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ACI Motorsports Clinches Second Porsche Carrera Cup Class Title of 2026

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Marco Cirone Sweeps Road Atlanta Rounds to Lock Down Carrera Cup Masters Class Championship with Two Races Remaining

BRASELTON, Georgia (October 4, 2026) – ACI Motorsports locked down its second IMSA Porsche Carrera Cup North America title of the 2026 season when Marco Cirone and the No. 88 Mark Motors Porsche 911 Cup swept the doubleheader Thursday and Friday during Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Cirone fought hard in hot and muggy twin races to capture a pair of pole positions, a pair of wins and the fastest race lap in Thursday’s sprint to extend his Masters class point lead. Cirone walks away from Road Atlanta with a 68-point lead in the championship with only 56 points available in the finale at Circuit of the Americas later in October.

It didn’t come easy. Cirone was fighting for grip at the end of the first 40-minute race, but still crossed the finish line ahead of his nearest championship rival, Scott Blind, by less than a second. Round two featured its own challenges, but Cirone won that race by 1.4 seconds to secure the title.

The victories were the 11th and 12th Porsche Carrera Cup class wins for Cirone. The champion-elect earns his first crown with one doubleheader round remaining in the season.

The title is already the second Porsche Carrera Cup title for ACI Motorsports. Pro-Am class driver Patrick Mulcahy clinched his championship one race weekend ago at Indianapolis. Mulcahy swept his class in the No. 54 Juice Head Porsche 911 Cup.

The Cirone and Mulcahy titles are the second and third for ACI Motorsports in the six-year history of Porsche Carrera Cup North America.

Janne Stiak and John Jodoin added top 10 finishes overall and in the Pro class at Road Atlanta.

Stiak started race one by sweeping around the outside to jump from fourth on the grid to second place. He kept his No. 40 Scooter’s Coffee Porsche 911 Cup in that position for 24 of 29 laps while defending hard. Two of his competitors slipped by to drop the 19-year-old to fourth, and an additional 10-second penalty for blocking post-race dropped him to seventh in the final standings. Stiak rebounded from that on Friday to earn a fourth-place finish.

John Jodoin finished 11th in his No. 39 Race Caddy Porsche 911 Cup on Thursday, then climbed forward one position to earn a top 10 in race two.

Richard Edge and Matt Smith earned identical finishing positions each race in the Masters class. Edge scored a pair of fourth-place class finishes at Road Atlanta, while Smith finished sixth on both occasions. Edge and his No. 18 ACI Motorsports Porsche 911 Cup car crossed the finish line in second, but an unfortunate penalty from race control deemed Edge to be blocking in the battle. The ensuing 10 second punishment relegated him to fourth.

Next up for ACI Motorsports in Carrera Cup is the season-ending and eighth doubleheader race weekend of the year at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), October 23 – 25.

Curt Swearingin, ACI Motorsports Team Principal: “Across the whole team, the effort has shown. The guys at the workshop, the guys at the track, the drivers, everyone, it’s a team effort. It’s been week to week to week, we have another race next week and then we come back and finish this off after that at COTA. It’s been a tough stretch, but everything has been awesome with the success we’ve had. Marco did a great job to wrap up this championship, we’re so proud and happy for him.”

Marco Cirone, Driver – No. 88 ACI Motorsports Porsche 911 Cup: “Nothing is over until it’s really over. My competitor is a fabulous driver and I know they won’t give up right until the end. We have one more weekend to go, if the team keeps giving me a fabulous car it will be a great year. The two wins were critical. The team has stepped it up and I want to thank all of my friends back home. Mark Motors especially, I couldn’t do it without them.”

Richard Edge, Driver – No. 18 ACI Motorsports Porsche 911 Cup: “It was a really intense battle. I did my best to defend against Scott Blind, but the tires were going away from me there at the end. I kept my eyes forward. He was beating me in certain sectors and I would pull away in certain turns. I kept getting closer to Marco, but we had Walker behind Blind. I am so tired.”

About ACI Motorsports: ACI Motorsports is a professional Porsche racing team and motorsports preparation shop headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with additional operations at Road Atlanta in Georgia. The team actively competes in several prestigious racing series, including Porsche Carrera Cup North America, SRO Pirelli GT4, GT America Powered by AWS and more. Additional information can be found at www.acimotorsports.com.

STEVE FAST ROLLS TO JBS EQUIPMENT NHRA PRO MOD SERIES WIN DURING RECORD-SETTING WEEKEND IN ST. LOUIS

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Official Release
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MADISON, Ill. (Oct. 4, 2026) – Two-time world champion Stevie “Fast” Jackson picked up his first win in the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Series presented by Elite Motorsports since the 2022 season on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway, defeating Stan Shelton in the final round as part of this weekend’s NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals.

It was the 10th of 11 races in the category and this weekend’s event was powered by M&M Transmission and Jerry Bickel Race Cars.

The race was also the fourth of five races in the Road to the Championship playoffs and featured some of the biggest performances in NHRA Pro Mod history.

The quickest run in series history happened over each of the final three qualifying sessions, capped off by a historic run from No. 1 qualifier Chip King, who became the first NHRA Pro Mod driver to reach the 5.50s with a titanic blast of 5.596-seconds at 257.24 during the final qualifying session on Saturday.

Sunday, though, belonged to the two-time champ, who got the win when Shelton went red in the final round. Jackson, who qualified fourth, would have been tough to beat with a reaction time of .019 and an impressive run of 5.634 at 255.48.

It handed Jackson his 14th career victory and first in four years, finishing off a day that also included round wins against Kevin Rivenbark, Mike Thielen and reigning world champion J.R. Gray.

“It’s really awesome when you go through adversity and get to come out the other side,” Jackson said. “This is a really hard place to win. Seeing these fans out in the grandstands, that’s what gets us fired up and it was awesome this weekend. We’ve had a really good car and have a good handle on it.”

Shelton reached the final round for the first time this season after taking down Billy Banaka, Justin Bond and Jason Collins.

The wild weekend also threw the points race into chaos, as Mike Stavrinos, who was the points leader heading into the weekend, fell in the first round. Bond is now the points leader with one race remaining, leading Stavrinos by 17 points (or less than one round). Derek Menholt is third at 54 points behind and Gray is 67 points back in fourth.

The JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Elite Motorsports closes out its 2026 season on Oct. 29-Nov. 1 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as part of the MOPAR NHRA Las Vegas Nationals powered by Dodge.

MADISON, Ill. — Final finish order (1-16) at the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway. The race is the tenth of 11 events in the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Elite Motorsports.

PRO MODIFIED:

  1. Steve Jackson; 2. Stan Shelton; 3. JR Gray; 4. Jason Collins; 5. Justin Bond; 6. Mike

Castellana; 7. Mike Thielen; 8. Chip King; 9. Billy Banaka; 10. Kevin Rivenbark; 11. Jimmy

Widener; 12. Shane Gray; 13. Lyle Barnett; 14. Derek Menholt; 15. Nick Januik; 16. Mike

Stavrinos.

MADISON, Ill. — Sunday’s final results from the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway. The race is the tenth of 11 events in the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Elite Motorsports.

Pro Modified — Steve Jackson, Chevy Camaro, 5.634, 255.48 def. Stan Shelton, Ford Mustang, Foul – Red Light.

MADISON, Ill. — Final round-by-round results from the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway, the tenth of 11 events in the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Elite Motorsports.

PRO MODIFIED:

ROUND ONE — Justin Bond, Chevy Camaro, 5.633, 255.43 def. Jimmy Widener, Chevy Corvette, 5.692, 251.86; JR Gray, Camaro, 5.610, 255.19 def. Lyle Barnett, Camaro, 5.715, 251.81; Mike Castellana, Camaro, 5.659, 252.57 def. Derek Menholt, Corvette, 5.927, 174.48; Steve Jackson, Camaro, 5.612, 255.92 def. Kevin Rivenbark, Ford Mustang, 5.682, 252.90; Jason Collins, Camaro, 5.632, 255.39 def. Mike Stavrinos, Camaro, 8.205, 112.21; Stan Shelton, Mustang, 5.639, 256.36 def. Billy Banaka,

Camaro, 5.678, 253.75; Mike Thielen, Mustang, 5.666, 249.81 def. Nick Januik, Camaro, 6.968, 119.34; Chip King, Dodge Charger, 5.618, 255.43 def. Shane Gray, Camaro, 5.694, 250.55;

QUARTERFINALS — J. Gray, 5.655, 253.66 def. King, 5.736, 245.76; Shelton, 5.670, 255.34 def. Bond, 5.638, 255.73; Jackson, 5.645, 254.86 def. Thielen, 5.699, 250.13; Collins, 5.678, 253.80 def. Castellana, 5.684, 247.75;

SEMIFINALS — Shelton, 5.671, 254.95 def. Collins, Broke; Jackson, 5.632, 256.02 def. J. Gray, 15.112, 54.16;

FINAL — Jackson, 5.634, 255.48 def. Shelton, Foul – Red Light.

MADISON, Ill. — Point standings (top 10) following the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway, the tenth of 11 events in the JBS Equipment NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by Elite Motorsports.

Pro Modified

  1. Justin Bond, 1,079; 2. Mike Stavrinos, 1,062; 3. Derek Menholt, 1,025; 4. JR Gray, 1,012; 5. Billy Banaka, 979; 6. Stan Shelton, 957; 7. Mike Thielen, 916; 8. Lyle Barnett, 890; 9. Kevin Rivenbark, 868; 10. Chip King, 847.

LANGDON, PROCK, A. STANFIELD AND HERRERA WIN NAPA AUTO PARTS NHRA MIDWEST NATIONALS

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Official Release
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  • Langdon gets fourth straight win of 2026
  • Prock gets past Vandergriff in FC duel
  • A. Stanfield defeats father in PS final
  • Herrera gets fourth straight St. Louis win

MADISON, Ill. (Oct. 4, 2026) – Top Fuel points leader Shawn Langdon won his fourth straight race of the season on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway, defeating first-time finalist Will Smith in the championship round at the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals.

