Justin Allgaier wins chaotic Atlanta NASCAR O'Reilly race

Justin Allgaier now has six wins in the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts season, but the most recent victory came in a wildly unpredictable way. Restarting fifth in double overtime, he survived the chaos to claim his 34th career win.

It was a JR Motorsports 1-2, with Carson Kvapil narrowly snagging second right at the finish line. Parker Retzlaff was third, William Sawalich fourth, and Anthony Alfredo fifth.

Garrett Smithley, Brandon Jones, Kyle Sieg, Rajah Caruth, and Jeremy Clements filled out the remainder of the top ten.

At the white flag, Brennan Poole was in the lead with Nick Sanchez challenging, but they ended up crashing after contact from Kvapil in the battle for the win. A devastated Poole finished 17th, and Sanchez was 19th.

The race featured a record 13 cautions and four red flags, lasting well over three hours.

Stages 1 and 2

There was a clutch issue for Jeb Burton before the race even began, and he fell out of the event without even taking the green flag.

Just after the start, there was another mechanical issue, with Joey Gase leaking fluid all over the track. A lengthy cleanup followed, and the race did not resume for over ten laps after that.

There was also some drama for the pre-race favorite, as Hill came down pit road to address a sticking throttle, which the RCR team appeared to rectify.

Things quickly strung out with some single-file running at the front in the next run, with Leland Honeyman ending the green-flag stint with a spin at the exit of Turn 4.

Later, pole-sitter Mayer lost the lead and immediately struggled in traffic, sliding up into the wall and suffering a flat tire. The race stayed green as he limped his Haas Chevy back to the pits.

Kvapil went on to win Stage 1 as Jones spun in the midfield, collecting Hill and giving the No. 21 slight nose damage.

Crews was now in control after staying out during the stage break, but there was a lot of shuffling in the restart that followed. Crews, H. Burton, S. Smith, and Caruth all took the lead at some point before Smith prevailed.

Staropoli then went for a spin on the apron, but the race remained green as the field quickly spread out. JRM was fully in control, and gapped the field. At the end of the stage, Smith and Allgaier were all alone, with Allgaier passing him for the Stage 2 in a photo finish. 

Stage 3

Austin Hill crashes with others, No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

The final stage got underway with 65 laps left in the race. There was a caution soon after as H. Burton lost an engine, resulting in another lengthy cleanup.

Creed was in control of the race as the green flag finally waved again. He stayed in control as drivers made big moves to try and cut through the field, including Hill, who kept taking other drivers three-wide.

Corey Day and Taylor Gray triggered the sixth caution of the race when they crashed at the exit of Turn 4. This led to a red flag and another lengthy cleanup. Unfortunately, the next run didn't last very long either, as a restart stackup left Mayer with heavy nose damage. As he limped around the track, Clements went spinning in a separate incident.

This led to yet another red flag with 40 laps to go. Smith made a bold three-wide move for the lead, which dragged back Creed and helped Caruth to clear both for the lead.

Unfortunately, it was another short run as Glen Reen spun at the back of the pack. The carnage continued as Jake Finch lost control and slammed the wall, causing the next caution. He was running just outside the top five at the time. He also caused the caution after that, struggling with the damaged car.

At the time of caution, Hill was now leading the race. But JRM worked together on the following restart to push him back, putting Allgaier in control. Moments later, the third red flag of the race was set to fly as Jordan Anderson attempted to go four-wide at the backend of the top ten.

They ran out of room, sending several cars crashing into the wall. Anderson, Love, Creed, and Crews were all destroyed. The wreck also collected several others, including Honeyman, Retzlaff, Sawalich, Jones, Leitz, and Thompson.

During each of these red flag stoppages, JRM team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. was constantly on the radio, coaching his drivers on how to best control the race. His drivers were running 1-2-3-4 for a restart with just seven laps to go.

It was pure insanity at the front of the field, as Hill cut a path to the front. He got squeezed into the wall by Allgaier, and then moved Allgiaer out of the way in the next corner.

As Smith and Kvapil battled side-by-side for the lead, Hill threw it to the inside in a daring three-wide move for the lead. But in the next corner, he got loose after a mid-corner bump from Sanchez. Hill spun and several cars crashed. Along with Hill, three JRM cars -- Smith, Caruth, and Allgaier -- were involved. Ryan Ellis also crashed heavily, slamming into Hill's spinning car. K. Sieg and Staropoli also got a piece of it.

This led to an exceptional fourth red flag of the race, and pushed the race into overtime. That would quickly become double overtime as Clements struggled to get rolling, and got turned into the outside wall on the restart. Clements also collided with Lavar Scott while spinning, severely damaging both cars.

On the restart, Sieg ran out of fuel, and Sanchez took the lead. Poole then charged ahead, searching for his first 'official' NASCAR O'Reilly win, and was leading at the white flag. Sadly, seconds later, he was crashing into the outside wall with Sanchez.

