BRISTOL, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 19: Carson Hocevar, driver of the #77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet, (L) and Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 WABASH Ford, get into an altercation after the NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 19, 2026 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images).
Teammate Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar captured the ultimate spotlight on pit road at the conclusion of the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 19, when a late run-in on the track escalated with the duo engaging in a fierce fight with swings and punches thrown.
The cause of the post-race fight between Blaney and Hocevar instigated on the track with 43 laps remaining. Blaney, who had reeled in Hocevar for the runner-up spot, threw a bold move beneath the latter through Turns 3 and 4 before the former slid up in front of Hocevar through the frontstretch to assume the runner-up spot. Despite briefly clearing and getting in front of Hocevar, Hocevar then tried to execute a crossover move beneath Blaney exiting the frontstretch, but Blaney turned to the left to block and stall Hocevar’s momentum.
Amid Blaney’s blocking attempt, both he and Hocevar’s entries made contact and Blaney was turned, sent spinning, sliding up the track and wrecking against the first turn’s outside wall. Blaney’s damaged entry then slid back down the apron as the former Cup Series champion was unable to finish the event. Meanwhile, Hocevar proceeded to contend for the victory before he settled in third place at the drop of the checkered flag.
Prior to the finish, Blaney, who was released from the infield care center and was scored in 33rd place in the final running order, was straightforward with his perspective on the incident with Hocevar, citing Hocevar never lifted off the throttle when trying to cross beneath Blaney and wrecked him, while speaking with USA Network.
“We got clear off of [Turn] 4, and I tried to protect the bottom [lane]. [Hocevar] crossed and never lifted and [I] got crashed. That’s what I thought happened. That’s what it looked like happened. Each person is gonna say they did nothing wrong.”
Blaney would later state that something is bound to occur between him and Hocevar when asked if he had any response towards the latter. Sure enough at the event’s conclusion, Blaney approached Hocevar and was swift to lunge a chest grab at Hocevar. Amid the scramble, Hocevar swung two closed fist punches across Blaney’s face and the former was restrained while the latter was dragged to the ground while being restrained by Hocevar’s pit crew. Once brought back up from the ground, Blaney, who was being restrained by one of his Team Penske crew members, vented words towards Hocevar before he broke free, bolted back to Hocevar and threw a single punch towards Hocevar’s face before he was restrained by NASCAR officials.
In the aftermath, Blaney was directed back behind the wall while Hocevar energized the crowd that was mixed with cheers and boos by waving his arms up in the air. The duo’s run-in at Bristol was not their first instance of a on-track skirmish as Hocevar had bumped and sent Blaney for a spin at EchoPark Speedway in February 2025 in the closing laps while both were racing upfront. Compared to Bristol, Hocevar and Blaney discussed with incident with no physical fights ensuing then.
Blaney declined to discuss his fight with Hocevar while the latter offered his perspective of both the fight and incident, the latter of which he cited that he had no intentions of wrecking Blaney upfront.
“I wasn’t trying to wreck [Blaney],” Hocevar said on USA Network. “It just looked like, to me, I got a run and went left and he spun. I spun him. There wasn’t a whole lot of talking. He just kind of like said one thing and then went after me, and I wasn’t going to take it. I got ran into a lot for the win. That was for second and he wans to come fight. I don’t think anybody’s [the fans] left behind me. They got a old school Bristol show here. I don’t know what I did wrong there. I got a run to cross him over. He looked like spun himself and then, he wants to institgate a fight. I was gonna finish. It seemed like the crowd was pretty pumped up, so I was going to play the audience for a second.”
Hocevar’s fight with Blaney marks his latest run-in with another competitor in the former’s rising career that has been hovered with several run-ins and tensions mounting within the garage area over Hocevar’s aggressive style of driving, most recently, Brad Keselowski during the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway after Hocevar bumped and sent Keselowski for a spin.
With both Hocevar and Blaney also being two of 16 competitors duking against one another in the 2026 Chase for the Cup Series championship, Hocevar managed to jump from ninth to eighth in the Chase standings while Blaney dropped from fourth to sixth. Despite Blaney and Hocevar being 52 and 85 points behind the points lead, respectively, all eyes remain tight on both to see if their run-in at Bristol carries forth throughout the remaining seven Chase events and their respective pursuits for the 2026 championship.
The Chase for both Ryan Blaney and Carson Hocevar continues next Sunday, September 27, at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, for the Hollywood Casino 400. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to commence at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
Joey Logano had the seas parting for him when it mattered most, and it enabled him to emerge victorious amid a nine-lap shootout in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 19.
The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut, led twice for 93 of 500 scheduled laps in an event where he was awarded a front-row starting spot based on a qualifying metric formula and made an early pit strategic move during the event’s competition caution to remain on the track and claim the first stage victory. Despite surrendering the lead to pit prior to the second stage’s start, Logano methodically navigated his way back towards the front and remained upfront by netting a third-place result in the second stage’s conclusion. While continuing to race upfront, Logano waited two laps during the start of a nine-lap shootout to overtake Chase contenders Carson Hocevar, Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson in a single lap to storm to the lead. From there, Logano used the clean air to motor his way to a big victory under the lights at Thunder Valley and reel in his points deficit in his championship quest for 2026.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a qualifying metric formula after the event’s on-track qualifying session scheduled for Friday, September 18, was canceled due to inclement weather. As a result, Kyle Larson, winner of last weekend’s event at World Wide Technology Raceway, was awarded the pole position, and he shared the front row with Joey Logano.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Kyle Larson, who started on the outside lane, launched this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry ahead of Logano, teammate William Byron, and the field through the first two turns. With Byron assuming the runner-up spot from Logano, Larson cycled back to the frontstretch and led the first lap. Larson proceeded to lead by exactly half a second through the fifth lap mark over Byron and Logano as Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin followed suit in the top five, respectively.
Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Larson was leading early by seven-tenths of a second over Byron while Logano, Bowman, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Carson Hocevar, Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon occupied the top-10 spots in front of Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece and Connor Zilisch, respectively. Behind, Chase contenders Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick were mired in 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 29th, 31st and 32nd, respectively, as Larson led by eight-tenths of a second at the Lap 15 mark.
On Lap 18, thousands of NASCAR fans waved yellow towels to pay tribute to the late two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who also won a combined 23 NASCAR national touring series victories at Bristol. Following the tribute, Larson maintained the lead by within four-tenths of a second just past the Lap 25 mark before he stabilized it at the Lap 30 mark.
On Lap 40, a competition caution flew. By then, Larson had lapped Reddick and Josh Berry, who was also a lap down, was ahead of Reddick at the moment of caution to receive the free pass. During the competition caution, nearly the entire field, led by Larson, pitted while the rest, led by Logano and including teammate Cindric, Buescher, Blaney and Briscoe, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson exited pit road first ahead of Austin Dillon, Byron, Alex Bowman and Hamlin, respectively.
When the event restarted on Lap 48, Logano used the inside lane to motor his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead through the first two turns from the inside lane while teammates Cindric and Blaney, along with Buescher, Briscoe, Larson and Austin Dillon, gave chase. Logano led the next lap as the field fanned out and jostled for spots. While Cindric battled Buescher to maintain the runner-up spot, Logano led by six-tenths of a second on Lap 55 before his advantage slightly decreased down to four-tenths of a second another five laps later.
Just past the Lap 70 mark, Logano continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Cindric while Buescher, Blaney and Larson trailed in the top five, respectively. Logano’s lead then slightly grew up to half a second over the next five laps before it stood at half a second on Lap 80. As Logano grew his lead up to eight-tenths of a second by Lap 85, he then boosted up to a second over Cindric on Lap 90 as teammate Blaney was up in third place, thus placing all three Team Penske entries in the top-three spots.