Austin Prock (Funny Car), Aaron Stanfield (Pro Stock) and Gaige Herrera (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won the 17th of 20 races during the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season and the third of six races in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

Langdon, who qualified No. 1, went 3.732-seconds at 335.90 mph in his 12,000-horsepower Kalitta Air dragster to power past Smith, who suffered tire smoke early in the run. It handed Langdon his eighth win this year and kept him undefeated at the halfway point of the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

En route to his 30th career victory, Langdon knocked off Tony Schumacher, Leah Pruett and Justin Ashley to reach the final round, turning in a series of standout performances, including a track-record blast of 341.68 in the first round. After a memorable victory in Indy to close the regular season, Langdon and his team have rolled to three straight playoff wins, showcasing a plethora of dominant runs during this spectacular playoff stretch.

His points lead now stands at a whopping 116 points over teammate Doug Kalitta, who fell in the opening round, and a massive 225 points over third-place Tony Stewart.

“The results we’re showing now come from the hard work of the last couple years. I’ve had a lot of faith and confidence in this race team,” Langdon said. “I knew the capabilities this team had. It was just a matter of things coming together, and I really feel like this year a lot of things have come together.

“We’ve been good when we needed to be good, but we’ve been great when we needed to be great. Every time I hit the gas, I know I’m going to have a really dang good race car. Hopefully I don’t mess that up. With what we’ve done, we’re going to have a big target on our backs. People are going to be gunning for us. It’s up to us to rise to the occasion and do even better at the last three races.”

Smith reached his first career final round thanks to round wins against Maddi Gordon, Stewart and Shawn Reed.

In Funny Car, Austin Prock got the best of Jordan Vandergriff when it mattered on Sunday in St. Louis, delivering an impressive run of 3.909 at 332.84 in his 12,000-horsepower Motorcraft Ford Mustang in the final round to move to third in points.

It is Prock’s second victory this season and first in St. Louis, keeping the back-to-back world champion in the title conversation. He had performed well since May, but had only one win to show for it, coming up just short throughout the summer and early in the Countdown.

But that changed on Sunday in St. Louis, as he charged to the final round by taking down a loaded lineup of Ron Capps, J.R. Todd and No. 1 qualifier Jack Beckman, who were all ahead of him in points heading into eliminations. That’s not the case anymore, and Prock then delivered a strong .045 reaction time in the championship round, leading wire-to-wire against Vandergriff to get his 23rd career victory.

It pushed him up to third in points, as the Funny Car standout for Tasca Racing is now 106 points behind leader Matt Hagan with three races remaining.

“This was a big win. For the points, for our family, for our team — this is the time to get hot,” Prock said. “After everything we’ve been through this year, all the hours we haven’t slept and seven days a week working at this, it really pays off when you get a win. We’re hot right now, and we’ve been hot for the last 12 races. We just haven’t been able to finish the job.

“We had a really dominant Ford Mustang this weekend. We had to run through a lot of hitters today. Each round was like a final round. Everybody we beat was in front of us in the Countdown. It was an epic way to cap it off. You don’t have days like this very often. When you run through four hitters like that, that’s like winning two races in one.

“We’re just over 100 points out of the lead. We’re in striking distance now going into Dallas and I’m really excited for these next three races.”

Vandergriff advanced to his sixth final round of 2026 after defeating Cruz Pedregon, John Force Racing teammate Alexis DeJoria and Hagan. He stayed second in points and now trails Hagan by 72 points.

Aaron Stanfield got the best of his father, Greg, in the Pro Stock final round on Sunday, getting the holeshot victory over the points leader with a run of 6.556 at 209.20 in his Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage/Melling Performance/Janac Brothers Racing Pro Stock car for Elite Motorsports, which also stayed undefeated in the Countdown to the Championship.

Greg was 6-1 against his son previously and 1-0 in final rounds, but Aaron got the last laugh on Sunday thanks to a brilliant .018 reaction time. That was just enough to keep Greg’s 6.547 at 209.85 at bay at the finish line, earning his third victory of 2026.

It’s also Stanfield’s 17th career victory, as he knocked off Deric Kramer, Matt Hartford and Troy Coughlin Jr. to reach the final round.

He follows wins by Coughlin and his father to keep Elite Motorsports surging in the playoffs, as Stanfield also moved to seventh in points with the memorable victory.

“It’s hard to get to the final round alone, and to be able to share it with my dad is pretty special,” Stanfield said. “He’s taught me absolutely everything I know in a race car. I told him I was fixing to show him what he taught me. We’re going to race as hard as we can possibly race. A thousandth at the stripe — it doesn’t get any better than that.

“At the start of the day, I would definitely say my car kind of pulled me along. As the day went on, I started finding myself on the Tree, and it ended up with me in the final round with my dad. As a whole, the entire Elite team ran really well this weekend. We just need to keep that trajectory.”

Greg built on his points lead by advancing to the final round for the fourth time this year, defeating Mason McGaha, Jeg Coughlin Jr. and Dallas Glenn along the way. His lead is now 71 points over Glenn and 81 more than Hartford.

It was teammate versus teammate in the finals for the second straight race, but this time Pro Stock Motorcycle’s Gaige Herrera got the best of points leader Richard Gadson, going a strong 6.710 at 200.98 on his RevZilla/Motul/Vance & Hines Suzuki to defeat Gadson’s 6.763 at 200.08.

The victory handed Herrera his fourth straight win at World Wide Technology Raceway, a spectacular run at the key Countdown race. He was outstanding this weekend, too, breaking the track record en route to qualifying No. 1 with a 6.644, and then defeating Michael Phillips and Ryan Oehler to reach the final round.

He became the third different rider in as many races to win in the Countdown, closing in on Gadson’s points lead. Herrera now trails his teammate by just 32 points with three races remaining, which means a thrilling duel between the two teammates who have won the last three world titles could be coming.

“The Countdown, the last six races, is when it all matters,” Herrera said. “Getting this win here in St. Louis means a lot. St. Louis holds a special place for me. I don’t know what it is with this place, but it’s always been very good to me. I wish we had all the races here.

“Racing Richard in the final puts a lot of pressure on me. He’s the man on the tree. He’s very consistent, and it was awesome to race him in the final. I felt like I was trying to push myself too much the last couple races. This whole weekend, I just reminded myself: I’m living the dream, I’m having fun and that’s what it’s all about.

“This is a big deal for me. Points-wise, we gained a little bit on my teammate. He still has the points lead, but it’s going to be a dogfight.”

Gadson, who stayed in the points lead thanks to his seventh finals appearance of the season, defeated Chase Van Sant, Matt Smith and Martin winner John Hall on Sunday.

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series returns to action Oct. 14-18 with the Texas NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex in Dallas.

MADISON, Ill. — Final finish order (1-16) at the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway. The race is the 17th of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series.

TOP FUEL:

  1. Shawn Langdon; 2. Will Smith; 3. Justin Ashley; 4. Shawn Reed; 5. Tony Stewart; 6. Leah Pruett; 7. Antron Brown; 8. Jasmine Salinas; 9. Billy Torrence; 10. Kyle Wurtzel; 11. Tony Schumacher; 12. Clay Millican; 13. Doug Kalitta; 14. Maddi Gordon; 15. Spencer Massey; 16. Josh Hart.

FUNNY CAR:

  1. Austin Prock; 2. Jordan Vandergriff; 3. Jack Beckman; 4. Matt Hagan; 5. J.R. Todd; 6. Daniel Wilkerson; 7. Spencer Hyde; 8. Alexis DeJoria; 9. Ron Capps; 10. Dale Creasy Jr.; 11. Bobby Bode; 12. Dave Richards; 13. Terry Haddock; 14. Cruz Pedregon; 15. Chad Green; 16. Blake Alexander.

PRO STOCK:

  1. Aaron Stanfield; 2. Greg Stanfield; 3. Dallas Glenn; 4. Troy Coughlin Jr.; 5. Greg Anderson; 6. Matt Hartford; 7. Cody Anderson; 8. Jeg Coughlin; 9. Matt Latino; 10. Deric Kramer; 11. Eric Latino; 12. Chris Vang; 13. Stephen Bell; 14. Erica Enders; 15. Mason McGaha; 16. Kenny Delco.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE:

  1. Gaige Herrera; 2. Richard Gadson; 3. Ryan Oehler; 4. John Hall; 5. Joey Gladstone; 6. Marc Ingwersen; 7. Matt Smith; 8. Clayton Howey; 9. Kelly Clontz; 10. Chase Van Sant; 11. Geno Scali; 12. Steve Johnson; 13. Malcolm Phillips Jr.; 14. Angie Smith.

MADISON, Ill. — Sunday’s final results from the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway. The race is the 17th of 20 in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series:

Top Fuel — Shawn Langdon, 3.732 seconds, 335.90 mph def. Will Smith, 4.024 seconds, 269.03 mph.

Funny Car — Austin Prock, Ford Mustang, 3.909, 332.84 def. Jordan Vandergriff, Chevy Camaro, 3.926, 325.37.

Pro Stock — Aaron Stanfield, Chevy Camaro, 6.556, 209.20 def. Greg Stanfield, Camaro, 6.547, 209.85.

Pro Stock Motorcycle — Gaige Herrera, Suzuki, 6.710, 200.98 def. Richard Gadson, Suzuki, 6.763, 200.08.

Competition Eliminator — Christopher Dodd, Chevy Cobalt, 8.286, 133.33 def. Scott Linder, Pontiac Gran Am, 13.534, 76.06.

Super Stock — Jimmy Hidalgo Jr., Pontiac Firebird, 9.359, 127.78 def. Jacob Delaune, Dodge Challenger, 9.759, 133.84.

Stock Eliminator — Johnny Diekema, Chevy Corvette, 9.719, 137.44 def. Brett Saurbaugh, Corvette, 9.837, 133.08.

Super Comp — James Glenn, Dragster, 8.903, 173.38 def. Michael Holcombe, Dragster, 8.908, 179.14.

Super Gas — Kris Whitfield, Ford T, 9.905, 147.88 def. Todd Pullen, Chevy Corvette, 9.910, 171.16.

Top Dragster — Luke Bogacki, Dragster, 6.806, 190.19 def. Alaia Isenhower, Dragster, 6.922, 189.36.

Pro Modified — Steve Jackson, Chevy Camaro, 5.634, 255.48 def. Stan Shelton, Ford Mustang, Foul – Red Light.

Factory Stock Showdown — Jonathan Allegrucci, Ford Mustang, 7.640, 179.92 def. Scott Libersher, Chevy Camaro, 12.567, 86.19.

