Justin Allgaier earns NASCAR O'Reilly win at Pocono over Brent Crews

Justin Allgaier claimed his fifth victory of the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season at Pocono Raceway, further cementing himself atop the championship standings as the two drivers closest to him crashed on the opening lap.

This is the 33rd win of Allgaier's career, and he now has a massive 250-point lead in the championship.

"First of all, huge thank you to William Byron," said Allgaier after climbing from the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. "Without his shove at the end of the race, it was probably game over ... just so proud of this race team."

Brent Crews finished second, William Byron third, Sam Mayer fourth, and Sheldon Creed fifth.

Anthony Alfredo, Rajah Caruth, Brandon Jones, Connor Zilisch, and Carson Kvapil filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Stage 1

The race was messy from the start, with Corey Day spinning at the exit of Turn 1 on the opening lap. As he spun down the track, he collected Jesse Love, ending both of their days.

Soon after, Ryan Sieg got turned into the frontstretch wall after a stackup, and Nathan Byrd crashed simultaneously in a separate incident. Both drivers were lifting after pushing high and got hit from behind. Sieg had entered this race just outside the Chase field, with the crash sending him further down the championship order.

The next caution was for Natalie Decker, who suffered a mechanical failure. That set-up a mad dash to the end of Stage 1, with Gray passing Mayer just as the stage-ending caution flew for an incident involving Connor Zilisch and William Sawalich.

Gray won Stage 1 over Mayer, Byron, Allgaier, B. Jones, Creed, S. Smith, Crews, Kvapil, A. Hill.

Stage 2

Leland Honeyman, No. 92 DGM Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

The flurry of yellows continued into Stage 2, including an incident where both Leland Honeyman and Patrick Staropoli spun into the wall after contact from Brennan Poole.

Patrick Emerling then went for a spin, and there were several different strategies unfolding because of this. Small groups of cars were pitting under each yellow, but this yellow compelled Allgaier to pit from the lead, and most of the field came with him.

Crews and Retzlaff now controlled the race, with Crews eventually clearing Retzlaff in a five-lap run to the end of Stage 2.

Kyle Sieg went for a spin in the back and Nick Sanchez cut a tire, but NASCAR kept the race green. 

Crews went on to win Stage 2 over Allgaier, Retzlaff, Caruth, Byron, Zilisch, Mayer, Clements, Alfredo, Kvapil.

Stage 3

Allgaier led the first part of the final stage, with varying fuel loads throughout the field. After a spirited battle with Mayer, the two drivers pitted under green with around 30 laps to go.

Several cars were running long, and with 18 laps to go, the caution flew again as Emerling spun off the nose of Crews, slamming the inside wall.

H. Burton was leading the race, but Mayer was the leader among those who had pitted under green.

Allgaier got ahead on the restart, but Mayer fought back through Turn 1 and cleared him for the top spot...only for another wreck to break out mid-pack.

Both Gray and Smith spun in separate incidents in the same corner. Byron slid up into Gray, while Smith got loose while under another car.

The race went back green with eight laps to go. This time, Mayer had the better start, but Allgaier surged ahead from the outside and cleared him.

Another crash followed soon after, with Lavar Scott, Dexter Bean, and Jeb Burton all wrecking at the exit of Turn 4. Burton spun sideways and took out the other two cars as his No. 27 slid back down the track.

That was the tenth caution of the race, and resulted in a red flag with five laps to go. The raced turned into a two-lap shootout for the win.

Creed went three-wide for the lead and both Haas cars lost out as he slid up in Turn 1. It was looking good for Allgaier, who had little pressure as he claimed victory. Crews nosed ahead of Byron for second-place, right at the checkered flag.