On Lap 93, the event’s second caution flew, first for cause, due to Erik Jones getting loose and spinning his No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE entry through the backstretch. At the time of caution, Logano was leading by half a second over teammate Cindric and by a second over teammate Blaney while Buescher, Larson, Byron, Briscoe, Chastain, Hamlin and Wallace followed suit, respectively. In addition, Austin Hill was the first competitor a lap down and was awarded the free pass over Reddick.
During the event’s second caution, split pit strategies ensued as some, led by third-place Blaney and including Buescher, Byron, Briscoe, Wallace, Bell, Bowman, Austin Dillon, Zilisch, Nemechek, Berry, McDowell, Gragson, Custer, Gilliland, Allmendinger, Elliott, Suarez, Stenhouse, van Gisbergen and Austin Hill, pitted while the rest, led by Logano and Cindric, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Buescher made contact with Allmendinger while exiting his pit stall.
As the event restarted on Lap 101, Logano rocketed ahead of Cindric, Larson and the field from the outside lane to maintain the lead for a full cycle. As Logano led, Larson reeled in and challenged Logano for the lead, and the latter duo swapped spots through the turns and straightaways just past the Lap 105 mark. With Chastain navigating his way into third place over Cindric, Hocevar and Hamlin, Logano, who raced on the outside lane, continued to fend off Larson, who instigated challenges from the inside lane, through and past the Lap 110 mark before Logano led by more than half a second just past the Lap 115 mark.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 125, Logano, who led as high as nine-tenths of a second during the recent green-flag run, captured his fourth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Larson settled in second ahead of Hamlin, Chastain and Gibbs while Blaney (the highest competitor who recently pitted), Cindric, Hocevar, Keselowski and Wallace were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, eight of 16 Chase contenders (Logano, Larson, Hamlin, Gibbs, Blaney, Cindric, Hocevar and Wallace) racked up the event’s first round of stage points while the remaining Chasers that include Byron, Buescher, Bell, Preece, Briscoe, Elliott, Suarez and Reddick were mired in 11th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 24th, 25th and 33rd, respectively. In addition, 31 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the event’s first stage break period, some led by Logano and including Larson, Hamlin, Chastain, Gibbs, Cindric, Hocevar, Keselowski, Preece, Herbst, Allmendinger, Zilisch, Suarez, Stenhouse, Nemechek, van Gisbergen and Custer pitted while the rest led by Blaney remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Larson exited pit road first ahead of Logano, Chastain, Hamlin and Gibbs, respectively.
The second stage period started on Lap 136 as Blaney and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney rocketed away from the field from the outside lane and led the field for a full cycle while Wallace and Buescher overtook Byron for second and third, respectively. As Blaney led by nearly half a second over Wallace on Lap 140, the top-five competitors, which also included Buescher, Bell, and Byron, had motored away from the field while Berry and Bowman battled for sixth place in front of Briscoe, while Logano and Larson were mired in 15th and 16th, respectively, in front of Hamlin, Cindric and Gibbs.
Through the Lap 150 mark, Blaney maintained the lead by six-tenths of a second over Wallace while Buescher, Bell, Berry, Byron, Briscoe, Gragson, Bowman and Gilliland followed suit, respectively, in the top-10 mark ahead of Logano, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Larson, Gibbs, Hamlin, Cindric, McDowell, Keselowski and Chastain. Meanwhile, Hocevar, Preece, Suarez and Reddick were the lowest four Chase contenders on the track in 21st, 23rd, 28th and 33rd, respectively, with Reddick still mired a lap down as Blaney led by half a second on Lap 155 and by seven-tenths of a second on Lap 160, both over Wallace. During the latest mark, Logano navigated his way back into the top-10 mark in ninth place while Larson was in 11th place ahead of Gibbs.
By Lap 175, Blaney, who led by more than a second a few laps ago, stabilized his lead by seven-tenths of a second over Wallace and by more than two seconds over third-place Buescher. Meanwhile, Berry outdueled Bell for fourth place and was the highest-running non-Chase contender on the track while Bell, Byron, Logano, Briscoe, Gibbs and Gragson trailed in the top 10, respectively, with Gragson trailing by more than seven seconds. As Berry overtook Buescher for third place, Blaney slightly increased his lead up to nine-tenths of a second over Wallace while Reddick, who was now two laps behind, was mired in 33rd place and continued to be the lowest-running Chaser. Blaney proceeded to lead by eight-tenths of a second on Lap 185 before the advantage grew up to more than a second on Lap 190, both of which Wallace retained the runner-up spot over Berry.
At the Lap 200 mark, Blaney continued to lead by more than a second over Wallace as Berry, Bell, Buescher, Logano, Gibbs, Byron, Larson, Hocevar, Briscoe, Hamlin, Gragson, Cindric and Bowman followed suit in the top 15, respectively. By then, 12 of 16 Chasers were racing in the top-15 mark on the track while Preece, Elliott, Suarez and Reddick were the lowest four Chasers in 19th, 21st, 22nd and 33rd, respectively. In addition, 20 of 37 starters remained on the lead lap while 12 were pinned a lap down.
Ten laps later, Blaney added an extra two seconds to his advantage as he remained ahead of Wallace while Berry, Bell, Logano, Gibbs, Buescher, Byron, Larson and Hocevar continued to race in the top 10, respectively. Blaney’s lead over Wallace dropped by a second another 10 laps later, but the former maintained his advantage that stood above two seconds by Lap 230 as Gibbs motored his No. 54 M&M’s Toyota Camry XSE entry into the runner-up spot over Wallace. By then, Wallace was being pressured by Berry, Logano and Bell for third place. Blaney led by more than two seconds over Gibbs and five seconds over Logano by Lap 240.
Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period, the caution flew due to Cody Ware spinning on the frontstretch after he got hit by Stenhouse on the right side and turned by Hamlin on the left-rear area. The caution was enough for the second stage period to conclude under caution as Blaney was awarded his ninth Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. Gibbs, Logano, Berry, Bell, Wallace, Hocevar, Byron, Larson and Buescher followed suit in the top 10, respectively. By then, nine of 16 Chasers (Blaney, Gibbs, Logano, Bell, Wallace, Hocevar, Byron, Larson and Buescher) racked up stage points following the second stage period, while the remaining Chasers that include Hamlin, Cindric, Preece, Briscoe, Suarez, Elliott and Reddick were mired in 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 18th, 25th and 28th, respectively, with Reddick mired two laps down. In addition, only 14 of 37 starters scored on the lead lap.
During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Blaney pitted. Following the pit stops, Blaney retained the lead by exiting pit road first while Gibbs, Bell, Logano, Berry, Hocevar, Hamlin, Byron, Buescher and Wallace followed suit, respectively.
With 239 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Blaney and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, Blaney used the outside lane to launch his No. 12 Wabash Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead of Gibbs and the field through the first two turns as Bell battled teammate Gibbs from the outside lane. Amid the side-by-side battle, Gibbs fended off Bell for the runner-up spot and Bell maintained third place in front of Logano and Hocevar while Blaney led by seven-tenths of a second with 230 laps remaining.
With 225 laps remaining, Blaney led by seven-tenths of a second over Gibbs before the former’s advantage slightly shrunk to half a second over the next two laps. Gibbs then reeled in towards Blaney by as close as two-tenths of a second before the latter led by three-tenths of a second with 220 laps remaining. Amid Gibbs’ late charge, Blaney remained out in front by two-tenths of a second while Bell, Logano, Hocevar, Berry, Hamlin, Byron, Wallace and Buescher trailed in the top 10, respectively.