Dragging something and throwing sparks, Allgaier was now in control, and while Retzlaff was right behind him, he had no help. Allgaier claimed the checkered flag, with Kvapil actually passing Retzlaff right at the finish line to make it a JRM 1-2.

RACE

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	J. Allgaier JR Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	172	2:58'28.075		4
2	C. Kvapil JR Motorsports	1		Chevrolet	172	+0.139 2:58'28.214	0.139	5
3	P. Retzlaff Viking Motorsports	99		Chevrolet	172	+0.150 2:58'28.225	0.011	6
4	W. Sawalich Joe Gibbs Racing	18		Toyota	172	+0.704 2:58'28.779	0.554	6
5	A. Alfredo Viking Motorsports	96		Chevrolet	172	+0.716 2:58'28.791	0.012	5
6	G. Smithley SS-Green Light Racing	0		Chevrolet	172	+0.886 2:58'28.961	0.170	6
7	B. Jones Joe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	172	+1.315 2:58'29.390	0.429	9
8	K. Sieg RSS Racing	28		Chevrolet	172	+1.327 2:58'29.402	0.012	9
9	R. Caruth JR Motorsports	88		Chevrolet	172	+1.490 2:58'29.565	0.163	6
10	J. Clements Jeremy Clements Racing	51		Chevrolet	172	+1.609 2:58'29.684	0.119	7
11	M. Maggio DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	91		Chevrolet	172	+2.672 2:58'30.747	1.063	6
12	J. Bilicki SS-Green Light Racing	07		Chevrolet	172	+2.844 2:58'30.919	0.172	9
13	P. Staropoli Big Machine Racing Team	48		Chevrolet	172	+3.074 2:58'31.149	0.230	8
14	D. Thompson Sam Hunt Racing	26		Toyota	172	+4.504 2:58'32.579	1.430	8
15	G. Reen Joey Gase Motorsports	53		Chevrolet	172	+5.237 2:58'33.312	0.733	10
16	R. Sieg RSS Racing	39		Chevrolet	172	+5.456 2:58'33.531	0.219	6
17	B. Poole Alpha Prime Racing	44		Chevrolet	172	+5.677 2:58'33.752	0.221	5
18	S. Smith JR Motorsports	8		Chevrolet	172	+17.793 2:58'45.868	12.116	12
19	N. Sanchez Peterson Racing Group	87		Chevrolet	171	+1 Lap 2:57'56.397	1 Lap	5
20	B. Perkins Jordan Anderson Racing	31		Chevrolet	171	+1 Lap 2:58'37.706	41.309	9
21	L. Scott Alpha Prime Racing	45		Chevrolet	169	+3 Laps 2:59'08.651	2 Laps	10
22	A. Hill Richard Childress Racing	21		Chevrolet	159	+13 Laps 2:41'18.866	10 Laps	7
23	R. Ellis Young's Motorsports	02		Chevrolet	159	+13 Laps 2:41'19.748	0.882	6
24	B. Crews Joe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	153	+19 Laps 2:40'14.796	6 Laps	6
25	S. Creed Haas Factory Team	00		Chevrolet	152	+20 Laps 2:33'11.755	1 Lap	6
26	J. Love Richard Childress Racing	2		Chevrolet	151	+21 Laps 2:30'54.046	1 Lap	5
27	J. Anderson Jordan Anderson Racing	32		Chevrolet	151	+21 Laps 2:30'54.141	0.095	8
28	L. Honeyman Jr. DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	92		Chevrolet	151	+21 Laps 2:30'54.396	0.255	7
29	N. Leitz Young's Motorsports	42		Chevrolet	151	+21 Laps 2:30'54.752	0.356	6
30	J. Finch JR Motorsports	9		Chevrolet	143	+29 Laps 2:22'58.068	8 Laps	7
31	S. Mayer Haas Factory Team	41		Chevrolet	119	+53 Laps 1:51'01.555	24 Laps	7
32	C. Day Hendrick Motorsports	17		Chevrolet	112	+60 Laps 1:40'16.122	7 Laps	5
33	T. Gray Joe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	112	+60 Laps 1:40'21.502	5.380	4
34	H. Burton Sam Hunt Racing	24		Toyota	101	+71 Laps 1:26'01.808	11 Laps	4
35	L. Bearden RSS Racing	38		Ford	69	+103 Laps 1:01'13.912	32 Laps	4
36	C. Ware Mike Harmon Racing	47		Chevrolet	63	+109 Laps 58'06.380	6 Laps	6
37	J. Gase Joey Gase Motorsports	55		Ford	2	+170 Laps 1'12.907	61 Laps	4
38	J. Burton Jordan Anderson Racing	27		Chevrolet	0	+172 Laps 1'43.856	2 Laps	2
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