Justin Allgaier achieved the main spotlight at the conclusion of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, November 7, by capturing his second series’ championship.
The 2024 O’Reilly champion from Riverton, Illinois, did not lead a lap throughout the finale’s 200-scheduled laps, but he executed a consistent run that involved racing towards the front, battling against the competition, fellow teammates and title rivals and even rim-riding towards the outside wall to gain forward momentum through the turns and straightaways. After notching a combined 11 stage points throughout the finale’s first two stage periods and dodging concerns of having a flat right-rear tire prior to the first stage’s conclusion, Allgaier then had to overcome making an unscheduled pit stop under green with nearly 60 laps remaining to have a flat right-rear tire addressed.
With a caution flag that flew a few laps later amid a late cycle of green flag pit stops, Allgaier cycled back on the lead lap, made an extra pit stop prior to the final restart with 49 laps remaining and cruised towards the front for the event’s remainder. Needing only to notch a strong result while keeping his title rivals within sight, Allgaier accomplished the feat by finishing in seventh place and he wrapped up his second title in three years by 14 points, all while Brandon Jones outdueled Allgaier’s title rivals and the competition to cap off the 2026 O’Reilly season with a victory in Homestead, Florida.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Sheldon Creed, one of five Chase contenders who is still mathematically eligible for the 2026 O’Reilly championship, secured his second pole position of the 2026 season with a pole-winning lap at 160.820 mph in 33.578 seconds. Austin Hill qualified in second place with a lap of 160.633 mph in 33.617 seconds. Creed’s four title rivals that include Carson Kvapil, Jesse Love, Corey Day and Justin Allgaier qualified third, fourth, seventh and 11th, respectively.
When the green flag waved and the finale commenced, pole-sitter Sheldon Creed launched his No. 00 Road Ranger Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead of Austin Hill and motored through the first two turns. Behind, Justin Allgaier, who qualified in 11th place, made an early left-hand move in an attempt to move up the leaderboard as the field also slowly started to fan out entering the backstretch. As the field of 38 competitors jostled for spots and cycled around Homestead for a full circuit, Creed led the first lap over Hill while Allgaier was up to ninth place behind Day.
Over the next four laps, Creed stabilized his early advantage by four-tenths of a second as Jesse Love overtook teammate Hill for the runner-up spot on the track. Behind, Sam Mayer, who was rim-riding towards the outside wall and trailing the lead by two seconds, was up to fourth place ahead of Carson Kvapil, Brandon Jones and Allgaier while Day was mired in ninth place in between Parker Retzlaff and Rajah Caruth.
Then on the eighth lap, Day’s championship hopes took an early hit when he turned right in front of Caruth while trying to clear the latter through the backstretch. Having misjudged his timing of clearing Caruth while battling for ninth place, Day ended up turning himself towards the outside wall as both he and Caruth wrecked, with Day receiving the heaviest of damage and coming to a halt below the apron. Ultimately, Day dropped out of the lead lap category when he needed a wrecker to push his damaged No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry out of the grass. With Day’s entry not turning and getting stuck in the grass again, it would be towed behind the wall, which effectively ended his championship hopes.
The next restart on Lap 13 featured Creed being shoved by teammate Mayer at the launch to motor ahead of Love entering the first two turns. While Love, Hill, Kvapil and a fast-charging Allgaier battled for third place, Mayer battled Creed for the lead through the backstretch. As Creed led the next lap, Mayer used the inside lane and tried to overtake Creed for the top spot, but Creed used the outside lane to maintain the top spot, which he maintained for the Lap 15 mark. Behind, Hill, Love, Kvapil and Allgaier continued to fiercely swap their battles for third place.
Though the Lap 20 mark, Creed was leading by six-tenths of a second over Mayer while third-place Hill trailed by two seconds. Love, Allgiaer and Kvapil followed suit from fourth to sixth, respectively, as Retzlaff, Brandon Jones, William Sawalich and Brent Crews trailed in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Caruth was up to 19th place following his early incident with Day as Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg, Anthony Alfredo, Kyle Sieg and Taylor Gray were racing in the top-15 mark, respectively.