MADISON, Ill. — Final round-by-round results from the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway, the 17th of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL:

ROUND ONE — Tony Stewart, 5.322, 229.24 def. Josh Hart, 7.912, 93.86; Jasmine Salinas, 3.716, 337.92 def. Spencer Massey, 4.988, 143.03; Will Smith, 3.722, 333.00 def. Maddi Gordon, 4.847, 151.51; Antron Brown, 3.735, 336.15 def. Clay Millican, 4.529, 173.45; Shawn Langdon, 3.680, 341.68 def. Tony Schumacher, 3.749, 331.94; Justin Ashley, 3.766, 332.02 def. Billy Torrence, 3.708, 338.43; Shawn Reed, 3.706, 336.15 def. Doug Kalitta, 4.683, 157.76; Leah Pruett, 3.735, 328.30 def. Kyle Wurtzel, 3.733, 333.00;

QUARTERFINALS — Smith, 3.721, 331.69 def. Stewart, 3.762, 333.82; Reed, 3.758, 332.10 def. Brown, 7.850, 81.93; Langdon, 3.714, 337.83 def. Pruett, 3.770, 332.59; Ashley, 3.764, 332.75 def. Salinas, 9.618, 83.33;

SEMIFINALS — Smith, 3.994, 275.17 def. Reed, 4.164, 255.10; Langdon, 3.733, 336.65 def. Ashley, 3.810, 330.88;

FINAL — Langdon, 3.732, 335.90 def. Smith, 4.024, 269.03.

FUNNY CAR:

ROUND ONE — Spencer Hyde, Ford Mustang, 6.985, 159.64 def. Chad Green, Mustang, 7.353, 133.98; Austin Prock, Mustang, 3.872, 334.90 def. Ron Capps, Toyota GR Supra, 3.937, 322.11; Matt Hagan, Dodge Charger, 3.935, 331.12 def. Terry Haddock, Mustang, 6.341, 117.77; Jack Beckman, Chevy Camaro, 3.864, 332.84 def. Dale Creasy Jr., Charger, 4.221, 261.37; Alexis DeJoria, Camaro, 3.874, 329.91 def. Bobby Bode, Mustang, 4.667, 175.27; J.R. Todd, GR Supra, 4.345, 205.04 def. Blake Alexander,

Toyota Supra, 11.458, 80.33; Jordan Vandergriff, Camaro, 3.896, 324.51 def. Cruz Pedregon, Charger, 6.921, 96.42; Daniel Wilkerson, Mustang, 4.006, 315.93 def. Dave Richards, Mustang, 4.753, 168.75;

QUARTERFINALS — Hagan, 3.925, 331.28 def. Hyde, 11.170, 81.32; Prock, 3.872, 333.66 def. Todd, 10.691, 80.44; Beckman, 3.870, 331.28 def. Wilkerson, 10.720, 81.43; Vandergriff, 3.952, 327.59 def. DeJoria, Foul – Red Light;

SEMIFINALS — Vandergriff, 3.939, 327.82 def. Hagan, 6.158, 148.51; Prock, 3.906, 329.91 def. Beckman, 3.903, 329.42;

FINAL — Prock, 3.909, 332.84 def. Vandergriff, 3.926, 325.37.

PRO STOCK:

ROUND ONE — Cody Anderson, Chevy Camaro, 6.501, 209.75 def. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.534, 210.93; Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, 6.513, 210.57 def. Matt Latino, Camaro, Foul – Red Light; Dallas Glenn, Camaro, 6.485, 210.67 def. Eric Latino, Camaro, Foul – Red Light; Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.496, 210.93 def. Stephen Bell, Camaro, 6.532, 209.65; Aaron Stanfield, Camaro, 6.500, 210.57 def. Deric Kramer, Camaro, Foul – Red Light; Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.482, 209.88 def. Kenny Delco, Camaro, Foul – Red

Light; Troy Coughlin Jr., Camaro, 6.480, 211.36 def. Chris Vang, Camaro, 6.530, 209.56; Greg Stanfield, Camaro, 6.479, 211.30 def. Mason McGaha, Camaro, 6.539, 210.34;

QUARTERFINALS — A. Stanfield, 6.528, 209.65 def. Hartford, 6.521, 209.98; Glenn, 6.518, 209.65 def. G. Anderson, 6.518, 209.56; Coughlin Jr., 6.518, 209.92 def. C. Anderson, 6.529, 208.88; G. Stanfield, 6.508, 210.44 def. Coughlin, 6.540, 210.08;

SEMIFINALS — A. Stanfield, 7.037, 206.32 def. Coughlin Jr., 9.099, 113.64; G. Stanfield, 6.525, 209.23 def. Glenn, 6.576, 208.91;

FINAL — A. Stanfield, 6.556, 209.20 def. G. Stanfield, 6.547, 209.85.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE:

ROUND ONE — Richard Gadson, Suzuki, 6.755, 200.14 def. Chase Van Sant, Suzuki, 6.850, 196.93; Marc Ingwersen, 6.864, 195.00 def. Angie Smith, Buell, 17.375, 41.88; John Hall, Buell, 6.744, 200.62 def. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, Foul – Red Light; Joey Gladstone, Buell, 6.747, 199.94 def. Kelly Clontz, Suzuki, 6.833, 197.77; Ryan Oehler, 6.724, 198.70 def. Clayton Howey, Buell, 6.801, 195.68; Matt Smith, Buell, 6.693, 202.79 def. Geno Scali, Suzuki, 6.853, 197.05; Gaige Herrera, Suzuki, 6.693, 201.49 def. Malcolm Phillips Jr., Suzuki, 6.912, 193.38;

QUARTERFINALS — Hall, 6.818, 197.80 def. Gladstone, 6.823, 197.97; Oehler, 6.751, 198.52 def. Ingwersen, 6.922, 195.03; Herrera, 6.703, 201.01 was unopposed; Gadson, 6.760, 199.58 def. M. Smith, 6.930, 167.84;

SEMIFINALS — Gadson, 6.764, 199.94 def. Hall, 6.854, 194.46; Herrera, 6.710, 200.62 def. Oehler, 6.765, 198.41;

FINAL — Herrera, 6.710, 200.98 def. Gadson, 6.763, 200.08.

MADISON, Ill. — Point standings (top 10) following the 15th annual NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway, the 17th of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag

Racing Series –

Top Fuel

  1. Shawn Langdon, 2,459; 2. Doug Kalitta, 2,343; 3. Tony Stewart, 2,234; 4. Leah Pruett, 2,224; 5. Will Smith, 2,209; 6. Antron Brown, 2,207; 7. Billy Torrence, 2,166; 8. Maddi Gordon, 2,165; 9. Josh Hart, 2,164; 10. Justin Ashley, 2,154.

Funny Car

  1. Matt Hagan, 2,402; 2. Jordan Vandergriff, 2,330; 3. Austin Prock, 2,296; 4. Jack Beckman, 2,279; 5. J.R. Todd, 2,270; 6. Ron Capps, 2,240; 7. Alexis DeJoria, 2,215; 8. Daniel Wilkerson, 2,174; 9. Chad Green, 2,123; 10. Spencer Hyde, 2,117.

Pro Stock

  1. Greg Stanfield, 2,381; 2. Dallas Glenn, 2,310; 3. Matt Hartford, 2,300; 4. Greg Anderson, 2,272; 5. Troy Coughlin Jr., 2,257; 6. Cody Anderson, 2,218; 7. Aaron Stanfield, 2,210; 8. Jeg Coughlin, 2,195; 9. Matt Latino, 2,170; 10. Erica Enders, 2,153.

Pro Stock Motorcycle

  1. Richard Gadson, 2,380; 2. Gaige Herrera, 2,348; 3. John Hall, 2,275; 4. Matt Smith, 2,267; 5. Ryan Oehler, 2,261; 6. Angie Smith, 2,230; 7. Jianna Evaristo, 2,228; 8. Chase Van Sant, 2,188; 9. Clayton Howey, 2,126; 10. Steve Johnson, 2,099.

The Fastest Laps Ever Recorded in NASCAR History

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Photo by Tom Fisk on Pexels

Throughout NASCAR history, drivers have achieved and recorded unbelievable speeds. While modern stock cars have grown through aerodynamics and competition, they lack the raw power of NASCAR’s 1980s era. For any motorsport fan, including those curious about the racing markets offered by Irish bookmakers, these records offer insight into track history and just how fast a stock car can be.

An important distinction is needed when talking about NASCAR’s fastest laps: the difference between a fastest lap and a qualifying lap. A qualifying lap gives the driver the space to go all out on a single lap. These conditions won’t occur during a typical race because of other cars, fuel weight and management, tire wear, and overall strategy. Because of this, qualifying laps are the go-to for setting lap records.

  1. Bill Elliott High-speed Record at Talladega Superspeedway
  • Average Speed during Qualifying Lap – 212.809 mph
  • Time of Lap – 44.998 Seconds

Nearly forty years ago on April 30, 1987, Bill Elliott set an amazing record at Talladega inside his No. 9 Ford Thunderbird. This remains the all-time stock car speed record, and NASCAR recognizes it as the fastest qualifying speed in history.

While stock cars of the past lacked the efficiency and aerodynamics of today’s, Elliott benefited greatly from raw horsepower. During this period, restrictor plates hadn’t been introduced to the sport yet, allowing his machine to have considerably more power than today’s stock cars. Once NASCAR introduced these plates, speeds dropped as safety standards rose.

  1. The Record at the Notorious Daytona Speedway
  • Average Speed during Qualifying Lap – 210.364 mph
  • Time of Lap – 42.783 seconds

Elliott also set this record during the era of super-powered cars on February 9, 1987, shortly before his momentous record at Talladega Superspeedway. The speeds Elliott put on display for this record only set up his future record.

A fun fact about this record at Daytona is that Elliott also went on to win the Daytona 500. This showed clear dominance and speed among the other competitors in the field at the time.

While those two laps remain the fastest so far, here are other amazing records achieved; some of them occurred much more recently:

  • Michigan International Speedway – Jeff Gordon at 206.558 mph with a time of 34.857 seconds, 2014.
  • Texas Motor Speedway – Kurt Busch, 200.915 mph in 26.877 seconds, 2017.
  • Atlanta Motor Speedway – Geoff Bodine at 197.487 mph with a time of 28.074 seconds, 1997.
  1. Introduction of Restrictor Plates

The times set during the 1980s are special among NASCAR fans. NASCAR hadn’t yet implemented restrictions and allowed cars to utilize their full power potential. The season after Elliott’s’s records, NASCAR implemented restrictions that are now standard and, as they’ve noted, reduced overall qualifying times.