Down to the final 200 laps, Blaney maintained a steady lead of less than three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Gibbs as Gibbs reeled in and nearly overtook Blaney a few laps earlier amid lapped traffic. As Gibbs continued to reel in on Blaney amid lapped traffic that included Austin Dillon nearly making contact with Gibbs, Bell, Logano, and Hocevar continued to trail in the top five as Berry, Hamlin, Byron, Wallace and Buescher were in the top 10 ahead of Larson, Briscoe, Preece, Chastain and Cindric. With Suarez mired in 17th place, the third competitor a lap down behind Cindric and Keselowski, Elliott was mired two laps down in 26th place while Reddick was also mired two laps down in 30th place.
Twenty-five laps later, Gibbs, who methodically and steadily reeled Blaney back in, dueled with Blaney before he split in between Blaney and the lapped competitor of Bowman to motor ahead through the frontstretch and assume the lead. As the fans waved the Rowdy towels at the sight of the No. 54 M&M’s Toyota entry leading, Gibbs proceeded to lead Blaney by three-tenths of a second with 170 laps remaining.
With 160 laps remaining, Gibbs maintained his lead by four-tenths of a second over Blaney as Bell, Logano, Hocevar, Berry, Wallace, Hamlin, Byron and Briscoe occupied the top-10 spots in front of Larson, Buescher and Preece, all of whom were on the lead lap. Gibbs, who had his lead shrunk down by as low as a tenth of a second earlier, proceeded to stabilize his lead by within half a second over the next 20 laps before he maintained it by four-tenths of a second with 120 laps remaining. By then, Larson, Berry, Austin Hill and Hamlin pitted their respective entries under green.
With 118 laps remaining, Byron pitted under green from the top-10 mark. Briscoe followed suit a lap later along with Buescher and Nemechek before Gibbs pitted from the lead with 114 laps remaining. Three laps later, Logano pitted from third place along with Herbst before Bell, Wallace and Preece pitted with less than 110 laps remaining. Allmendinger, van Gisbergen and Gilliland also pitted.
With more names like Reddick, Chastain and McDowell pitting, Blaney peeled off the track from the lead and was about to pit before he darted back on the track as the caution flew with 104 laps remaining due to Herbst spinning and hitting the wall on the frontstretch after he made contact with Zane Smith. At the time of caution, Blaney and Hocevar were the only two competitors scored on the lead lap while Gibbs, who was in third place, was awarded the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap. Blaney’s event, however, quickly went south when he was penalized for a commitment line violation due to the driver crossing over the commitment line to enter pit road, but opting to blend back on the track instead of proceeding through pit road.
As the event restarted with 95 laps remaining, where Hocevar and Gibbs occupied the front row, Hocevar motored ahead with the lead while Gibbs, who was mired in lapped traffic, trailed in the runner-up spot. With only nine competitors scored on the lead lap, Gibbs trailed Hocevar by nearly two seconds as Bell, Logano, Berry, Byron, Larson, Wallace and Blaney rounded out the lead lap field.
Down to the final 80 laps, Hocevar was leading by two seconds over Gibbs while third-place Logano trailed by more than six seconds. Bell, Berry, Wallace, Blaney, Byron and Larson rounded out the lead lap field while Cindric was scored the first competitor a lap down in 10th place. By then, nine of 16 Chasers (Hocevar, Gibbs, Logano, Bell, Wallace, Blaney, Byron, Larson and Cindric) were scored in the top 10 on the track while the remaining Chasers that include Briscoe, Hamlin, Preece, Buescher, Suarez, Elliott and Reddick trailed in 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 17th, 21st and 26th, respectively.
Then, with 69 laps remaining, the caution flew when Gibbs, who reeled in and overtook Hocevar for the lead a lap prior through the backstretch when Hocevar was mired in lapped traffic, got sandwiched in between Bowman and Custer as Bowman, who turned right, got sideways and spun in front of Gibbs, though Gibbs managed to proceed with minimal damage. At the time of caution, Hocevar was ruled the leader over Gibbs. During the caution, Hocevar, Logano, Bell, Berry, Wallace, and Byron pitted while the rest, led by Gibbs and including Blaney and Larson, remained on the track.
The next restart with 59 laps remaining featured Gibbs muscling ahead of Blaney from the outside lane to maintain the lead through the first two turns despite having Larson, who restarted behind Gibbs, bolting his way into the runner-up spot. As Larson tried to get beneath Gibbs for the lead, Hocevar used his fresh tires to also reel in behind Gibbs as the latter led the next lap. Just as Gibbs was being pressured by Hocevar, Larson, Blaney, Bell and Logano for the lead, the caution returned due to Byron, who was among a handful of competitors on the lead lap, making contact with Berry before the former spun and hit the backstretch’s inside wall.
During the next restart with 51 laps remaining, Gibbs executed another strong launch from the outside lane to motor ahead of Larson and lead a full cycle while Hocevar used his fresh tires to motor up to second place. As Hocevar tried to use the outside lane to reel in Gibbs, Gibbs, who remained on the inside lane, proceeded to lead by half a second with 45 laps remaining while Blaney, Larson and Logano followed suit, respectively. Two laps later, Blaney, who reeled in, battled and slid in front of Hocevar to assume the runner-up spot through the frontstretch, drew a caution when Hocevar turned and sent the latter spinning and wrecking towards the outside wall in the first turn. The incident nearly collected Logano as Blaney was knocked out of contention with a wrecked race car while Hocevar proceeded forward, all while Gibbs maintained a steady lead.
As the event restarted with 35 laps remaining, Gibbs prevailed ahead of Larson from the outside lane as Hocevar quickly reeled in Gibbs to move into the runner-up through the first two turns. As Gibbs led while transitioning to the inside lane through the backstretch, Hocevar mounted a charge from the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4. Gibbs, though, managed to slide in front of Hocevar and lead the next lap through the frontstretch. As Gibbs, who remained on the inside lane, proceeded to maintain a steady lead with 30 laps remaining over Hocevar, Larson, Bell, Logano and Wallace followed suit while Berry, Briscoe, Cindric, Byron and Hamlin, all of whom were on the lead lap, followed suit, respectively.
With 24 laps remaining, the caution flew due to Elliott, who was multiple laps down, spinning on the frontstretch after he got loose entering the fourth turn and spun to the bottom of the track. During this caution, select names like Wallace, Byron, and Hamlin pitted while the rest, led by Gibbs, remained on the track.
For the next restart that commenced with 17 laps remaining, Gibbs motored ahead and moved in front of Larson, Hocevar and the field through the first two turns. As Hocevar tried to mount a charge from the outside lane while outdueling Larson, Gibbs led the next lap before he was challenged by Hocevar through the backstretch. Seconds later, the caution flew due to Allmendinger spinning in Turn 4 and through the frontstretch. At the time of caution, Gibbs was ruled the leader over Hocevar.
During the next restart with nine laps remaining, Gibbs briefly fended off Hocevar and Larson with a steady jump from the outside lane. Through the first two turns, however, Hocevar wasted no time reeling his No. 77 Zeigler Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry next to Gibbs’ No. 54 M&M’s Toyota entry entering the backstretch. The latter two drag-raced until Hocevar used the outside lane to move forward and lead the next lap. Both Gibbs and Hocevar continued to swap and battle fiercely for the lead during the next lap until Gibbs made contact with Hocevar through the frontstretch with seven laps remaining.