Just past the Lap 25 mark, Creed stabilized his advantage by more than half a second over Mayer while Hill continued to trail in third place while trailing between three and four seconds. As Love, Allgaier and Kvapil trailed from fourth through sixth on the track, respectively, Day, who returned to the track after his entry was repaired, was mired 17 laps behind the leaders. Creed, who increased his lead by nearly a second over the following five laps, had his advantage shrink to four-tenths of a second over Mayer at the Lap 30 mark before Mayer reeled in and overtook Creed three laps later.
By Lap 35, Mayer increased his lead over Creed by eight-tenths of a second. Behind, Love battled and outdueled Hill for third place while Allgaier and Kvapil continued to trail in fifth and sixth, respectively. Another lap later, Mayer increased his advantage by one-and-a-half seconds before the advantage grew up to two seconds for the next lap. With the leaders mired in lapped traffic, Mayer maintained his lead by more than two seconds on Lap 40.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Mayer, who grew his advantage by nearly five seconds, cruised to his third O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Creed settled in second ahead of Love, Hill and Kvapil, the latter of whom was reporting a voltage issue to his entry. Crews settled in sixth ahead of Allgaier, who reported a flat right-rear tire to his entry, while Retzlaff, Jones and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, only 21 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while Day was mired 17 laps down in 38th place.
Under the finale’s first stage break period, the lead lap field led by Mayer pitted for the first time. Following the pit stops, Love exited pit road first and he was followed by Mayer, Creed, Hill, Allgaier, Jones, Sawalich, Retzlaff, Sammy Smith and Gray, respectively. Meanwhile, Kvapil was mired outside the top-20 mark after he endured an extensive service to have a battery on his No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro entry replaced.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Love and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start, Love received a strong launch and push from Creed from the inside lane to outduel Mayer entering the first two turns. Following a full cycle, Creed managed to lead the next lap over Allgaier while Mayer was locked into a battle with Allgaier and Hill for third place. Creed proceeded to lead the Lap 55 mark by three-tenths of a second over Love while Mayer and Allgaier battled for third place in front of Hill and Retzlaff.
At the Lap 60 mark, Creed maintained his lead by four-tenths of a second over Love as Love was being reeled in and pressured by Allgaier and Mayer for the runner-up spot. Behind, Hill retained fifth place in front of Retzlaff, Jones, Sawalich, Gray and Crews while Anthony Alfredo, Sammy Smith, Caruth, Ryan Sieg and Kvapil were in the top 15, respectively.
Five laps later, Love reduced Creed’s advantage by a tenth of a second while Mayer, Allgaier and Hill, all of whom trailed the lead by less than two seconds, followed suit, respectively. Creed’s advantage grew back up by six-tenths of a second over the following five laps as Mayer reeled in on Love for the runner-up spot. While Allgaier and Hill trailed by two and three seconds, respectively, while in the top-five mark, Mayer overtook Love for the runner-up spot and former reeled in on Creed by two-tenths of a second on Lap 75.
On Lap 79, Mayer reassumed the lead from Creed. As Mayer led by four-tenths of a second during the next lap, Love lost distance of the lead as he trailed by more than one-and-a-half seconds while Allgaier trailed by more than two seconds in fourth place. Meanwhile, Kvapil, who navigated his way back into the top-10 mark on Lap 74, was in ninth place and pursuing Retzlaff for more. With Kvapil proceeding to move up to eighth place, Mayer increased his advantage by two seconds at the Lap 85 mark.