RACE

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	J. Allgaier JR Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	100	2:31'27.794		5	72
2	B. Crews Joe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	100	+0.607 2:31'28.401	0.607	6	48
3	W. Byron JR Motorsports	88		Chevrolet	100	+0.647 2:31'28.441	0.040	6
4	S. Mayer Haas Factory Team	41		Chevrolet	100	+1.809 2:31'29.603	1.162	6	46
5	S. Creed Haas Factory Team	00		Chevrolet	100	+2.738 2:31'30.532	0.929	6	37
6	A. Alfredo Viking Motorsports	96		Chevrolet	100	+2.908 2:31'30.702	0.170	6	33
7	R. Caruth Jordan Anderson Racing	32		Chevrolet	100	+3.123 2:31'30.917	0.215	6	37
8	B. Jones Joe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	100	+3.315 2:31'31.109	0.192	6	35
9	C. Zilisch JR Motorsports	1		Chevrolet	100	+3.566 2:31'31.360	0.251	7
10	C. Kvapil JR Motorsports	9		Chevrolet	100	+4.556 2:31'32.350	0.990	6	30
11	H. Burton Sam Hunt Racing	24		Toyota	100	+4.715 2:31'32.509	0.159	6	26
12	C. Custer SS-Green Light Racing	0		Chevrolet	100	+4.789 2:31'32.583	0.074	10
13	D. Thompson Sam Hunt Racing	26		Toyota	100	+4.861 2:31'32.655	0.072	6	24
14	A. Hill Richard Childress Racing	21		Chevrolet	100	+4.974 2:31'32.768	0.113	6	24
15	P. Retzlaff Viking Motorsports	99		Chevrolet	100	+5.069 2:31'32.863	0.095	7	30
16	J. Clements Jeremy Clements Racing	51		Chevrolet	100	+5.147 2:31'32.941	0.078	7	24
17	T. Gray Joe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	100	+5.177 2:31'32.971	0.030	8	30
18	B. Poole Alpha Prime Racing	44		Chevrolet	100	+5.196 2:31'32.990	0.019	8	19
19	S. Smith JR Motorsports	8		Chevrolet	100	+5.317 2:31'33.111	0.121	7	22
20	B. Perkins Jordan Anderson Racing	31		Chevrolet	100	+6.014 2:31'33.808	0.697	7	17
21	W. Sawalich Joe Gibbs Racing	18		Toyota	100	+6.215 2:31'34.009	0.201	11	16
22	J. Bilicki SS-Green Light Racing	07		Chevrolet	100	+6.242 2:31'34.036	0.027	8	15
23	N. Sanchez Peterson Racing Group	87		Chevrolet	100	+6.374 2:31'34.168	0.132	11	14
24	R. Ellis Young's Motorsports	02		Chevrolet	100	+6.566 2:31'34.360	0.192	8	13
25	P. Staropoli Big Machine Racing Team	48		Chevrolet	100	+6.732 2:31'34.526	0.166	10	12
26	R. Sieg RSS Racing	39		Chevrolet	100	+6.850 2:31'34.644	0.118	14	11
27	C. Ware Joey Gase Motorsports	35		Chevrolet	100	+13.366 2:31'41.160	6.516	9	10
28	J. Burton Jordan Anderson Racing	27		Chevrolet	93	+7 Laps 2:19'27.076	7 Laps	8	9	Accident
29	L. Scott Alpha Prime Racing	45		Chevrolet	93	+7 Laps 2:19'28.643	1.567	9	8	Accident
30	D. Bean DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	91		Chevrolet	93	+7 Laps 2:19'29.159	0.516	10	7	Accident
31	E. Patrick RSS Racing	38		Chevrolet	81	+19 Laps 1:59'45.204	12 Laps	7		Accident
32	K. Sieg RSS Racing	28		Chevrolet	50	+50 Laps 1:22'08.140	31 Laps	5	5	DVP
33	L. Honeyman Jr. DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	92		Chevrolet	36	+64 Laps 59'24.188	14 Laps	3		Accident
34	N. Decker Joey Gase Motorsports	53		Toyota	17	+83 Laps 28'31.359	19 Laps	2		Engine
35	N. Byrd Young's Motorsports	42		Chevrolet	7	+93 Laps 15'25.363	10 Laps	2	2	Accident
36	J. Gase Joey Gase Motorsports	55		Ford	3	+97 Laps 6'30.728	4 Laps	8	1	Engine
37	J. Love Richard Childress Racing	2		Chevrolet	1	+99 Laps 1'31.783	2 Laps	5	1	Accident
38	C. Day Hendrick Motorsports	17		Chevrolet	0	+100 Laps 0.859	1 Lap	2	1	Accident
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