The contact between Gibbs and Hocevar escalated through the first two turns as Gibbs bumped and forced Hocevar up the track through the backstretch. This put Hocevar in contention with Larson and Gibbs as Logano threw himself into the spotlight. While Gibbs tried to slide up and stall Hocevar’s momentum through Turns 3 and 4 amid contact, Logano used the inside lane and clear space to motor past both and assume the lead for the following lap. As Logano led, Hocevar and Larson used the outside lane to race in second and third while Gibbs, who briefly got loose a lap prior, was left battling teammate Bell for fourth place. As the laps dwindled, Gibbs continued to battle Bell for fourth place while Hocevar and Larson were unable to reel in Logano.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Logano remained in the lead by a steady margin over Hocevar and Larson. With no challenges coming from behind, Logano was able to smoothly cycle back to the front stretch and claim the checkered flag ahead of a heated battle between Larson and Hocevar for the runner-up spot.
With the victory, Logano notched his 40th NASCAR Cup Series career victory in his 644th series start, his third of the 2026 season, his 16th career Chase win and his third at the Bristol Night Race event. He also racked up the seventh victory of the 2026 season for Ford and the sixth for Team Penske.
Prior to his Bristol Night Race victory, Logano was ranked in seventh place in the 2026 Chase standings, and he trailed the points lead by 51 points. After the Bristol Night Race victory, Logano gained four spots in the standings, and he trails the lead by 16 points as he has seven Chase events remaining to reel in his deficit and contend for his fourth championship.
“Come on, Bristol! I hear you down here,” Logano, who was greeted with a chorus of boos from the crowd, said on the frontstretch on USA Network. “That was awesome. What a really good race car. Team Penske put together a great car. We were able to win the first stage there. You know it’s going to get aggressive there at the end, and right place at the right time. I got a great team. We got a team that knows how to win championships. I thought there for a minute, I was like, ‘OK, I might just finish third or fourth here tonight,’ but it all kind of worked our way up, and I was like, ‘Well, Merry Christmas to me. I got a gift there.’”
“There’s nothing like the Bristol Night Race, man,” Logano added. “This is just the coolest experience as a race car driver, being in front of all you fans down here, hearing everyone screaming, cheering, sometimes booing. That’s all right. It’s pretty awesome.”
As Logano lit up the celebrations both on the frontstretch and in Victory Lane, teammate Ryan Blaney lit up the post-race activities on pit road when he approached Carson Hocevar and grabbed him across the chest to express his displeasure over their late-race incident. A fight then erupted as Hocevar threw a pair of swings and punches across Blaney’s face before Blaney was dragged to the ground. After being brought back up, Blaney vented words towards Hocevar while being restrained before he broke free, bolted back to Hocevar and swung a punch towards the latter’s face before he was restrained by NASCAR officials and directed back behind the wall.
Kyle Larson managed to edge Hocevar to claim the runner-up spot, and Christopher Bell, the reigning Bristol Night Race winner, finished in fourth place, while Ty Gibbs, who led 120 laps while sporting the M&M’s Kyle Busch tribute paint scheme, settled in fifth place.
Josh Berry, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Ryan Preece completed the top 10 in the final race results. The latter four, along with Logano, Larson, Hocevar, Bell and Gibbs notched top-10 results as Chase contenders, while the remaining Chasers, including Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney settled in 11th, 13th, 14th, 18th, 23rd, 27th and 33rd, respectively.
The third Chase event of the 2026 Cup Series season generated 13 lead changes for six different leaders, and 10 cautions for 78 laps. In addition, 12 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.
Race Results:
Joey Logano, 93 laps led, Stage 1 winner
Kyle Larson, 45 laps led
Carson Hocevar, 39 laps led
Christopher Bell, one lap led
Ty Gibbs, 120 laps led
Josh Berry
Bubba Wallace
Denny Hamlin
William Byron
Ryan Preece
Austin Cindric
Ross Chastain
Chris Buescher, one lap down
Daniel Suarez, two laps down
Brad Keselowski, two laps down
Noah Gragson, two laps down
Austin Dillon, two laps down
Tyler Reddick, three laps down
Todd Gilliland, three laps down
Shane van Gisbergen, three laps down
Michael McDowell, three laps down
AJ Allmendinger, three laps down
Chase Elliott, three laps down
Connor Zilisch, four laps down
John Hunter Nemechek, five laps down
Cole Custer, five laps down
Chase Briscoe – OUT, Suspension
Zane Smith, six laps down
Austin Hill, six laps down
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 10 laps down
Cody Ware, 11 laps down
Erik Jones, 17 laps down
Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, 202 laps led, Stage 2 winner
Riley Herbst – OUT, Suspension
Alex Bowman – OUT, Accident
Ty Dillon, 98 laps down
Josh Bilicki – OUT, Suspension
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
Following the third Chase event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Kyle Larson leads the standings by a single point over Denny Hamlin, 16 over Joey Logano, 17 over Christopher Bell, 42 over Ty Gibbs, and 52 over Ryan Blaney. The rest of the 16-car Chase field is displayed below.
Chase Standings:
Kyle Larson
Denny Hamlin -1
Joey Logano -16
Christopher Bell -17
Ty Gibbs -42
Ryan Blaney -52
Tyler Reddick -61
Carson Hocevar -85
Chase Briscoe -87
Bubba Wallace -92
Austin Cindric -116
Chase Elliott -117
William Byron -121
Ryan Preece -124
Chris Buescher -124
Daniel Suarez -134
Next on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, September 27, and air at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM, and HBO MAX.
MARTIN, Mich. (Sept. 19, 2026) – Back-to-back defending Funny Car world champion Austin Prock powered to the No. 1 spot in front of a sellout crowd on Saturday at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, earning his second top qualifier of the year for Tasca Racing at this weekend’s Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals presented by MOPAR.
Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Matt Hartford (Pro Stock) and Ryan Oehler (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also qualified No. 1 at the 15th of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season. It is also the first of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
Prock went 3.859-seconds at 331.61 mph in his 12,000-horsepower Ford Racing Mustang to take the No. 1 spot for the 27th time in his career, making four strong runs in qualifying, including the third-quickest run of the year to take the top qualifier.
He picked up bonus points every round and can enjoy a big Sunday as Prock looks to win a third straight title. Prock will open eliminations against standout Jordan Vandergriff, looking to win in NHRA’s debut at the facility and the first national event in Michigan in 66 years.
“This Ford Mustang has really been turning the corner in the latter half of the season. To roll into the Countdown, munch up quite a few qualifying points, and then be the No. 1 qualifier at the first Countdown race definitely feels good. It gives us some confidence,” Prock said.
“We’ve been working really hard this year — putting in the hours, thinking about it in the middle of the night, waking up and just going and getting your grind done. I’m really proud of accomplishing this, and hopefully we can turn it into a win tomorrow.
“To see how excited everybody has been, not only at the racetrack but outside the racetrack and around the hotel — ‘We’re so excited NHRA is finally here. We get to see the big show.’ That’s awesome.”
Jack Beckman qualified second with a 3.861 at 332.10, while points leader Matt Hagan jumped to third in the final session after going 3.886 at 330.88.
With a capacity crowd on hand, Kalitta impressed in his home state, surpassing Friday’s top run with a stellar 3.660 at 338.86 in his 12,000-horsepower Applied Innovations dragster for Kalitta Motorsports.
The reigning world champion and points leader earned his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the season and the 71st in his career with the standout performance, taking plenty of momentum into raceday. He’ll open eliminations against Kyle Satenstein on Sunday, looking to win in front of a huge number of family and friends as part of NHRA’s national event debut at the standout facility.