Then on Lap 88, the caution flew due to Jeb Burton spinning in Turn 4. The caution was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 90 to officially conclude under caution. As a result, Mayer captured his second consecutive O’Reilly stage victory of the finale and his fourth overall of the 2026 season. Creed, Love, Allgaier, Hill, Crews, Jones, Kvapil, Retzlaff and Sawalich were scored in the top 10, respectively, as 19 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. Meanwhile, Day was mired 20 laps down in 37th place.
During the finale’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Mayer returned to pit road for service, but it was Creed who exited pit road first while Mayer dropped to 18th due to a slow pit service to have a right-front tire addressed. Following suit behind Creed were Love, Jones, Allgaier, Hill, Kvapil, Sawalich, Crews, Ratzlaff and Gray.
With 104 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Creed and Love occupied the front row in front of Jones, Allgaier, Kvapil and Hill, respectively. At the start, Allgaier darted to the right and tried to duel with Love and Creed three-wide for the lead entering the first two turns. As the field fanned out for a full cycle, Creed managed to fend off Love and Allgaier to lead the next lap while Hill pursued in fourth place. Behind, Kvapil battled Sawalich, Jones, Crews and Retzlaff for fifth place, with the former barely sliding in front of Sawalich to gain the spot through the frontstretch during the next lap. As Kvapil then battled Hill for fourth place, Creed maintained a steady lead over Love and Allgaier at the event’s halfway mark with 100 laps remaining.
Down to the final 90 laps, four of the championship contenders occupied the top-four spots on the track as Creed led the finale by seven-tenths of a second over Love while Kvapil and Allgaier trailed by one and three seconds in third and fourth, respectively. Meanwhile, Mayer, who rallied from his slow pit service during the second stage’s break period, carved his No. 41 Starkey Chevrolet Camaro entry up to fifth place as he trailed the leader Creed by more than four-and-a-half seconds while Hill, Crews, Jones, Sawalich and Ryan Sieg were in the top 10 on the track ahead of Taylor Gray, Caruth, Retzlaff, Nick Sanchez and Alfredo, respectively.
Five laps later, Creed grew his late advantage by a second over both Love and Kvapil, with Kvapil trailing Love by three-tenths of a second and trying to reel in the latter for the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Mayer trailed by more than three seconds in fourth place after he overtook Allgaier on the track while Crews overtook Hill for sixth place. As Kvapil proceeded to challenge Love for the runner-up spot, Allgaier continued to trail in fifth place by more than four seconds while Creed stabilized his lead by more than a second with 80 laps remaining.
As the finale reached its final 70-lap mark, Kvapil trailed Creed by a tenth of a second after he spent the previous 10 laps methodically chipping away Creed’s lead. Kvapil then proceeded to challenge Creed for the lead as he drew within reach of the latter, though Creed managed to retain the lead over the following five laps. As Love trailed by three-tenths of a second in third place and Allgaier by nearly five seconds in fifth place, Kvapil prevailed and moved into the lead with 64 laps remaining.
Then with 61 laps remaining, Allgaier made an unscheduled pit stop from fifth place under green as he had a flat right-rear tire on his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro entry. Not long after Allgaier’s pit service, more names that included Gray, Sawalich, Hill, Crews Love, Alfredo and Creed pitted over the next three laps. Ryan Sieg, Nick Sanchez, Sammy Smith and Lavar Scott also pitted before Kvapil dived on to pit road from the lead along with Mayer with 57 laps remaining. Just behind Kvapil and Mayer, Andrew Patterson spun towards the entrance of pit road while trying to enter pit road for service and hit the sand barrels, with the incident kicking up sand. Patterson’s incident placed the finale in a red flag period for 10 minutes and 24 seconds to have the entrance of pit road cleaned from the spilled sand and damaged barrels.
When the red flag lifted and the field led by Jones proceeded under a cautious pace, only 10 competitors were scored on the lead lap, including Kvapil, Mayer, Love, Allgaier and Creed. During the caution period, Jones, Retzlaff, Kyle Sieg, Will Rodgers, Patrick Staropoli and Allgaier pitted their respective entries while Kvapil cycled as the leader.