Ultimately, this decision standardized stock car racing, allowing drivers to focus more on the driving itself rather than simply building a stronger machine. It also improved safety, making the sport much safer for drivers and teams.

  1. Have Modernized Cars Caught Up?

Nowadays, modern NASCAR stock cars are incredibly advanced and sophisticated. A stock car’s overall strength is no longer measured by top speed or qualifying time. Regulations, aerodynamic benefits, engine tuning and specifications, track layout, and safety concerns all affect a modern car’s performance.

While modern cars achieve similar speed numbers, technically speaking, they operate under a completely different rulebook than the cars of the 1980s. For comparison, current NASCAR records have reached speeds slightly above 200mph recently, but it’s much harder for these cars to achieve record-breaking 212 mph+ speeds.

  1. Conclusion

We are nearly four decades after Elliott’s meteoric qualifying run. While his run remains the fastest qualifying lap in NASCAR’s history, it also reminds us of the rules of that era. With current regulations focused on the spirit of competition and safety, breaking Elliott’s record would require more than a faster car. For now, the future may surprise us, but the time set in 1987 will remain in motorsport history.

Race, Explore, Repeat at Charlotte Motor Speedway For Bank of America 400 NASCAR Weekend

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Official Release
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From driver autograph sessions and appearances in the Fan Zone to a Tyler Hubbard pre-race concert in the infield, there’s no shortage of fun for fans this weekend during the Bank of America 400 NASCAR Chase showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (CMS photo)
  • NASCAR’s top drivers share why Charlotte’s racing culture, nearby race shops, fan experiences and attractions make it a must-visit destination for race fans
  • Bank of America 400 NASCAR Chase Weekend tickets are available at www.charlottemotorspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-455-FANS (3267). Kids 12 and under can experience the action for just $10 on Sunday

CONCORD, N.C. (Oct. 4, 2026) – NASCAR fans know Charlotte Motor Speedway as the home of some of the sport’s biggest moments, but the excitement extends far beyond the track during this weekend’s Bank of America 400 NASCAR Chase showdown.

As NASCAR’s best return to America’s Home for Racing, fans can experience everything that makes the Charlotte region the heart of the sport — from unmatched access to drivers and interactive experiences at the speedway to legendary race shops, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, three days of adrenaline-fueled competition and a full weekend of entertainment.

NASCAR drivers know there is no place quite like Charlotte when it comes to celebrating the sport.

Denny Hamlin, No. 11, NASCAR Cup Series, Joe Gibbs Racing
“Charlotte’s such a great racing community anyway, so when the fans come into town for the Charlotte races, they’ve got opportunities to go to race team headquarters. The Charlotte area is really, really nice. It’s grown up a lot over the last few years, so there’s really a lot to do around the city, and really, that’s why a lot of families come out for the full weekend.”

Experience Unmatched Access in the Fan Zone

One of the things that makes NASCAR unlike any other sport is the access fans have to the stars, teams and experiences that bring the sport to life. Throughout Bank of America 400 weekend, fans can immerse themselves in the excitement throughout the Fan Zone with driver appearances, autograph opportunities, interactive displays, sponsor activations, merchandise, food and entertainment for all ages.
Click here for the latest schedule of driver appearances around the track.

From meeting their favorite drivers to discovering new experiences from NASCAR partners, fans can get closer to the sport than ever before while enjoying the energy and community that make a race weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway special.

Taylor Gray, No. 54, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Joe Gibbs Racing

“As a sport, that’s kind of our home base. You know you’re going to have a ton of people there. Everybody’s going to be there; probably nine times out of 10 you’re going to see your childhood hero, right? So I think for us it’s just a cool place to go as a race fan and to see everything and see everybody together.”

Explore NASCAR’s Backyard

Charlotte is home to the teams, legends and stories that have shaped NASCAR, making race weekend the perfect opportunity for fans to explore before heading to the track.

Race fans can visit some of NASCAR’s most iconic race shops throughout the region, experience behind-the-scenes looks at where teams prepare for competition and visit the NASCAR Hall of Fame to celebrate the sport’s greatest moments and legends.

With so much NASCAR history and culture located within minutes of the speedway, fans can turn race weekend into a full destination experience before they ever arrive at the track.

Carson Kvapil, No. 1, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, JR Motorsports

“I feel like Charlotte, you got to be there just because there are so many people that go to that one, and obviously there’s all the race shops that are open within an hour of Charlotte Motor Speedway. You definitely need to come a day early and go see Junior Motorsports and all the other race teams and all the other places. NASCAR Hall of Fame. There are countless things you can do on Charlotte weekend.”

Ryan Blaney, No. 12, NASCAR Cup Series, Team Penske

“Charlotte Motor Speedway has so many things around it to do, whether you want to go to the city of Charlotte, which is, you know, 15 miles down the road, or if you want to go visit the race shops in Mooresville, that’s 15 miles north. You can go do that and see where all the race teams operate out of. So, being kind of the hub for motorsports in NASCAR with all the teams being here, there are a lot of things for families to go do if you want to come for the whole week.”

Enjoy Three Days of NASCAR Racing Action

The centerpiece of the weekend remains three days of wheel-to-wheel racing as NASCAR’s top series take on Charlotte Motor Speedway’s historic 1.5-mile oval.

The weekend begins Friday, Oct. 9 with the EcoSave 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at 5 p.m., followed by the Blue Cross NC 300 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race Saturday, Oct. 10 at 4 p.m. The weekend culminates Sunday, Oct. 11 with the Bank of America 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at 3 p.m.

Across three days and more than 900 miles of racing action, fans will see NASCAR’s biggest stars battle for critical championship points and unforgettable moments on one of the sport’s most historic tracks.

Layne Riggs, No. 34, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, Front Row Motorsports

“Charlotte Motor Speedway always puts on some amazing racing. The stands are always packed because all the support is from that area and stems from Charlotte. All your family can come to the racetrack. The pits are always packed. It’s just an amazing weekend. I love racing at Charlotte. It’s everybody’s hometown race and we all want to prove who’s best in their hometown.”

Ty Majeski, No. 99, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, ThorSport Racing
“I think for a NASCAR fan, Charlotte is just the heart of racing in NASCAR, racing in America. The pit area before the races are just flooded with people. It’s all the friends and family of all the NASCAR team members and the drivers are there and it’s an electric setting and just the atmosphere is electric and always what I’m excited for.”

Make Race Day a Full Entertainment Experience

Sunday’s Bank of America 400 delivers more than just 400 miles of NASCAR competition, creating an unforgettable race-day experience from start to finish. Fans can enjoy a pre-race concert featuring country superstar Tyler Hubbard, driver introductions and exclusive Track Pass opportunities before NASCAR’s biggest stars take the green flag.

Fans can upgrade their race-day experience with a Track Pass, featuring stage-front access to the pre-race concert, a closer look at driver introductions and the opportunity to be part of the excitement before the green flag drops.

Taste, Celebrate and Take in the Full Speedway Experience

The excitement continues throughout Charlotte Motor Speedway with a full weekend atmosphere built around food, entertainment and unforgettable fan moments.

Fans can experience The Hangar, a new and improved destination featuring food and beverage options throughout the weekend and a great vantage point to take in the action! Check out The Hangar located inside Gate 6 on the 200 level!

Race weekend guests can also enjoy a variety of specialty concessions throughout the Speedway, including the Pimento Cheese Bacon Burger, Loaded Potato Tornado, Burnout Brisket Nachos and Tacos, along with merchandise, fan activities and plenty of opportunities to celebrate NASCAR with fellow fans.

TICKETS:
Bank of America 400 weekend tickets are available now at www.charlottemotorspeedway.com or by calling 1-800-455-FANS (3267). Kids 12 and under can experience all the action for just $10, and fans can elevate their race-day experience with a Track Pass upgrade featuring stage-front access, driver introductions and Sunday’s pre-race concert.

MORE INFO:
Fans can connect with Charlotte Motor Speedway and get the latest news by following X, Instagram and Facebook, or by downloading the Charlotte Motor Speedway mobile app.

TOYOTA RACING – NOAPS Las Vegas Post-Race Report – 10.03.26

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Official Release
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GRAY CONTINUES TO CLIMB STANDINGS, ADDS TO TOP-10 STREAK
Brent Crews leads three Joe Gibbs Racing Supras in the top-10

LAS VEGAS (October 3, 2026) – Taylor Gray finished fifth in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to extend his season-best top-10 streak to four straight races as he continues to climb the Chase standings. Gray moved up to a season-best seventh overall heading to Charlotte.

Gray was one of three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas to finish in the top-10, led by Brent Crews (fourth). William Sawalich, who celebrated his birthday today, drove from 36th to eighth at the finish after not participating in qualifying. Crews is on a similar top-10 streak as Gray as his fourth-place run was his fourth consecutive top-10 finish.

TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS)
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Race 28 of 33 – 301.5 miles, 201 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

1st, Corey Day*

2nd, Carson Kvapil*

3rd, Jesse Love*

4th, BRENT CREWS

5th, TAYLOR GRAY

8th, WILLIAM SAWALICH

14th, HARRISON BURTON

16th, DEAN THOMPSON

35th, BRANDON JONES

*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

BRENT CREWS, No. 19 Grand Canyon University Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

Are you disappointed in finishing fourth?

“Our Supra was really good all day today. This race track was really a lot of fun. It is my first time here. Got to watch (Chase) Briscoe here earlier in the year, and I’ve had a lot of help from Aric (Almirola), Trevor (Bayne, competition advisor, TRD) and Blake (Koch, competition advisor, TRD). We worked really hard at this one. I really felt like our long run speed was really good, just struggled on the short run – and on that last run kind of struggled on both. Super pumped up to have Grand Canyon University on the car this weekend. The purple and white Supra looked super cool out there. I was ripping the boards, ran the bottom pretty good. I felt like we did pretty much everything tonight. I had a ton of fun, just wanted to be a few spots better tonight.”

TAYLOR GRAY, No. 54 Home For Our Troops Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 5th

How would you sum up how successful tonight was for you?

“I’m really proud of everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing. Thankful for TOYOTA RACING, M-Experiment, Homes For Our Troops for being on board this weekend, as well as Operation 300. Good weekend for us. We worked on our car the first two stages to make it better. I felt like we lacked a little bit, when the sun went down it really woke our car up, but really great recovery from having to come back down pit road to finish fifth.”

BRANDON JONES, No. 20 Menards/NIBCO Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 35th

I know you had some concern that you had a loose wheel. Is that what happened out there?