“I knew our hospitality was going to have a ton of people, so I assumed the fans would be piling in here, and they were,” Kalitta said. “It was really nice that we were able to get something done in front of them. This is a new market for us, and we definitely want to put on a good show for everybody.
“Everybody’s working their tails off. I definitely didn’t want to have a Saturday rainout, so it was good that we were able to get something done. Another No. 1 qualifier is huge. We’ll drag it in tomorrow and see what we’ve got.”
Josh Hart vaulted to second during the final session with a 3.671 at 329.19 and Antron Brown moved to third with a 3.673 at 338.09.
In Pro Stock, Matt Hartford stayed in the top position, clinching his second No. 1 qualifier in 2026 thanks to Friday’s 6.516 at 209.79 in his Total Seal Chevrolet Camaro. It gives Hartford his second straight top spot as he looks to continue rolling to open the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
It gives Hartford his seventh career No. 1 spot and he’ll open eliminations against Shane Tucker, looking to pick up his fourth victory of the season, which would match Greg Anderson and Dallas Glenn for most in the class this season. A first-round victory also nets Hartford a bye into the semifinals.
“We were thrilled to get two runs in today. Anytime you can go up and down the track, you learn something,” Hartford said.
“I think it’s more pressure because it’s a known fact that if you win first round, you go to the semifinals. It’s a two-for-one, so that’s just added pressure. I think any driver would tell you that first round is the hardest one every weekend. Once you’re through first round, you relax a little bit more. To me, first round is harder than a final round.”
Anderson took second with a 6.521 at 209.11 and points leader Dallas Glenn qualified third with a 6.529 at 209.99.
Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Ryan Oehler made it official on Saturday at a packed U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, picking up his first career No. 1 qualifier when Friday’s 6.7190 at 200.80 on his El Bandito Yankee Tequila EBR held up through Saturday’s two rounds.
“It’s very special,” Oehler said. “My dad is an engine developer and horsepower developer, and this is what he’s wanted. He’s always said, ‘I just want one of those yellow hats.’ I’ve always said, ‘I just want to be in the winner’s circle.’ We got him his yellow hat today.
“This really flexes his muscles and shows what we’re made of back home and what we’ve been doing in the offseason to make power. It’s going to be scary to see where we’re headed if we keep going in this direction.
“We have a brand-new engine we’re putting together right now. Whether it’ll be ready during the Countdown or not, it very well could be. That could be the secret sauce to a championship run.”
Angie Smith took second with a 6.7377 at 196.51 and Indy winner Matt Smith qualified third with a 6.7403 at 197.02.
Eliminations for the inaugural Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals presented by MOPAR begin at 10:30 a.m. ET on Sunday at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.
MARTIN, Mich. — Sunday’s first-round pairings for eliminations for the Inaugural NHRA Great Lakes Nationals at US 131 Motorsports Park, the 15th of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Pairings based on results in qualifying, which ended Saturday. DNQs listed below pairings.
Top Fuel — 1. Doug Kalitta, 3.660 seconds, 338.86 mph vs. 16. Kyle Satenstein, 7.888, 81.48; 2. Josh Hart, 3.671, 329.19 vs. 15. Shawn Reed, 3.801, 333.58; 3. Antron Brown, 3.673, 338.09 vs. 14. Clay Millican, 3.762, 334.08; 4. Shawn Langdon, 3.698, 339.37 vs. 13. Maddi Gordon, 3.746, 336.57; 5. Will Smith, 3.706, 335.32 vs. 12. Leah Pruett, 3.743, 328.23; 6. Tony Stewart, 3.714, 339.62 vs. 11. Kyle Wurtzel, 3.739, 334.08; 7. Tony Schumacher, 3.729, 338.86 vs. 10. Spencer Massey, 3.736, 330.15; 8. Justin Ashley, 3.733, 333.58 vs. 9. Billy Torrence, 3.736, 334.57.
Funny Car — 1. Austin Prock, Ford Mustang, 3.859, 331.61 vs. 16. Jordan Vandergriff, Chevy Camaro, 8.429, 77.59; 2. Jack Beckman, Camaro, 3.861, 332.10 vs. 15. Jeff Diehl, Toyota Camry, 4.073, 314.03; 3. Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 3.886, 330.88 vs. 14. Joey Haas, Mustang, 4.071, 307.80; 4. Cruz Pedregon, Charger, 3.886, 327.51 vs. 13. Terry Haddock, Mustang, 3.980, 314.47; 5. J.R. Todd, Toyota GR Supra, 3.893, 334.57 vs. 12. Dave Richards, Mustang, 3.980, 316.90; 6. Alexis DeJoria, Camaro, 3.898, 333.09 vs. 11. Hunter Green, Charger, 3.970, 325.14; 7. Ron Capps, GR Supra, 3.899, 336.07 vs. 10. Chad Green, Mustang, 3.947, 329.91; 8. Daniel Wilkerson, Mustang, 3.903, 321.20 vs.
Spencer Hyde, Mustang, 3.916, 331.13.
Pro Stock — 1. Matt Hartford, Chevy Camaro, 6.516, 209.79 vs. 14. Shane Tucker, Camaro, 6.807, 160.54; 2. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.521, 209.11 vs. 13. Aaron Stanfield, Camaro, 6.602, 195.40; 3. Dallas Glenn, Camaro, 6.529, 209.99 vs. 12. Deric Kramer, Camaro, 6.590, 207.66; 4. Cody Anderson, Camaro, 6.531, 207.85 vs. 11. Kenny Delco, Camaro, 6.579, 205.76; 5. Greg Stanfield, Camaro, 6.534, 209.59 vs. 10. Eric Latino, Camaro, 6.552, 208.33; 6. Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, 6.536, 209.69 vs. 9. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.545, 21.04; 7. Matt Latino, Camaro, 6.538, 209.50 vs. 8. Troy Coughlin Jr.,
Camaro, 6.539, 208.72.
Pro Stock Motorcycle — 1. Ryan Oehler, EBR, 6.719, 200.80 vs. Bye; 2. Angie Smith, Buell, 6.737, 196.51 vs. 15. Wesley Wells, Suzuki, 12.178, 64.26; 3. Matt Smith, Buell, 6.740, 197.02 vs. 14. Mathieu Dube, Suzuki, 7.543, 175.64; 4. Richard Gadson, Suzuki, 6.746, 200.00 vs. 13. Mark Paquette, EBR, 7.091, 170.78; 5. Gaige Herrera, Suzuki, 6.760, 200.00 vs. 12. Marc Ingwersen, EBR, 6.870,195.65; 6. John Hall, Beull, 6.764, 200.00 vs. 11. Clayton Howey, Suzuki, 6.858, 195.31; 7. Ronnie Procopio, 6.782, 198.15 vs. 10. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 6.853, 197.02; 8. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.803,
194.64 vs. 9. Chase Van Sant, Suzuki, 6.810, 197.11.
The No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian team piloted by Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun secured the pole position for the 2026 Tirerack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 19.
The Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and Le Mans Prototype (LMP2) starting lineups were determined through on-track qualifying sessions that spanned for 15 minutes apiece. Meanwhile, the GT Daytona Pro (GTD Pro) and GT Daytona (GTD) starting lineups were determined through team points due to qualifying being canceled as a result of inclement weather.
As a result of qualifications being canceled for the GTD Pro class category, the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO entry, which is leading the GTD Pro championship team standings and is piloted by Neil Verhagen and Connor De Phillippi, was awarded the pole position. The No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R entry, which is ranked in the runner-up spot in the standings and is piloted by Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg, was awarded the second-place starting spot. The rest of the class’s 10 entries are listed below under the GTD Pro starting lineup list.