For the next restart with 49 laps remaining, Kvapil and Mayer occupied the front row as Kvapil motored ahead from the inside lane while Love, who restarted in third place, quickly dropped to seventh place within half a lap. At the front, Mayer overtook Kvapil and led the next lap. Amid’s Kvapil’s challenge, Jones would then overtake Kvapil for the runner-up spot before Creed overtook Kvapil for third place with 46 laps remaining. While Jones assumed the lead, Kvapil battled back on Creed for third place, which he gained, and proceeded to reel in and overtake Mayer for the runner-up spot as Allgaier tried to reel in Mayer and Creed for third and fourth on the track.
With 40 laps remaining, the battle for the lead ignited as Kvapil dueled with Jones for the lead. As Allgaier battled Mayer for third place, Kvapil outdueled Jones from the inside lane to assume the lead during the next lap. By then, Creed trailed by a second in fifth place and Love tried to reel in Creed from sixth place while Allgaier trailed Kvapil by nine-tenths of a second. Allgaier then spent the next five laps battling and being overtaken by Creed and Love for top-five spots on the track as Kvapil steadily led Jones by a tenth of a second.
At the final 30-lap mark, Kvapil continued to lead by half a second over Jones and by seven-tenths of a second over Mayer while Love and Creed trailed by three-and-a-half and four seconds, respectively, in fourth and fifth. Meanwhile, Allgaier was racing in sixth place and being pressured by Brent Crews for the spot, though the former maintained a steady lead of nine points over Kvapil and 15 over Love in the championship battle and the standings based on his top-six spot.
Five laps later, Kvapil’s lead stood at six-tenths of a second over Jones while teammate Allgaier was outdueled by Crews for sixth place. By then, Allgaier maintained an eight-point advantage in the standings as Creed and Love continued to trail Kvapil on the track by four seconds apiece. Kvapil proceeded to slightly increase his late advantage over Jones by nearly eight-tenths of a second with 20 laps remaining as Mayer, Creed, Love, Crews and Allgaier followed suit within the top-seven mark, respectively.
Down to the final 15 laps, Kvapil led by half a second over Jones and by nine-tenths of a second over Mayer while Creed, Crews and Love occupied fourth through sixth on the track, respectively. Meanwhile, Allgaier continued to lead the championship standings as he was in eighth place on the track behind Retzlaff while Hill trailed behind by a second. A lap later, Jones slid his No. 20 Menards Toyota Supra entry in front of Kvapil through Turns 3 and 4 to reassume the lead. Another lap later, Mayer’s strong run at the front was foiled by a flat right-rear tire, which forced the driver to pit, as Jones proceeded to lead Kvapil by four-tenths of a second with 10 laps remaining. Jones increased his lead over Kvapil by more than four seconds with five laps remaining while Allgaier steadily raced in seventh place.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Jones remained in the race lead by more than four seconds over Kvapil while Allgaier remained in the championship lead by racing in seventh place. As Jones proceeded to win the finale, Allgaier smoothly navigated his entry around Homestead-Miami Speedway for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and took the checkered flag in seventh place, which was enough to clinch his second championship.
Overall, Allgaier, who won the title by 14 points, became the 10th competitor to achieve multiple championships in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division and the first to do so under the series’ postseason format. He also recorded the fifth O’Reilly driver’s championship for JR Motorsports, the organization’s second in the owner’s side and the first for crew chief Andrew Overstreet, with Allgaier also becoming JR Motorsports’ first repeat champion.
Allgaier, who revealed five days earlier that he will be returning to JR Motorsports under a new multi-year basis, starting in 2027, after initially contemplating on retiring at this season’s conclusion, capped off his 16th consecutive full-time season in the O’Reilly division with six victories, a pole, 19 top-five results, 24 top-10 results, 803 laps led and an average-finishing result of 9.48. He also won this year’s regular-season championship, entered the Chase as the top seed en route to his second overall season’s title and recorded the 24th O’Reilly’s title for Chevrolet amid a record-breaking season for the bowtie manufacturer winning all but four of the 33-race schedule en route to a 10th manufacturer’s title.
