. [Love] didn’t even try to make the corner. Just disappointed in coming out here fourth. I don’t know how many races I’ve been leading with 20 [laps] to go here and haven’t won, but I told [team owner] Dale [Earnhardt Jr.] I think it’s 100. All in all, we got 11 points to the lead. We got race cars and a bunch of good racetracks coming up for us in the next couple [weeks].”
“I would’ve done a lot of things different,” Love said. “I guess we came off of [Turn] 4, kind of still side-by-side. I needed to run my best corner and instead, I got caught up in the moment racing [Allgaier]. In turn, that led me down the path to make an enemy I did not need to make and make a terrible decision that took ourselves out of contention to win. I’m just really frustrated at myself. Obviously, I owe an apology to [Allgaier], not that that’s gonna cut it, but also, an apology to my team and everybody back at Welcome, North Carolina. I’m 21 years old and I’ve been racing since I was five years old. I know better than to do that.”
William Sawalich, who led 13 laps, capped off the night at Bristol as the highest-finishing non-Chaser in the runner-up spot while teammate Brent Crews finished third for his 10th top-five result in his rookie O’Reilly campaign. Allgaier and Corey Day finished in the top five while Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Parker Retzlaff, Dean Thompson and Sammy Smith completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Brandon Jones, Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Rajah Caruth and Carson Kvapil, the latter of whom led a race-high 156 laps, were the four lowest Chase finishers at Bristol in 15th, 17th, 22nd, 23rd and 24th, respectively.
The third NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Chase event of the 2026 season featured eight lead changes for five different leaders, and five cautions for 47 laps. In addition, 17 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Race Results:
- Sheldon Creed, three laps led
- William Sawalich, 13 laps led
- Brent Crews
- Justin Allgaier, 49 laps led, Stage 1 winner
- Corey Day
- Taylor Gray
- Sam Mayer
- Parker Retzlaff
- Dean Thompson
- Sammy Smith
- Jake Finch
- Harrison Burton
- Brennan Poole
- Jeremy Clements
- Brandon Jones
- Nick Sanchez
- Jesse Love, 84 laps led
- Logan Bearden, one lap down
- Andrew Patterson, two laps down
- Kyle Sieg, two laps down
- Stefan Parsons, three laps down
- Austin Hill, four laps down
- Rajah Caruth, four laps down
- Carson Kvapil, four laps down, 156 laps led, Stage 2 winner
- Jeb Burton, four laps down
- Patrick Staropoli, six laps down
- Ryan Ellis, six laps down
- Josh Williams, six laps down
- Carson Ware, seven laps down
- Ryan Sieg – OUT, Accident
- Josh Bilicki, eight laps down
- Anthony Alfredo, 15 laps down
- Garrett Smithley – OUT, Engine
- Blaine Perkins, 75 laps down
- David Starr – OUT, Suspension
- Lavar Scott – OUT, Oil Cooler
- Natalie Decker – OUT, Transmission
- JJ Yeley – OUT, Fuel Pump
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
Following the third Chase event of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, leads the standings by over. The rest of the 12-car Chase field is displayed below.
Chase Standings:
- Sheldon Creed
- Justin Allgaier -11
- Carson Kvapil -37
- Jesse Love -41
- Sam Mayer -78
- Corey Day -92
- Sammy Smith -92
- Taylor Gray -104
- Austin Hill -106
- Parker Retzlaff -111
- Brandon Jones -114
- Rajah Caruth -164
Next on the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule is the Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is scheduled to occur on October 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM.