With qualifications also being canceled for the GTD class, the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo entry, which is leading the GTD’s team standings and is piloted by Dudu Barrichello and Tom Gamble, will start in first place. The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 entry, which is ranked in the runner-up spot in the standings and is piloted by Russell Ward and Philip Ellis, was awarded the second-place starting spot. The rest of the class’s 13 entries are listed below under the GTD starting lineup list.
For the LMP2 group, the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07 entry piloted by Jeremy Clarke and Tom Dillmann qualified on pole position with a pole-winning lap in one minute and 17.555 seconds. The No. 22 United Autosports USA entry piloted by Daniel Goldburg and Paul Di Resta qualified in second place with a lap in one minute and 17.713 seconds.
AO Racing’s No. 99 entry piloted by PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron, Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen’s No. 52 entry piloted by Misha Goikhbert and Harry Tincknell and TDS Racing’s No. 11 entry piloted by Tobi Lutke and Mathias Beche will start in the top five, respectively. The No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR entry, which leads the team championship standings and is piloted by George Kurtz and Alex Quinn, will line up in sixth place. The rest of the class’s 10 entries for Sunday’s main event at Indianapolis are listed below under the LMP2 starting lineup list.
For the GTP group, the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 entry piloted by Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun achieved the event’s overall pole position with a pole-winning lap at one minute and 14.674 seconds. The pole position was a redemptive moment for the organization that had initially achieved the pole at Indianapolis a year ago, but was stripepd due to rules infraction. It was also a bittersweet moment for the organization as they along with Acura will not be competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series in 2027.
Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 team, which is currently ranked in eighth place in the GTP team standings, has yet to achieve a victory this season, with their latest victory dating back to June 2025 at Watkins Glen International for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. Winning Sunday’s event at Indianapolis would be a first for the organization at the venue in the series along for Braun and Blomqvist, both of whom are tied for 10th place in the 2026 driver’s standings.
“The team had done a fantastic job leading up to this event,” Blomqvist, who piloted the entry to pole position, said in the DEX Imaging Media Center. “We were pretty fast here last year. We had some new car concepts to try on practice and it seemed to be working. We kind of executed that, carried that through qualifying. Obviously, the weather was a bit of an unknown, could’ve thrown a curveball there. Thankfully, we didn’t need to gamble too much. I think we did a good strategy in qualifying.”
“This track is notoriously hard to warm up the right-side tires,” Blomqvist added. “Just doing those two kind of laps there with the right tires, getting a little bit of temperature, I think, enabled me to get the peak out of the tire. I felt like I really had one really good shot at [the pole] there. I guess I did a good job myself. I managed to get the most out of [the car] on that lap when the tires were at its best. I think that was kind of the key today.”
The No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R entry, which is leading the GTP standings with two victories this season and is piloted by driver’s points leader Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber, qualified in second place with a lap of one minute and 14.975 seconds. Aitken and Bamber piloted Cadillac’s No. 31 entry to the victory at Indianapolis a year ago back when the event was a six-hour endurance event and included co-driver Frederik Vesti. With this year’s event scaled down to two hours and 40 minutes, the organization will strive to maintain their lead in the standings en route to the championship and defend their Indianapolis victory.
BMW M Team WRT’s No. 24 entry piloted by Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde, Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 40 entry piloted by Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz and Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian’s No. 93 entry piloted by Renger van der Zande and Nick Yelloly rounded out the top-five starting grid for the GTP class, respectively.
Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) Starting Lineup:
Tom Blomqvist/Colin Braun (#60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian), 1:14.674
Jack Aitken/Earl Bamber (#31 Cadillac Whelen), 1:14.975
Dries Vanthor/Sheldon van der Linde (#24 BMW M Team WRT), 1:15.073
Jordan Taylor/Louis Deletraz (#40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing), 1:15.216
Renger van der Zande/Nick Yelloly (#93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian), 1:15.216
Felipe Nasr/Julien Andlauer (#7 Porsche Penske Motorsport), 1:15.235
Ricky Taylor/Filipe Albuquerque #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing), 1:15.353
The 2026 Tirerack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Sunday, September 20, with air coverage to commence at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
The immediate aftermath of a crash pulls attention in a dozen directions at once, injuries, police reports, insurance calls, exchanging information with the other driver. Somewhere in that chaos, someone hooks up a tow truck and simply drives the damaged car away.
Most drivers barely register it happening. They leave the scene in an ambulance, a friend’s car, or a rideshare, focused entirely on more immediate concerns, only to realize sometime later that they genuinely have no idea where their own vehicle actually ended up.
Sorting out where the vehicle actually ended up matters more than it might initially seem, since that missing car can quietly start accumulating costs and complications the longer it sits unaddressed somewhere unfamiliar.
First Find Out Where the Car Went
The very first step in handling your car getting towed after an accident involves actually locating the vehicle, which isn’t always as straightforward as it sounds. Police reports often note which towing company handled the removal, providing a starting point for tracking down exactly where the car ended up.
Identifying who authorized the tow matters too, whether that was law enforcement responding to the scene or some other party involved in managing the immediate aftermath. Understanding this helps clarify what’s actually needed to formally access the vehicle once it’s located.
Accessing the vehicle typically requires proper identification and proof of ownership, along with sometimes covering fees the facility charges before releasing it back to its actual owner. Confirming these requirements early prevents a wasted, frustrating trip to the wrong place.
Storage Can Cost Money Every Day
Tow yards typically charge storage fees that accumulate daily, meaning a vehicle left unaddressed for even a week or two can rack up genuinely significant charges before anyone actually gets around to formally dealing with it.
These fees often catch people off guard, since nobody’s thinking about storage costs in the immediate, chaotic aftermath of a collision. By the time attention shifts back toward the vehicle itself, a meaningful bill may have already quietly accumulated in the meantime.
Timing matters considerably here, addressing the situation promptly helps limit these accumulating charges, rather than letting the vehicle sit indefinitely while other priorities take precedence during an already overwhelming, disorienting period following the crash.
Your Belongings Are Still Inside
Beyond the vehicle itself, personal belongings often remain inside, sometimes genuinely important items that shouldn’t wait for the broader insurance and repair process to fully resolve before actually being retrieved by their owner.
Documents, medication, and child car seats represent particularly time-sensitive items worth retrieving promptly, along with license plates that might need to be removed depending on the specific circumstances surrounding the vehicle’s ultimate disposition going forward.
Checking whether the tow facility permits retrieving personal items, and what identification or authorization that process might require, helps ensure these belongings don’t end up genuinely lost or forgotten somewhere in an unfamiliar storage lot.
Insurance Needs to Know Where the Vehicle Is
The insurance company handling the claim needs to actually know where the vehicle is located before inspection, repair, or total-loss evaluation can meaningfully move forward through whatever process the claim ultimately follows.
Communication among the vehicle owner, insurer, tow facility, and eventual repair shop needs to actually happen, coordinating logistics like inspection scheduling and potentially relocating the vehicle to a shop rather than leaving it sitting at the original tow yard.
This coordination doesn’t always happen automatically, sometimes requiring the vehicle owner to actively connect these different parties themselves, ensuring nothing stalls simply because nobody happened to share the vehicle’s actual current location with everyone else involved.
Conclusion
Dealing with the tow situation quickly helps prevent a secondary logistical and financial headache stacking right on top of whatever the crash itself already created, since storage fees and coordination gaps only compound the longer everything sits unaddressed.