“[The championship] Means more than you’ll ever know,” Allgaier said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “It’s, obviously, not the finish we wanted tonight. [I] Wanted to be in Victory Lane, but this team never quits. The effort, the time that they put in, the pit crew, phenomenal job. The first [championship] was for me. The first one, I really enjoyed. This one is for all these men and women that are standing right back here. They have worked their tails off and to be honest with you, these two [daughters], my wife, my parents, it means so much. Really proud of our whole [No. 7] team. Tonight, it was a battle. Idiot driver [me] knocked the fence down too many times. It’s understated, so it’s been pretty special tonight.”
“I’m glad we didn’t [retire],” Allgaier, who saluted the fans on the championship stage, added. “This would have been a heck of a way to end my career, I guess, looking back on it, but as a competitor in you, you want more and I want to go out there and try to do it again. [This championship] truly is for every man and woman that’s standing back behind me here, all of our partners, everybody back at the [JR Motorsports] shop. What Dale [Earnhardt Jr.] and Kelley [Earnhardt-Miller] and LW [Miller] and Joe Madison, everybody at JR Motorsports have built is special…I can’t say thank you enough. I can promise you we’re going to enjoy this one and we’re gonna write the ship and go back after it next year.”
Amid Allgaier’s championship celebration, Jesse Love, the reigning O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion, settled in the runner-up spot in the standings as he fell 14 points shy of defending his title. Love, who finished fourth at Homestead, also caps off a three-year campaign driving for Richard Childress Racing in the O’Reilly division highlighted with the 2025 driver’s championship and five victories. Next season, he will drive for Wood Brothers Racing in the Cup Series division. Despite being left frustrated on falling short of the title, Love focused on the positives and his success at Richard Childress Racing as motivations to build more towards bigger success for years to come.
“There’s a thousand different things that could have gone differently to gain us those 15 points,” Love said. “I feel that at the end of the day, obviously, it stings, right? It’s a painful thing to go through, losing and [the championship] being close. Unfortunately, with the caution, the pit cycle and having those couple laps in our tires, that was enough to probably do us in tonight. I was obviously upset getting out of the car, but when I get to be around our group of guys in the No. 2 car, a lot more happiness and gratefulness overwhelms me than the thing of the loss. This closes out a big chapter in my life over the last three years that I’m going to miss tremendously, but I’ll always be extremely grateful for. While it hurts now, I know that I come back stronger from these things and I’ll put my best foot forward and not excuses for it and just try to be my best version of myself coming back.”
Like Love, Carson Kvapil was disappointed after capping off a roller coaster season in third place in the final standings and 28 points shy of his first title. Kvapil, who finished in the runner-up spot at Homestead, juggled through transitioning between JR Motorsports’ Nos. 1 and 9 entries along with DGM Racing’s No. 91 entry through the first 21-scheduled events before he had the No. 1 entry to himself to battle for the title throughout the Chase. Nevertheless, he notched his first three career victories and remained within the title hunt through the finale at Homestead. Next season, he will have JR Motorsports’ No. 8 Chevrolet entry to himself as he will make another bid towards competing for the title.
“It’s tough,” Kvapil said. “I was able to learn, honestly, quite a bit throughout the year and get a lot of experience. I’ve kind of only ever had one crew chief this whole time I’ve done this NASCAR thing. To have three different teams and some crazy weird circumstances going on, I was able to learn from it. Overall, it was a really fun year when we teamed up full time with [crew chief] Rodney [Childers] and the whole No. 1 team. It was really game on from there. [It’s] Been a good year and I’m excited to get to next year with these guys. I think us being full time every week together from late week one is going to be really big for us…Can’t wait to kick it back off at Daytona.”