“That is essentially what took us out. I’m beyond frustrated here. These first four races in the Chase – we have done nothing but execute very poorly. On our behalf, I can only do so much. I try to defend my guys the best I can, but we are just making too many mistakes right now. It is unfortunate. I really hate this for Menards and NIBCO and all of these great partners. They deserve a lot better than this. We are showing up with speed that is not getting depicted as well as it should because of all of these little mistakes that are adding up. I don’t know. I’m sure our chances of winning this thing are slowly dwindling away on us. All we can continue to do is try to get better from them and go on to next week. I didn’t get to see what happened or how the other cars got effected. I hate our mistake continued to take more cars out of the hunt as well. We were really fast all day long. We drove back up to fourth at the end of stage one and was having a really good race going.”

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.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

RFK Racing President Chip Bowers Press Conference Transcript

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Official Release
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Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
South Point 400 Qualifying — Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Saturday, October 3, 2026

Following NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Chip Bowers, president, RFK Racing, came to the infield media center and addressed the news that Brad Keselowski will not be returning to the team as a driver in 2027. He also answered questions from the media. Here is the full transcript of that session?

CHIP BOWERS, President, RFK Racing – “I want to start first and foremost by just saying how much I appreciate Brad Keselowski. He has been a tremendous partner to me personally, to our ownership group of Jack Roush and Roush Enterprises and Fenway Sports Group. He is not just the consummate professional and future Hall of Fame race car driver, but he’s also an incredible person. He’s been a great friend and someone who has really helped modernize our business on the track over the last five years. I think it’s fair to say he will be an important chapter in our organization’s history and he you will not find bigger fans in the garage or in life than the people associated with our organization, so I felt it was important to start by thanking him for all that he’s done for us and I’m excited to continue to root for him over the course of the next six weeks and the rest of his career.”

QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION

HOW IS RFK RACING A BETTER ORGANIZATION GOING FORWARD WITH BRAD KESELOWSKI NOT A PART OF IT? “I will tell you that, one, a lot of the reasons why we are competitive today are thankfully because of Brad. If you go back before Brad’s arrival, it’s fair to say that we weren’t as competitive as a racing team as we are today. That’s largely due to Brad’s vision for what we could become as an organization. I’ll tell you that there are 150 people in our competition room that are incredibly talented and very excited about their role with our organization, so we felt like we’ve built a really good foundation. Don’t get me wrong, Brad means a lot to us as a race car driver on the track. He’s had some success with us. He’s a tremendous teammate and he’s really helped us understand what we could become on the track. That said, we feel like we’ve gone to an area where we’ve become more competitive than we’ve been historically, now it’s time to take the next step. We have a great deal of belief that we have the right people to do that and look forward to adding additional talent to help us get there.”

WHAT WAS THE REASON FOR MAKING THIS DECISION? “Like any decision like this it’s hard. These decisions are not made likely. Myself and Brad’s team worked together over the course of a number of months to figure out what the next chapter of our careers looked like together, and I say our I mean our organization as a whole and Brad. One of the things that I heard very early in the process from Brad is that he really has an interest in being a race car driver for the foreseeable future. I think a five-year plus span is what he’s got his eyes on and I applaud that. We are excited about Brad considering all the things that he’s considering and things that he wants to achieve on the track. I think that’s tremendous. We’re gonna be rooting for him the entire way. I think for us as an organization as we looked at it and looked back as we started our journey together five years ago, we had an idea of Brad taking on a very ambitious role. He’s gonna be race car driver. He’s gonna be head of competition. He’s gonna be minority owner. He’s a businessman and has interest outside of our organization. He’s a father. That is an incredible amount of things to balance and we have a lot of empathy for just how hard all of that is to achieve and to achieve at a high level. So when we looked at it, we wanted to make sure organizationally that we not only set ourselves up for near-term success, but really long-term sustainable success, So when we started looking at what the next three years look like for us and beyond, it was clear that we wanted Brad to start focusing more on his role in competition. We felt like, as you all know, you look at a Chris Gabehart or a Chad Knaus and the list goes on and on and on, these are 24/7 jobs. I mean, you have to live, breathe it constantly and if we want to be in the same conversation as Hendrick Motorsports and Penske Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, it’s gonna take that level of commitment and that’s what we’re focused on as a company. That’s what we’re focused on across the entire organization, and so, for us, we wanted that to be a natural transition over the next two to three years for Brad. I think he wants to continue to drive much longer than that and that’s fine. We applaud that. Like I said, we want to give Brad, because we have such immense respect and appreciation for Brad, every opportunity to do all the things he wants to do in his career. But that’s what makes it so hard. This is a business and we just weren’t aligned with that and that happens sometimes. We just wanted to make the competition side more of a focus and he wanted to focus more on the driving side. We get that and that’s why it took us so long to get here is that we worked so hard and so diligently to find a solution and just couldn’t get there. That happens sometimes in business. That doesn’t mean that it was acrimonious because it wasn’t. You hear a lot of things that there were arguments between Brad and Fenway Sports Group. That could not be further from the truth. There is no adversarial relationship. We are all still friends. It’s hard. That’s difficult emotionally. It’s been a tough week from that standpoint because we never thought we’d find ourselves here, but I think everybody did what they felt was in their best interest and that’s okay. We understand.”

ARE YOU SURPRISED YOU COULDN’T GET TO A POINT WHERE HE COULD STILL DRIVE AND POTENTIALLY GIVE UP SOME OF THE COMPETITION STUFF AND FIND A HAPPY MEDIUM? “Yeah, I am. I know he feels the same way. I think we’re both surprised that we just couldn’t figure it out. The reality is that when you have a relationship that was as intertwined as Brad’s was with our organization – driver, head of competition, investor – a lot of that was wrapped into one agreement, so when you start looking about what his future might hold on the track as a driver and we’re trying to figure out how best to allocate his time, we could have gone and tried to find a new head of competition. That’s challenging as you might imagine for someone to still drive for us who helped build that piece of the business, who now is going to be focused on other things. We wanted to set the next person up for success and if he is to go drive for another organization that is not a Ford Racing team, you might imagine there are a lot of concerns around that. So, there is a concern about sharing intellectual property and all the things, you simply just can’t have that dynamic. One key decision, unfortunately, creates a domino effect for all the other ones and that’s what ultimately led us to where we are.”

HOW MUCH OF YOUR SPONSORSHIP, IF ANY, IS TIED TO BRAD AND YOU MIGHT HAVE TO REPLACE WITH HIS DEPARTURE? “Zero. All of our partners are actually associated with all three of our cars for the most part, so that was part of how we planned out our partnership initiative so all of our guys can make appearances on behalf of our brands. Our partners have been extremely supportive of us. I know there was some discussion around was Kroger concerned about the fact that we may run an open car and a third car, the answer is no. Not once did they ever tell us that they had to have a chartered car. It never came up. Obviously, everyone if you’re running an open car at Daytona for the 500, there’s a little concern that you might not qualify, so, yeah, we’ve got to figure that piece out, but as it relates to the rest of the schedule, that was never a concern. So, there was no smoking gun here. There’s no other outlying issue that people want to point to for why unfortunately we weren’t able to figure it out. It was simply those issues that I’ve addressed.”

YOUR STATEMENT SAID YOU ARE COMMITTED TO RUNNING A THIRD CAR. WHY IS THAT AN IMPORTANT ASPECT FOR THE TEAM TO PURSUE? “I touched on it a little bit earlier, and I want to keep reiterating this. I’ve said this a lot since I joined the organization about a year ago, the reason I joined this organization is that Roush Enterprises, Fenway Sports Group, Brad Keselowski, collectively, our organizational focus has been on being a tier 1A organization. We had tremendous success as Roush Racing. We went through a period there where we weren’t as successful. We want to get back to that. No one wants to be a middle of the pack franchise. Not one. And we can’t do that running two cars. We know that we need three cars to achieve that. We’ve worked extremely hard in large part thanks to Brad’s leadership to run three cars, to secure more partners, to make sure that we build the right infrastructure with the right engineering talent and the right talent in the pit crew. The list is endless and now that we’ve done a really good job of building that foundation, we would be doing ourselves and our fans an incredible disservice to take a step back and go back to a two-car team. So, one, we would love to have Brad still be part of that journey. Obviously, that’s not gonna happen, but this is just a different path to the same destination. This is not a bump in the road and not one person in our organization sees it that way. We will miss Brad, no question, but the reality is we have a lot of faith in each other. We’ve got tremendous talent in our organization. We’re all committed to rowing together to get to where we want to go and the fact that we’ve got the support that we have from Roush Enterprises and Fenway Sports Group, not one individual has said slow down. It’s actually been the exact opposite, hit the gas.”

WHAT DOES THAT NEXT STEP ENTAIL FOR YOU GUYS IN TERMS OF PERFORMANCE AND IMPROVING FROM WHERE YOU ARE NOW? “I think it’s competing every single Sunday. We want to have a chance to win every single race. Hard stop. When you do that and you’re performing at a high level, then you’ve got guys in the Chase and you’ve got a chance at a Cup championship. We’re really excited that Ryan won a couple of races this year, one being a points race a few weeks ago. That’s awesome. It’s great for our organization. It’s great for our partners, but it just wants us to have more. You get a taste for it and you want more, so that’s what we’re focused on as a company. As we think about who we bring in to replace Brad’s role as head of competition, we want to make sure that person is the right strategic fit, the right cultural fit, someone who has a really good understanding of what it’s gonna take to be great, and that’s gonna be where we are hyper focused. That will be the next step in our process. As I run a parallel path to think about who our third driver is gonna be, which is gonna take some time, we are already out in the market. We’ve hired a third party search firm and CAA Sports to assist us with that process and we’re excited about the number of people that we know are gonna be interested in this role.”

WITH HIS DEPARTURE HOW DO YOU NOT LET HIS DEPARTURE FRACTURE TEAM MORALE? “Brad has had a large part given his role in helping us build the culture that we have today, but, as you know, culture is not led by one person. It’s led by many and a lot of that credit goes to all the people in our organization who see the vision of what we’re trying to accomplish. It starts at the top. I’ve got a mentor in our business who always says the best recipe for success in professional sports is three ingredients – ownership, ownership and ownership. So when you’ve got great ownership at the top, who trickle down the communication of we want to be great and this is what greatness looks like in our eyes and we want you to be a part of that, it’s hard not to get fired up and enthusiastic. Brad was a key voice in that conversation, but so are so many other people. That’s why his voice will be missed, but we know there are gonna be a lot of other people to pick up the mic and make sure that our voices are heard.”