Understanding how to locate the vehicle, why storage costs accumulate daily, and why insurance needs accurate location information all helps someone move through this often-overlooked part of the process considerably more smoothly.
Addressing this piece promptly, even while juggling everything else a crash brings with it, helps ensure the vehicle itself doesn’t become its own separate source of unnecessary stress and expense during an already difficult time.
Sheldon Creed wins the Food City 300 Friday night at Bristol in a classic overtime finish.
BRISTOL, Tenn. (Sept. 18, 2026) – Like a stealth bomber, Sheldon Creed waited until the last minute to make his move.
Thanks to an astute call from crew chief Jonathan Toney, Creed had new tires for an overtime restart on Lap 304, and he used them to full advantage in winning Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The victory, Creed’s second in three Chase races, left the driver of the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet on top of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series postseason standings, 11 points ahead of top-seeded Justin Allgaier in second.
But the result left Allgaier angry after finishing fourth and left Jesse Love disconsolate and apologetic after running Allgaier into the outside wall after a Lap 286 restart.
Benefitting from a caution with three laps left in regulation, Creed lined up in the inside lane beside race leader William Sawalich on Lap 304. Getting an excellent launch on his new tires—after Toney had called him into the pits for fresh rubber on Lap 280—Creed got an excellent launch and seized the lead.
Sawalich moved to the top of the track in an attempt to counter, but Creed prevailed, beating Sawalich to the finish line by 0.253 second at the end of the two-lap overtime. Creed, who picked up his third victory of the season and third of his career, was credited with leading only the final three laps.
“Just a great call by my crew chief and engineer to put tires on,” said Creed, who lined up eighth for the penultimate restart on Lap 286 and quickly advanced to second. “Great pit stop by my guys to get me out first and be the first one on tires.
“To be honest, I wasn’t really good all night with the balance of our Chevrolet. Hats off to these guys. They just never give up. I just think the (overtime) restart there, I tried to time the 18 (Sawalich) well. With a lot newer tires, it was just easier for me to get going. I got clear and I was just kind of watching up top.”
Creed has finished first, second and first in the three Chase races, as the O’Reilly Series faces a week off before resuming in the Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 3.
Allgaier was the leader for the Lap 286 restart, but in a bid for the lead, Love ran the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet into the outside wall shortly after the race went green. As soon as the race ended, with Allgaier in fourth and Love a disappointing 17th, Allgaier strode to Love’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to express his dissatisfaction.
“(I was) just questioning why,” said Allgaier, who won the first stage despite creasing the nose of his Camaro during contact with the back bumper of Nick Sanchez’s Chevrolet in heavy traffic. “The race car we had was so good tonight. I’m just disappointed at coming out of here the way we did.”
Love, the defending series champion, was contrite and upset over a decision that cost both him and Allgaier the chance for a victory.
“Honestly, I got caught up in the moment racing with him,” said Love, who is fourth in the Chase standings, 41 points behind Creed. “I knew on the last restart (Lap 286), I had to get a good launch, and I was able to accomplish that. I came off (Turn) 4, we were side-by-side, and I needed to run my best corner, and instead I got caught up with racing him, and in turn that led me down a path to make an enemy I needed not to make.
“I made a terrible decision that took ourselves out of contention to win.”
Rookie Brent Crews ran third, with Corey Day securing the fifth spot. Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Parker Retzlaff, Dean Thompson and Sammy Smith completed the top 10.
Carson Kvapil led a race-high 156 laps but pitted with smoke trailing from the back of his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevy with 44 laps left. Kvapil finished 24th, four laps down, but held the third position in the standings, 37 points behind Creed.
Love led 80 laps before the run-in with Allgaier, who was out front for 49 circuits. The only other drivers to lead laps were Sawalich with 13—interrupted by the Lap 297 caution that changed the course of the race after Ryan Sieg slammed the outside wall in close quarters with Day and Retzlaff—and Creed with three.
-Story by NASCAR Newswire
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race – Food City 300 Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, Tennessee Friday, September 18, 2026
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 53 Mins, 7 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.253 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 47 laps.
Lead Changes: 8 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Love (C) 1-81;J. Allgaier (C) 82-90;C. Kvapil (C) 91-98;J. Allgaier (C) 99-100;C. Kvapil (C) 101-248;J. Allgaier (C) 249-286;J. Love (C) 287-289;W. Sawalich 290-302;S. Creed (C) 303-305.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Carson Kvapil (C) 2 times for 156 laps; Jesse Love (C) 2 times for 84 laps; Justin Allgaier (C) 3 times for 49 laps; William Sawalich 1 time for 13 laps; Sheldon Creed (C) 1 time for 3 laps.
SAWALICH, CREWS DELIVER TOP-THREE FINISHES AT BRISTOL Team Toyota has its strongest night of the season
BRISTOL, Tenn. (September 18, 2026) – William Sawalich and Brent Crews battled for the win on the final overtime restart before just missing the victory in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday evening. Sawalich earned his best finish since his win at Rockingham, while Crews continued his strong rookie season with his second consecutive third-place Bristol finish.
It was the strongest night of the season for Team Toyota as all six supported Toyota GR Supras for Joe Gibbs Racing and Sam Hunt Racing delivered lead-lap, top-15 finishes for the first time this year. Sawalich and Crews were chased to the line by Taylor Gray in sixth and Dean Thompson in ninth. Harrison Burton (12th) and Brandon Jones (15th) also had solid results.
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS) Bristol Motor Speedway Race 27 of 33 – 159.9 miles, 300 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Sheldon Creed* 2nd, WILLIAM SAWALICH 3rd, BRENT CREWS 4th, Justin Allgaier* 5th, Corey Day* 6th, TAYLOR GRAY 9th, DEAN THOMPSON 12th, HARRISON BURTON 15th, BRANDON JONES *non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
WILLIAM SAWALICH, No. 18 SoundGear Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
What happened on that final restart?
“Yeah, double 00 (Sheldon Creed) just had new tires, and old tires can’t launch as good as new. Just kind of lost it on that restart. Did all I could there on the top to make it up, but it just wasn’t enough. Our SoundGear GR Supra was pretty good today, and especially good in stage three.”
BRENT CREWS, No. 19 YoungLife Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
Can you tell me about your night?
“Yeah, it was kind of all over the place as far as where we were running in the beginning. In practice, I felt like this was the best car that I’ve had all year. It was super cool. We fired off super good, but then the track swung a bunch of different ways, but Seth (Chavka, crew chief) did a good job keeping up with it. I felt like at the end we had the race winning call, just those crucial two spots we lost on pit road, I think that is what cost us, but there was a lot of things that we could have done better to get us to victory lane that didn’t end up happening, but grateful to everyone at YoungLife and Toyota, and so grateful to be able to represent this amazing team.”
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
You had a look at the win there at the end. What happened out there?
“Just really good execution by the 54 group. Really proud of everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, and really thankful for everyone at TOYOTA RACING and M-Experiment. Yeah, I just went for it – and he’s my best friend. Hate the fact that I stuck in the fence, but even more than that – just gutted for my team. They did a really good job all day and have done a really good job the last few weeks getting me prepared for this race. This is not my best racetrack by any means, and we put a lot of effort into this place and getting better, and it showed. It became one of my better racetracks tonight, but honestly, I don’t know. Just a lot of emotions going on right now.”
DEAN THOMPSON, No. 26 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota GR Supra, Sam Hunt Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
Another solid night for you at Bristol. How was your race?