Sheldon Creed and Corey Day finished sixth and 34th, respectively, in the final scoreboard at Homestead. They ended up fourth and fifth in the final standings while falling 33 and 61 points shy, respectively, of their first titles. Creed is transitioning from Haas Factory Team to Sam Hunt Racing in 2027 while Day remains at Hendrick Motorsports.
Meanwhile, Brandon Jones celebrated his second O’Reilly victory of the 2026 season at Homestead after he led three times for 25 of 200-scheduled laps and outdueled the field following his final pass for the victory with 13 laps remaining. Jones’ Homestead victory marks the 700th win for Toyota across NASCAR’s top-three national touring series and the fourth of the 2026 O’Reilly season for Joe Gibbs Racing. Jones will return to drive Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota entry for the 2027 O’Reilly season.
“There was so many cool positives out of today,” Jones said. “I’ve gotten a couple milestones for [Toyota] a few times here, so it’s so cool to be a part of these big moments for this company. I would say that we weren’t really the best car to begin this race. We were capable of running inside the top five to top 10 and we just consistently made better gains throughout on the car all night long. Our long run pace was really our strong suit tonight…Just an incredible way to cap the year off. Looking forward to now having a couple months off. You couldn’t ask for a better way to end it here.”
Brent Crews, the 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Rookie of the Year, finished in third place at Homestead and emerged as the highest-finishing non-Chase contender in the standings in 13th place. Crews, who did not compete in four of the first six events due to age restrictions, will campaign the entire 2027 O’Reilly season with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Parker Retzlaff finished in fifth place behind Jones, Kvapil, Crews and Love on the track at Homestead while Creed, Allgaier, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer and William Sawalich completed the top 10, respectively. Mayer, Sammy Smith, Jones, Taylor Gray, Austin Hill, Retzlaff and Rajah Caruth finished sixth through 12th, respectively, in the final Chase standings.
The 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Championship Race at Homestead generated 12 lead changes for five different leaders, and four cautions for 27 laps. In addition, 11 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results:
- Brandon Jones, 25 laps led
- Carson Kvapil, 36 laps led
- Brent Crews
- Jesse Love, four laps led
- Parker Retzlaff
- Sheldon Creed, 99 laps led
- Justin Allgaier
- Austin Hill
- Sam Mayer, 36 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
- William Sawalich
- Kyle Sieg
- Ryan Sieg, one lap down
- Will Rodgers, one lap down
- Taylor Gray, one lap down
- Sammy Smith, one lap down
- Nick Sanchez, one lap down
- Patrick Staropoli, two laps down
- Rajah Caruth, two laps down
- Anthony Alfredo, two laps down
- Josh Williams, two laps down
- Lavar Scott, two laps down
- Jeb Burton, three laps down
- Harrison Burton, three laps down
- Preston Pardus, three laps down
- Jeremy Clements, three laps down
- Joey Gase, four laps down
- Brennan Poole, four laps down
- Blaine Perkins, four laps down
- Ryan Ellis, five laps down
- Josh Bilicki, five laps down
- Andrew Patterson, five laps down
- Brad Perez, five laps down
- Dean Thompson, 10 laps down
- Corey Day, 25 laps down
- Dawson Cram – OUT, Suspension
- Mason Maggio – OUT, Engine
- Garrett Smithley – OUT, Rear End
- JJ Yeley – OUT, Wheel Bearing
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
Final Chase Standings:
- Justin Allgaier
- Jesse Love -14
- Carson Kvapil -28
- Sheldon Creed -33
- Corey Day -61
- Sam Mayer -90
- Sammy Smith -125
- Brandon Jones -163
- Taylor Gray -177
- Austin Hill -196
- Parker Retzlaff -214
- Rajah Caruth -253
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, on February 20, 2027, to commence a new season of competition.