WITH BRAD MOVING ON, WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY ON HOW YOU CAN BECOME MORE OF A FOCUS ON THE FORD INFRASTRUCTURE? “Partnership is everything and with partnership comes a lot of listening. We need to have a better appreciation from Ford and the other teams in the Ford family of how we can be additive to their process. It’s gonna take everybody for Ford to continue to race at a high level and compete against Toyota and General Motors and we get that. I will tell you that one of the things that we’ve got to do, and we talk a lot about it is our voice gets louder when we win more, so winning is the key thing. So, yes, should we do a better job of communicating effectively across the Ford group? Of course. I think every single person would tell you that, but it starts with listening and that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ll be continuing our effort along those lines and committed to that process, but the best way for us to have a bigger platform with any relationship, our partners, internally, you name it, we’ve got to do a better job of making winning the main thing and that’s what we’re gonna focus on.”

YOU KNOW THE CLUBHOUSE ATTITUDE AND THAT WHOEVER MANAGES THE TEAM MEANS A LOT. WHERE DO YOU FIND SOMEBODY TO FILL THAT CULTURE ROLE AND HOW KEY IS HAVING OWNERSHIP THAT IS ACTIVE IN THE ORGANIZATION’S SUCCESS? “I think back to the culture piece, to answer the first question, I’m a firm believer, and I’ve seen it in a lot of successful organizations, you mentioned my time working in a clubhouse. I’ll tell you that when I was with the Golden State Warriors, a lot of the culture in that organization bubbled up. It wasn’t just a trickle down, and so a lot of the bubbling up with great organizations comes from the locker room. I’ve had conversations with Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece about the opportunity that’s in front of them now. These are two really smart guys, really good racers. We have a DNA in our organization of being a racing organization. We embrace that wholeheartedly. We want to make sure that moving forward we do a better job of having group think. I want them to use their voices. They’re on the track. They recognize talent. They understand what’s going on with the car. We need to do a better job, and this is not a knock on Brad or anybody, it’s just I think as you evolve as a company and you take the next step, it takes more people leaning in and using their voice to achieve what you want to achieve. So, we’re gonna be looking for that next person to help lead that. It will not be expected of them that they are the sole beginning and end of building our culture. They’re there to be a voice in the building of that culture, but they’re really there to help us build strategy and build fast race cars. Ultimately, how we get along, how we think about what we do as an organization and what we set out to achieve, that should be a collective conversation and that includes ownership. That includes Roush Enterprises and that includes Fenway Sports Group and we’ve had a lot of conversations about that. I think they have always, but just so this group knows, they’ve been extremely supportive every single day of every week of every month of every year. They just choose to afford to give the ability of the people who are on the ground, afford them the opportunity to lead. I think moving forward they will continue to be more present, not because they feel like they need to, but also because they want to make sure that the organization believes what they’re saying. I think that’s important for them to see it optically as much as hear it, and we’re gonna do a lot more of that moving forward.”

HOW AGGRESSIVELY ARE YOU SEARCHING FOR THAT THIRD CHARTER? “Extremely. I’ve said this a number of times in different forums, there’s not a day that goes by that we’re not thinking about it, planning on it. I don’t talk about it publicly because I don’t know that it helps our process very much. We’re trying to be very strategic around what an acquisition of a third charter means. Certainly, it would be just transactional, and I get that, but if there are strategic alliances that can be created, if there’s a way that we find better ways to work with people through the addition of a charter, that we should be thinking about that. Look, just a matter of days ago our group reiterated to me we will buy a charter and we will pay for it. We just have to have one for sale and we’ve got to find the right situation for us and that’s what we’re working through. But there are a lot of conversations that will continue to happen. Patience is a virtue. Sometimes you sit back and you let things play out a little bit and the path gets a little bit more clearer.”

GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF PROPRIETY INFORMATION BRAD WOULD HAVE DUE TO HIS ROLE. IS HE SUBJECT TO ANY KIND OF NON-COMPETE THAT WOULD PREVENT HIM FROM RACING FOR ANOTHER CUP ORGANIZATION NEXT SEASON? “No. We’re not gonna hold Brad captive. We want, like I said before, this is not acrimonious. If Brad would like to go race somewhere else. If Brad would like to be an owner somewhere else. If Brad would like to lead competition somewhere else, he’s more than happy to do so. There are some things, obviously, we have to work out that we’ll do privately as it relates to his equity and that may take a little bit of time for all the reasons I talked about – just so there are no conflicts with our OEM or anything like that – but, look, Brad is an above board pro and so we have no concerns that he’s gonna take information from us or anything like that. We want Brad to be highly successful, so whatever it is he wants to do, we want him to be able to pursue it. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t figure out a way to make it work here, but, again, it’s nobody’s fault. These things happen.”

IS THERE ANY PART OF YOU THAT IS NERVOUS ABOUT HOW THINGS COULD GO IF THERE WAS A POSSIBILITY OF NOT GETTING THAT THIRD CHARTER GOING INTO 2027? “No, and the reason being is that, one, we have the financial commitment of our ownership group to withstand any revenue loss by not having a third charter. I think a lot of times people are like, ‘Well, if you don’t have the third charter, you’re gonna make less money.’ That is correct, but back to my point about supportive ownership, they understand that sometimes things don’t happen as timely as we would like it. That doesn’t mean that our commitment to what we want to accomplish changes. It just means that we’ve got to be more patient. Our partners are tremendous. We sold out all of our sponsor deals this year. We’re growing our partnerships next year. We have a number of people coming back that are actually getting more races from us. There are a lot of great announcements that will be coming out in the coming weeks. We have wholeheartedly embraced as an organization the reality that we may have to run open next year, so with that sense of confidence that we can withstand an open year, we think we can do it for the foreseeable future if we have to. It’s not what we want to do, but we’re not gonna panic, and I think that’s the sign of real leadership as an organization when your ownership doesn’t panic and they stay the course because they believe so much in the people that work for them. That’s ultimately what we’re focused on right now, so we’re committed to our process. We’re not gonna veer off the path that we’re on and we’re excited about what our future holds.”

Chencharu Central Residences Follows Evia and Gamuda’s Gem Residences and Ola

By
SM
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Signature: TfaRIBTYnfYkXB/fsqgd4s4jzWlqMmCQGvdg6MWC1yFYYco5Ii8XUSQ9DKHkmo6vKBMKUkF7BO4+eqRHGKbsHSiNBtzgborbGioFtsrqFEw2dLMBfB/ktz8Ut4YkfZ5MxhqGGN4IoJFy26nUAYE2ef7aQA/GbNAhbRt/12aMcFI=

Chencharu Central Residences A Testament to Luxurious Continuity

Building upon the success stories of Gem Residences and Ola, Chencharu Central Residences emerges as a beacon of upscale living, strategically developed by the esteemed trio of Evia Real Estate, Gamuda Land, and Ho Lee Group. This new venture at Chencharu Close is not just another condominium; it’s a holistic environment designed to enrich the lifestyle of every resident.

Chencharu Central Residences encapsulates the essence of premium living, offering a serene escape from the urban rush while maintaining connectivity to Singapore’s vibrant city life. With its sophisticated design and attention to detail, the project continues the legacy of its predecessors by focusing on quality and sustainability.

Chencharu Central Residences: Crafting a Legacy of Exclusive Living

The design and development of Chencharu Central Residences draw heavily on the insights gained from Gem Residences and Ola. Both projects are known for their thoughtful layouts, high-end amenities, and strong community feel. Similarly, Chencharu Central Residences emphasizes spatial efficiency and aesthetic integrity, ensuring that each unit is a sanctuary of comfort and elegance.

Innovative Design Inspired by Luxury Predecessors

Like its successful predecessors, Chencharu Central Residences incorporates state-of-the-art design features that promote both style and functionality. The architectural finesse displayed across the property reflects a modern lifestyle aligned with luxurious standards. Residents can expect top-tier amenities that cater to both relaxation and active living, including landscaped gardens, a fully-equipped gym, and bespoke recreational areas.

Chencharu Central Residences: A Prime Location at the Heart of Connectivity

The strategic positioning of Chencharu Central Residences cannot be overstated. Located at Chencharu Close, this high-end residential development offers seamless access to major transportation hubs, esteemed educational institutions, and lush green parks. This perfect fusion of convenience and tranquility makes Chencharu Central Residences an attractive proposition for families and professionals alike.

Seamless Integration into a Thriving Community

Chencharu Central Residences is more than just a place to live; it’s a vibrant community designed to foster connections and enhance the social fabric. The integrated living approach ensures that residents enjoy a balanced lifestyle, benefiting from both private retreats and public social spaces. This community-centric design has been a hallmark of Evia Real Estate and Gamuda Land developments, resonating well with modern homebuyers seeking a connected and interactive living environment.

Chencharu Central Residences: Commitment to Sustainable Urban Living

In line with the sustainable ethos of its developers, Chencharu Central Residences adopts green building practices and technologies that minimize environmental impact while maximizing energy efficiency. The commitment to sustainability is evident in every aspect of the development, from the construction materials selected to the energy-saving features integrated throughout the property.

Enhancing Living Standards through Green Innovation

The focus on sustainability at Chencharu Central Residences extends beyond mere compliance with environmental standards. Innovative solutions such as rainwater harvesting, solar panels, and smart home technologies are implemented to enhance the living standards of residents while contributing to the global eco-friendly movement. This forward-thinking approach ensures that Chencharu Central Residences not only offers a luxurious living experience but also supports the well-being of the planet.

Chencharu Central Residences stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of its developers – Evia Real Estate, Gamuda Land, and Ho Lee Group. Through a blend of luxurious design, strategic location, and commitment to sustainability, this new development continues the lineage of estee

Justin Allgaier’s rocky Chase start extends with early accident at Las Vegas

By
Andrew Kim
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Photo by Brecken Stock for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Justin Allgaier’s rocky start to this year’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Chase continued following an early exit amid an on-track accident in the Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 3, that has placed his championship hopes on a cautionary watch.

The 2024 O’Reilly champion from Riverton, Illinois, qualified in seventh place for Saturday’s event at Sin City. He spent the entire first stage period racing within the bottom half of the top-10 mark on the track before he notched a single stage point by settling in 10th place at the first stage’s conclusion.