“Yeah, really happy with how our Thompson Pipe Group, ONE TPG Toyota GR Supra performed all night. I feel like we have a consistent way of racing with this group – we struggle a little bit in stage one and stage two. We are starting to figure it out in stage three and always come around and finish decent. Three really good finishes in a row. Really happy for our team, really happy for my guys – really looking forward to the rest of the year.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of over 50 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
When the at-fault driver has no car insurance in Florida, you may still have options for paying your medical bills, vehicle repairs, and other losses. In many cases, the key is whether you have uninsured motorist (UM) coverage on your own auto policy, because Florida law generally does not require drivers to carry bodily injury liability insurance.
St. Petersburg sees heavy traffic on roads such as I-275, 4th Street North, and U.S. 19, where crashes can happen in seconds. A collision with an uninsured driver can be especially stressful because the person who caused the crash may have little money or no insurance to cover your losses. After a crash in the area, an uninsured motorist accident lawyer in St. Petersburg, FL, can help you understand your insurance coverage and the options available for pursuing compensation.
The most important step is to check your own policy before assuming you are on your own. Florida’s rules on uninsured motorists, personal injury protection (PIP), and insurance claims can affect what you can recover and how you should proceed after the accident.
What Happens After an Uninsured Driver Hits You?
Your first source of coverage may be your own auto insurance. Florida requires PIP coverage for covered drivers, and Florida Statute § 627.736 generally provides up to $10,000 in PIP benefits, including 80% of reasonable medical expenses, when you receive initial care within 14 days of the crash. PIP applies without regard to who caused the wreck.
You should also check for uninsured motorist coverage. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.727, insurers that issue auto liability policies with bodily injury coverage generally must provide UM coverage unless it is rejected or changed as allowed by law. UM coverage can help pay damages when you are legally entitled to recover from an uninsured driver.
Florida Has Limited Required Liability Coverage
Florida’s insurance rules can be confusing. The law requires vehicle owners and operators to maintain financial responsibility for property damage. Under Fla. Stat. § 324.022, that requirement is $10,000 for damage to another person’s property in one crash. The statute allows several ways to meet that requirement, including qualifying insurance.
That does not mean every Florida driver carries bodily injury liability coverage. So, after a serious injury crash, the at-fault driver’s lack of insurance can leave you relying on your own coverage or pursuing the driver directly.
What Can Pay for Your Losses?
There may be more than one source of money after an uninsured driver causes a crash. It depends on what coverage you bought, what kind of damage you suffered, and how serious your injuries are.
Your PIP coverage: Florida generally requires PIP coverage, and Fla. Stat. § 627.736 provides benefits for covered medical expenses and lost income after a crash. PIP can apply even when the other driver caused the accident.
Uninsured motorist coverage: This is often the most important coverage to check after an uninsured-driver crash. Under Fla. Stat. § 627.727, UM coverage may help pay for bodily injury losses when the at-fault driver has no applicable liability insurance, subject to your policy and the law.
Collision coverage: If your car was damaged, collision coverage may help with repairs or replacement. You will usually have to pay your deductible.
The other driver’s own money or property: You may have the right to seek payment directly from the driver. The problem is practical: a judgment only helps if the person has assets or income you can actually collect from.
The easiest mistake to make is assuming that “no insurance” means “no claim.” It does not. Start with your own policy and find out exactly what protection you have.
What Should You Do Next?
Get the other driver’s information, report the crash, seek medical care promptly, and notify your insurer. Keep photos, medical records, repair estimates, wage-loss records, and other proof of your losses.
Do not assume the other driver’s lack of insurance ends your claim. Your own policy may provide more protection than you expect, and the exact coverage can depend on your policy language, selected limits, and the facts of the crash.
Key Takeaways
The other driver’s lack of insurance does not necessarily end your claim.
Your PIP coverage may help with medical bills and some lost income.
Uninsured motorist coverage may cover injury-related losses caused by an uninsured driver.
Florida requires financial responsibility for certain property damage, but that does not mean every driver carries bodily injury coverage.
Collision insurance may help pay for damage to your vehicle, minus your deductible.
You can sometimes pursue the uninsured driver personally, but collecting money may be difficult.
BRISTOL, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 18: Sheldon Creed, driver of the #00 Ollie's Chevrolet, lifts the Food City 300 trophy in victory lane after winning the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 18, 2026 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images).
Sheldon Creed made the inside lane and a late tire advantage work in his favor at the right time 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 after precipitation canceled 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 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 field, 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, including Jones, Retzlaff, Caruth, Sammy Smith, Day and Hill, were mired in eighth, 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 green-flag pit stop to address a flat right-front tire. 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, including 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. After 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 by 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 track.
Kvapil proceeded to fend off Allgaier, Love and the field for the next start on Lap 131. By Lap 140, Kvapil’s lead grew to eight-tenths of a second before his lead stood at 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 event’s second round of stage points while the remaining Chasers, including Jones, Sammy Smith, His and Caruth, were mired in 14th, 17th, 25th and 30th, respectively. In addition, 18 of 38 starters 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 Allgaier, 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 of his car, 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 to 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’s 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 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 through 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 in the 2026 season and in 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 exchanging 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 and is 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, Sheldon Creed leads the standings by 11 points over Justin Allgaier. 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 for October 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN Radio, and SiriusXM.
Kyle Larson was awarded the pole position for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 18.
The event’s starting lineup was initially going to be determined through an on-track qualifying session that consisted of a single-car, two-lap qualifying format. During the session, each of the 37 competitors vying for 37 starting spots would cycle around Bristol twice to post the fastest lap amongst one another. The competitor who posted the single fastest lap was awarded the pole position.
Friday’s qualifying session, however, was canceled due to inclement weather. As a result, the lineup was determined using a qualifying metric formula from the NASCAR rulebook. This resulted in Larson being awarded the first-place starting spot as he is coming off a victory in the series’ recent event at World Wide Technology Raceway on September 13 and is currently ranked in second place in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series’ Chase standings.
With the awarded pole, Larson, a two-time Bristol Night Race winner and the reigning two-time Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, will lead the field to the green flag in first place for a first time this season. With only a nine-point deficit behind points leader Denny Hamlin, Larson strives to return atop the points standings and maintain it for eight Chase events en route to defend his series’ title.
Larson will share the front row with Joey Logano, a 2026 Chase contender who finished in third place this past weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway and is currently tied for sixth place in the standings. Like Larson, Logano is a two-time Bristol Night Race winner (2014-15) as he attempts to become the eighth competitor to achieve at least three victories in the event.
Points leader Denny Hamlin along with William Byron and Carson Hocevar will start in the top five, respectively. Non-Chasers Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain occupy the sixth- and seventh-place starting spots, respectively, ahead of Chaser Austin Cindric, non-Chaser Austin Dillon and Chaser Bubba Wallace. The remaining Chase contenders that include Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece, Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney will start 12th, 13th, 16th, 20th, 23rd, 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th, respectively.
With 37 competitors vying for 37 starting spots, all made the main event.
Starting Lineup:
Kyle Larson
Joey Logano
Denny Hamlin
William Byron
Carson Hocevar
Alex Bowman
Ross Chastain
Austin Cindric
Austin Dillon
Bubba Wallace
Brad Keselowski
Christopher Bell
Ty Gibbs
Erik Jones
Connor Zilisch
Ryan Preece
Cole Custer
AJ Allmendinger
John Hunter Nemechek
Tyler Reddick
Michael McDowell
Shane van Gisbergen
Chris Buescher
Todd Gilliland
Austin Hill
Chase Briscoe
Chase Elliott
Daniel Suarez
Ryan Blaney
Cody Ware
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Josh Berry
Ty Dillon
Riley Herbst
Zane Smith
Noah Gragson
Josh Bilicki
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
The 2026 Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Saturday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