After restarting in eighth place to commence the second stage period on Lap 53, Allgaier tried to use the outside lane to gain strong launches and momentum from the turns to the straightaways, but he maintained eighth place on the track for the following lap.

Then on Lap 54, Allgaier’s event came to a crashing end when Brandon Jones, a Chase contender and former teammate of Allgaier, got loose through the first two turns while he was trying to maintain fourth place in front of a stacked field. Jones’ brief slide through the turns quickly followed suit with the latter veering to the right and colliding head-on into the outside wall and in front of Allgaier, who could not avoid Jones’ entry. 

The damage to both Allgaier’s No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro entry along with Jones’ No. 20 Menards Toyota Supra entry was enough to have the drivers’ entries towed behind the wall and both to make the mandatory trip to the infield care center while also eliminating their opportunities of contending for the victory.

For Allgaier, his early accident knocked him out of contention of what had appeared to be a competitive run towards the front for the Illinois veteran. It also added another sting to his up-and-down start to the Chase mired with a single top-five result through the first three Chase events.

“Obviously, we’ve had lots of speed everywhere we’ve gone all year,” Allgaier said after being released from the infield care center on the CW Network. “Just to start the Chase off like this has been pretty frustrating, but blessed to still come out here and do this. We’re gonna go next week and bring another great race car to the racetrack and go try and win another race. Disappointing end to a day that I thought we were making some headway. Pit crew was on it. All the things were coming together. Just nothing to show for it.”

Following an extensive repair period, Allgaier would return to the track with 85 laps remaining and cycle his entry for a single lap to overtake Jones for 34th place in the leaderboard before he retired from further competition as he was unable to meet the minimum speed following repairs under NASCAR’s Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP).

Prior to Las Vegas, Allgaier was ranked in the runner-up spot in the 2026 Chase standings and he trailed points leader Sheldon Creed by 11 points. After Las Vegas, Allgaier, who currently holds an average-finishing result of 17.5 through the first four Chase events, dropped two spots to fourth place and he trails Creed by 30 points.

With Las Vegas in the rearview mirror, Allgaier shifts his attention to the next Chase event at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, for the Blue Cross NC 250 to rally from his rocky Chase start and reel in from his points deficit to remain in championship contention. In 24 previous starts at Charlotte, Allgaier has achieved 13 top-10 results and a single victory, the latter of which occurred in May 2023, as he also strives to add a second victory in NASCAR’s backyard to his illustrious resume.  

The 2026 Blue Cross NC 250 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur next Saturday, October 10, at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM.

Corey Day outduels Carson Kvapil for thrilling O’Reilly victory at Las Vegas

By
Andrew Kim
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Photo by Brecken Stock for SpeedwayMedia.com

Corey Day rim-rode and scrubbed his way to a thrilling NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory over Carson Kvapil in the Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 3.

The 20-year-old Day from Clovis, California, led six times for a race-high 136 of 201 scheduled laps in an event where he qualified on pole position, barely led the first lap from Sheldon Creed and was outdueled by the latter over the next eight laps before Day reassumed the lead on the ninth lap. Day went on to win the first stage period before being shuffled back to fifth to start the second stage period. Despite not leading throughout the latter stage, he muscled his way to a runner-up result behind Sam Mayer.

Restarting in third place at the start of the final stage period with 103 laps remaining, it only took two laps for Day to return atop the leaderboard. Amid a late cycle of green-flag pit stops, where Day pitted with 57 laps remaining before he cycled back to the lead five laps later, he was then mired in lapped traffic as the laps dwindled. This allowed Carson Kvapil to reel in for a late challenge. 

Day then lost the lead to Kvapil with 11 laps remaining while mired in heavy lapped traffic, but regained it a lap later after a strong run from the outside lane and a crossover move through the backstretch. As Kvapil used the inside lane to mount side-by-side challenges in the closing laps, Day used the outside lane while nearly rim-riding towards the outside wall to maintain a slight advantage through the straightaways. Then on the final lap, Day brushed the outside wall twice (once through the first two turns and again through the final two turns), but used the outside lane to his advantage as he fended off Kvapil to notch a thrilling victory and maintain his championship hopes. 

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Corey Day secured his second O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career pole position with a pole-winning lap at 180.856 mph in 29.858 seconds. Sheldon Creed, winner of the recent O’Reilly event at Bristol Motor Speedway and current points leader, qualified in second place with a lap of 180.741 mph in 29.877 seconds.

Before the event, Garrett Smithley and William Sawalich dropped to the rear of the field after unapproved adjustments to their entries.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Corey Day and Sheldon Creed dueled for the lead in front of the field that had fanned and scattered out through the first two turns along with the backstretch. Amid his side-by-side duel with Creed, Day led the first lap by 0.035 seconds. Creed would then motor ahead of Day and lead the second lap while Rajah Caruth navigated his way into third place. Behind, a tight battle for fourth place between Brent Crews, Sam Mayer, Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, Jesse Love and Taylor Gray ensued, with Crews retaining the spot as both Mayer and Jones gave chase behind Crews’ rear bumper. With Jones slipping to seventh place, Creed led by three-tenths of a second over Day by the fifth lap.

On the ninth lap, Day battled and reassumed the lead from Creed. Day led by nearly four-tenths of a second over Creed for the following lap as Caruth, Mayer, Crews, Love, Jones, Gray, Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier pursued in the top-10 spots, respectively. Meanwhile, Austin Hill, Parker Retzlaff and Sammy Smith were the three lowest-running Chase contenders on the track in the early stages as they were mired in 12th, 16th and 19th, respectively, while Day proceeded to extend his lead to nine-tenths of a second over Creed at the Lap 15 mark.

By Lap 19, Caruth battled Creed for the runner-up spot after spending the previous handful of laps reeling in the latter. With a power move to the inside lane through Turns 3 and 4, Caruth was then able to slide in front of Creed and defend the latter’s charge through the frontstretch for the former to retain the runner-up spot. In the process, Mayer reeled in and overtook teammate Creed for third place before he pursued Caruth for the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Crews retained fifth place over Love, Jones, Gray, Allgaier and Ryan Sieg while Kvapil dropped to 11th place. As Mayer continued to pursue Caruth for the runner-up spot, both Crews and Love started to challenge Creed for fourth place while Day continued to lead by nearly two seconds.

Through the first 30 laps, Day was leading by more than two seconds over Caruth while Mayer, who also trailed Day by more than two seconds, trailed Caruth by half a second. Behind, Love was in fourth place ahead of Jones and Crews while Creed slipped to seventh place. Gray, Ryan Sieg and Allgaier occupied the remaining top-10 spots over Austin Hill, Kvapil, Harrison Burton, Jeremy Clements and William Sawalich while Retzlaff, Anthony Alfredo, Dean Thompson, Brennan Poole and Sammy Smith rounded out the top-20 spots, respectively.

Five laps later, Mayer executed a bold slide-job move in front of Caruth through Turns 3 and 4 and prior to the frontstretch to assume the runner-up spot despite having Caruth draft the latter through the frontstretch. With Mayer starting to slowly build a gap over Caruth, Day was leading by more than three seconds, and he stabilized the advantage at the Lap 40 mark while Mayer, Caruth, Love and Jones trailed in the top five, respectively. 

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Day cruised to his third O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Mayer, Caruth, Jones, Love, Crews, Ryan Sieg, Gray, Austin Hill and Allgaier completed the top-10 spots, respectively. By then, eight of 12 Chase contenders (Day, Mayer, Caruth, Love, Jones, Gray, Hill and Allgaier) notched the event’s first round of stage points, while the remaining Chasers, including Kvapil, Creed, Sammy Smith and Retzlaff, settled in 12th, 14th, 18th and 20th, respectively. In addition, 24 of 36 starters scored on the lead lap.

During the event’s first-stage break, the lead-lap field, led by Day, pitted for service. After the pit stops, Jones exited pit road first, followed by Caruth, Love, Mayer, Day, Crews, Sawalich, Allgaier, Gray and Ryan Sieg, respectively.

The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Jones and Caruth occupied the front row. At the start, Jones was quickly pinned in the middle of a three-wide move from Caruth and Mayer for the lead, with Mayer rocketing ahead with the lead. Caruth and Day would navigate their way into second and third on the track while Jones was trying to maintain fourth place in front of a stacked field for a full lap. Then during the next lap (Lap 54), Jones’ strong run at the front went south when he got loose in front of teammate Crews, veered sharply to the right, and collided with the outside wall along with Allgaier, thus leaving both O’Reilly Chase contenders with heavy damage to their respective entries and knocking both out of contention.

The event’s next restart on Lap 62 featured Mayer retaining the lead from the inside lane through the first two turns while Caruth and Day battled for the runner-up spot in front of Kvapil, Sawalich and the field. Amid Caruth’s crossover attempts entering the frontstretch, Mayer led the next lap and retained the lead over the latter while Day also maintained third place. With the top-three contenders separated by within four-tenths of a second by Lap 65, Kvapil, Gray, Sawalich, Creed and Crews trailed the lead by a second from positions fourth through eighth while Jeremy Clements and Austin Hill followed suit in the top 10 of Ryan Sieg, Love, Sammy Smith, Harrison Burton and Kyle Sieg, respectively.

At the Lap 70 mark, Mayer was leading by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Caruth while third-place Day trailed Mayer by six-tenths of a second and Caruth by four-tenths of a second. Behind, Kvapil and Gray occupied the remaining top-five spots over Sawalich, Creed, Clements, Crews and Love while Hill and Sammy Smith were in 12th and 14th, respectively. Meanwhile, Retzlaff, who made an unscheduled pit stop just past the Lap 60 mark to have a flat tire addressed, was mired just within the top-30 mark while a lap down as Mayer proceeded to extend his lead over Caruth up to nine-tenths of a second on Lap 75. With Day assuming the runner-up spot over Caruth shortly after, Mayer’s advantage grew by more than a second on Lap 80.

When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Mayer captured his second O’Reilly stage victory of the 2026 season. Day, Caruth, Kvapil and Clements settled in the top five while Sawalich, Crews, Love, Gray and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, six of 12 Chasers (Mayer, Day, Caruth, Kvapil, Love and Gray) notched the event’s second round of stage points while the remaining Chasers on the track, including Austin Hill, Sammy Smith, Creed and Retzlaff, were scored in 12th, 13th, 15th and 23rd, respectively.

During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Mayer returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Sawalich exited pit road first, and he was followed by Kvapil, Mayer, Love, Caruth, Day, Crews, Clements, Sammy Smith and Harrison Burton, respectively. During the pit stops, Mayer and Caruth were penalized and sent to the tail end of the field due to an uncontrolled tire violation.

With 103 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Sawalich and Kvapil occupied the front row. At the start, Sawalich motored ahead with the lead from the inside lane through the first two turns. He then managed to slide up the track entering the backstretch and stall Kvapil’s charge. This allowed Day to move into the runner-up spot over Kvapil as Sawalich led the next lap. Shortly after, Day side-drafted and overtook Sawalich for the lead for the next lap, with the former leading with 100 laps remaining.

Down to the final 90 laps, Day was leading by four-tenths of a second over Kvapil while third-place Sawalich trailed by more than a second. Behind, Clements retained fourth place over Love, Crews, Hill, Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg and Harrison Burton, while Mayer navigated his way up to 12th place behind Gray. Meanwhile, Caruth battled Creed for 14th place while Retzlaff was mired the first competitor a lap down in 24th place. 

Ten laps later, Day extended his advantage up to more than a second over Kvapil while Sawalich, Crews, Clements, Love, Hill, Sammy Smith, Gray and Ryan Sieg followed suit in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Mayer and Caruth trailed in 11th and 14th, respectively, and Creed trailed Caruth in 15th place. Retzlaff was scored the second competitor a lap down in 24th place, while Allgaier, who briefly returned on the track to overtake Jones (who had retired since Lap 54) for 34th place, officially retired for the event’s duration.

Another 15 laps later, Day stabilized his advantage by more than a second over Kvapil while Crews trailed in third place by four seconds. Meanwhile, Love, who trailed the lead by five seconds, occupied fourth place over Sawalich, Clements, Hill and Gray while Mayer was up into ninth place ahead of Ryan Sieg and Sammy Smith. With Caruth and Creed remaining in 14th and 15th, respectively, Day led by more than two seconds with 60 laps remaining.

Shortly after, a late cycle of green-flag pit stops slowly commenced as Gray pitted from the top-10 mark. Dean Thompson and Sammy Smith also pitted with Gray before Crews, Mayer, Harrison Burton and Caruth pitted during the following lap. Runner-up Kvapil, Love, Sawalich, and Ryan Sieg all pitted with 57 laps remaining before Day surrendered the lead to pit the next lap, along with Clements and Austin Hill. As the cycle of pit stops continued, Anthony Alfredo and Jeb Burton, both of whom had yet to pit, took brief turns leading, with Alfredo pitting with 55 laps remaining and Burton being overtaken by Day with three laps remaining. With the lead back in his possession, Day led by more than a second with 50 laps remaining.

Down to the final 40 laps, Day maintained a late advantage by more than a second over Kvapil while third-place Crews trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Love and Gray occupied the top-five spots while Mayer was up into sixth place. Meanwhile, Caruth moved into the top-10 in 10th place behind Clements, Sawalich and Ryan Sieg, while Hill, Creed, Sammy Smith and Retzlaff were scored in 12th, 14th, 15th and 22nd, respectively.

With 30 laps remaining, Day added another second to his advantage as he led by two seconds over Kvapil. Behind, third-place Crews trailed by nearly five seconds and fourth-place Love trailed by more than nine seconds. The rest of the lead lap field, starting with fifth-place Gray, trailed by double digits as only 15 of 36 starters scored on the lead lap. Over the next five laps, Hill overtook Caruth for 10th place while Day had his advantage slightly drop to just above a second over Kvapil. With both Hill and Caruth overtaking Ryan Sieg to move into top-10 spots, Kvapil reeled in on Day, the latter of whom was struggling to navigate through lapped traffic, including Sammy Smith, for the lead by four-tenths of a second with 20 laps remaining. 

As the event reached its final 15-lap mark, Day stabilized his advantage by four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Kvapil while third-place Crews trailed by five seconds. Then three laps later, Kvapil, who continued to reel in on Day as Day was mired in more heavy traffic, including Creed, got beneath Day through the frontstretch. Both Day and Kvapil dueled for the lead for a full circuit until Kvapil used the inside lane to motor his No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead through the frontstretch with 10 laps remaining. Day then used the outside lane to gain a strong, momentous launch through the first two turns before he did a crossover move beneath Kvapil and stormed the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry back ahead entering Turns 3 and 4 for the following lap.

As Kvapil continued to remain within striking distance behind Day’s rear bumper, Day led by two-tenths of a second with five laps remaining. Kvapil then used the inside lane to draw even with Day through the first two turns a lap later, but Day used the outside lane to mount ahead with the advantage through the straightaways. Both competitors used their respective lanes to mount side-by-side challenges as the laps dwindled.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Day and Kvapil were neck and neck for the lead as they even made contact through the front stretch. While side-drafting Day prior to entering the first two turns, Kvapil appeared to motor ahead from the inside lane, but Day used the outside lane to ignite his charge prior to the backstretch. Despite scrubbing the outside wall, Day maintained his momentum to remain dead even with Kvapil. Following a brief duel through the backstretch, Day used the outside lane and a final scrub exiting Turns 3 and 4 to motor ahead of Kvapil. This allowed Day to beat Kvapil by 0.287 seconds to cash in on a thrilling victory in Sin City.

With the victory, Day notched his third NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career win in his 39th start, his first victory since Dover Motor Speedway in mid-May, and he became the third competitor to achieve three-plus O’Reilly victories this season. He also recorded the 25th O’Reilly victory of this season for Chevrolet and the third of this season for Hendrick Motorsports. 

Before Las Vegas, Day was in sixth place in the 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Chase standings and trailed the points lead by 92 points. With his Las Vegas victory, the Californian jumped to fifth place, and he trails the lead by 41 points with five Chase events remaining this season.

No. 17 and No. 1
Photo by Brecken Stock for SpeedwayMedia.com.

“I just was so tight there to end,” Day said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “I was so scared I was gonna go down there and plow on the bottom and let [Kvapil] by me and then, just have no run. Man, just a great car. We struggled over the summer to tell you the truth. We won Talladega and Dover there pretty close. It just went dry, so it feels really good. A dominant day for us, for sure. That was badass. I knew we’d be able to be a title contender from the start of the year, but like I said, just had a dry summer there. We’re getting things rolling back in the right direction. My [No. 17] guys brought me a phenomenal race car. That’s a big part of it. We’ll just keep working.”

Meanwhile, Kvapil, who nearly achieved his third O’Reilly career victory, settled for a runner-up finish for a sixth time in his career and a second time this season. Despite being disappointed to fall short in his late duel with Day for the win, Kvapil, like Day, made a big gain in the Chase standings, jumping from third to second. He now trails points leader Sheldon Creed by 19 points.

“There at the end, I thought [Day] was pretty stout,” Kvapil said. “He seemed to be kind of matching us or just barely pulling us. Some of that lapped traffic held him up there. I was able to find some speed in the bottom of [Turns] 1 and 2. Just never really tried the fence right, so I knew once I got in front of him, the only thing I could do to be best for me was probably just run the bottom. He just did a really good job running the top and hit perfect corner. It hurts, but I feel like we were in position. Just didn’t get a good run off of Turn 4.”

The fourth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Chase event of the 2026 season featured 15 lead changes for nine different leaders, and three cautions for 21 laps. In addition, 13 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Jesse Love navigated to a third-place finish, while Brent Crews (highest-finishing non-Chaser) and Taylor Gray finished in the top five. Sam Mayer rallied to sixth place in the final running order, while Jeremy Clements, William Sawalich, Austin Hill and Anthony Alfredo completed the top 10, respectively.

With six of 12 Chase contenders (Day, Kvapil, Love, Gray, Mayer and Hill) finishing in the top 10 on the track, the remaining Chasers, including Rajah Caruth, Sheldon Creed, Sammy Smith, Parker Retzlaff, Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones, settled in 11th, 13th, 15th, 19th, 34th and 35th, respectively.

*During the post-race technical procedure, Brandon Jones was disqualified due to his No. 20 Menards/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra entry having four or more lug nuts not secured. As a result, he was demoted from 35th to 36th in the final running order.

Race Results:

  1. Corey Day, 136 laps led, Stage 1 winner
  2. Carson Kvapil, three laps led
  3. Jesse Love
  4. Brent Crews
  5. Taylor Gray
  6. Sam Mayer, 40 laps led, Stage 2 winner
  7. Jeremy Clements
  8. William Sawalich, five laps led
  9. Austin Hill
  10. Anthony Alfredo, two laps led
  11. Rajah Caruth, two laps led
  12. Ryan Sieg
  13. Sheldon Creed, seven laps led
  14. Harrison Burton, one lap down
  15. Sammy Smith, one lap down
  16. Dean Thompson, one lap down
  17. Brennan Poole, one lap down
  18. Lee Pulliam, two laps down
  19. Parker Retzlaff, two laps down
  20. Kyle Sieg, two laps down
  21. Jeb Burton, two laps down, two laps led
  22. Andrew Patterson, two laps down
  23. Matt DiBenedetto, two laps down
  24. Patrick Staropoli, three laps down
  25. Garrett Smithley, three laps down
  26. Lavar Scott, three laps down
  27. Joey Gase, three laps down
  28. Josh Williams, four laps down
  29. Ryan Ellis, four laps down
  30. Josh Bilicki, six laps down
  31. Blaine Perkins, eight laps down
  32. Blake Lothian, nine laps down
  33. Mason Maggio, 26 laps down
  34. Justin Allgaier – OUT, DVP
  35. Dawson Cram – OUT, Transmission
  36. Brandon Jones – Disqualified, Accident, four laps led

*Bold indicates Chase Drivers

Following the fourth Chase event of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, Sheldon Creed continues to lead the standings by 19 points over Carson Kvapil, 21 over Jesse Love, 30 over Justin Allgaier, and 41 over Corey Day. The rest of the 12-car Chase field is displayed below.

Chase Standings:

  1. Sheldon Creed
  2. Carson Kvapil -19
  3. Jesse Love -21
  4. Justin Allgaier -30
  5. Corey Day -41
  6. Sam Mayer -52
  7. Taylor Gray -90
  8. Sammy Smith -94
  9. Austin Hill -99
  10. Parker Retzlaff -117
  11. Brandon Jones -137
  12. Rajah Caruth -146

Next on the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule is the Blue Cross NC 250 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, October 10, and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM.

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