February 28, 2026 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Shane van Gisbergen charges to victory in NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts race at COTA

AUSTIN, Texas—With a bold, brilliant move moment after the final restart of Saturday’s Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas, Shane van Gisbergen once again exhibited his road course supremacy.

Taking the inside line into Turn 1 after the restart with five laps left, van Gisbergen made a four-wide pass for the lead from the sixth position and pulled away to win the fifth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts race of his career, this time by 0.780 seconds over runner-up Austin Hill.

In a rough-and-tumble event with more than its share of contact, van Gisbergen led five times for 31 laps, including the last five after the decisive move, as then-leader and Stage 2 winner Sam Mayer ran wide in the first corner, clearing the inside lane for the winning pass.

“I was a bit unsure there, starting sixth on the outside,” van Gisbergen said. “I kind of got to the inside, which was good, and nosed in on the 41 (Mayer), and he reacted. When he reacted, I thought no way he’s stopping that, and he kind of pushed everyone wide, which was awesome, and it worked out for us.”

The win was SVG’s first at COTA in his second O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at the track. He is winless in two NASCAR Cup Series starts at the Texas road course.

“I’ve always been fast here but never managed to win,” van Gisbergen said. “So I’m pretty stoked to finally get it done—pretty flawless day.”

van Gisbergen’s victory was the 10th straight on road courses for JR Motorsports and the 106th for the organization overall.

Austin Hill’s runner-up finish was his third in five starts at the 2.4-mile track.

“I made a lot of mistakes out there today, but that’s going to happen on these road courses,” said Hill, the series points leader through three races. “Stage 2, I was struggling a little bit, just trying to figure out what I needed to be better.

“That (last) restart, I did a really good job getting left. As soon as they went off into the corner, I knew that they were going to slide up, and I was able to file in there in second, and then I had to go to work on SVG.

“He’s just so good at the first three laps of a run. He can really get away. I was struggling a little bit with front turn for the first two or three laps, and he kind of got that gap and was able to manage from there. Hats off to those guys. A better guy beat us today.”

In a race billed as a matchup between van Gisbergen and pole winner Connor Zilisch, Sammy Smith finished third, followed by Jesse Love and Corey Day, as Zilisch suffered a litany of issues that dropped him to 21st at the end.

After Zilisch led 12 laps during the first stage, the left-rear brake rotor on his No. 1 Chevrolet sheared, and the 19-year-old prodigy quickly dropped through the field. After stopping for repairs to the rear brakes, Zilisch started the final stage in 29th but just as rapidly worked his way forward.

With fewer than three laps left, he had just cleared Day’s No. 17 Chevrolet for fourth, when contact from Day’s car sent Zilisch spinning and damaged his Camaro.

“He got right in front of me there, and as soon as did and he crossed over my nose, I lost a little bit of what I had left (of front turn),” Day said. “It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t want to wreck him.”

The accident ruined Zilisch’s impressive charge from the back of the field.

“Really unfortunate,” Zilisch said. “Hopefully, he can figure it out… All I want is an apology, but he just stands over there and stares at me and makes it worse. But he’ll figure it out.”

Seventeen-year-old Brent Crews finished sixth in his series debut after taking the lead on

the Stage 2 restart. Crews is the first driver under 18 to lead laps in the series since Casey Atwood accomplished the feat in 1998.

William Sawalich, Justin Allgaier, Ross Chastain and Brennan Poole completed the top 10.



NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Race Number 3
Race Results for the Focused Health 250 - Saturday, February 28, 2026
Circuit of The Americas - Austin, TX - 2.4 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 65 Laps - 156. Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 2/28/2026 @ 05:39 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Pos Status Tms Laps Pos
1 2 9 Shane Van Gisbergen(i) Safety Culture Chevrolet 65 10 5 0 Running 5 31
2 3 21 Austin Hill Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 65 1 6 50 Running 1 4
3 10 8 Sammy Smith Pilot Chevrolet 65 7 38 Running
4 11 2 Jesse Love Whelen Chevrolet 65 5 4 46 Running
5 12 17 Corey Day HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 65 7 36 Running
6 7 19 Brent Crews Young Life Toyota 65 31 Running 2 5
7 15 18 William Sawalich Soundgear Toyota 65 30 Running
8 5 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Chevrolet 65 3 2 46 Running 1 1
9 21 32 Ross Chastain(i) GLF Environmental Chevrolet 65 9 0 Running
10 26 44 Brennan Poole Frontline Fire Protection Chevrolet 65 27 Running
11 9 00 Sheldon Creed Road Ranger Chevrolet 65 26 Running
12 14 54 Taylor Gray Operation 300 Toyota 65 25 Running
13 28 0 Alex Labbe Trophy Tractor Chevrolet 65 24 Running
14 8 41 Sam Mayer Charbroil Chevrolet 65 2 1 42 Running 3 8
15 4 20 Brandon Jones Menards/Fisher Toyota 65 4 8 32 Running
16 18 39 Ryan Sieg SciAps/SIMS METAL Chevrolet 65 10 22 Running
17 24 31 Blaine Perkins WERNER Chevrolet 65 20 Running
18 34 27 Jeb Burton BG Products Chevrolet 65 19 Running
19 6 91 Carson Kvapil Clarience Technologies Chevrolet 65 6 3 31 Running 1 2
20 32 48 Patrick Staropoli Syfovre Chevrolet 65 17 Running
21 1 1 Connor Zilisch(i) Roto-Rooter Chevrolet 65 0 Running 2 13
22 31 45 Lavar Scott # Urban Affairs Coalition Chevrolet 65 15 Running
23 16 96 Anthony Alfredo Protein Rice Treats Chevrolet 65 14 Running
24 35 28 Kyle Sieg Austin HOSE Chevrolet 65 13 Running
25 20 25 Nick Sanchez Paynuity Ford 65 12 Running 1 1
26 27 26 Dean Thompson Thompson Pipe Group Toyota 65 11 Running
27 17 50 Preston Pardus Chincor Electric Inc. Chevrolet 65 10 Running
28 36 42 JJ Yeley DuraMAX Chevrolet 65 9 Running
29 23 24 Harrison Burton DEX/Sharp Toyota 65 8 Running
30 29 99 Parker Retzlaff Viking Motorsports Chevrolet 65 7 Running
31 19 88 Rajah Caruth HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 65 9 8 Running
32 30 51 Jeremy Clements Alliance Driveway Solutions Chevrolet 65 5 Running
33 13 87 Austin Green Peterson Racing Chevrolet 65 8 7 Running
34 33 02 Ryan Ellis Rosch Chevrolet 64 3 Running
35 22 55 Sage Karam Point Blank Tequila Toyota 53 2 Suspension
36 25 07 Josh Bilicki Circle B Diecast Chevrolet 35 1 Suspension
37 37 30 Baltazar Leguizamon RUS/Speed Energy Drink Chevrolet 33 1 Accident
38 38 35 Austin J Hill SRI Chevrolet 7 1 Suspensio

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 12 Mins, 56 Secs. Average Speed: 70.411 MPH Margin of Victory: .780 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 21, 41, 7, 20, 2, 91, 17, 87, 88, 9
Stage 2 Top 10: 41, 7, 91, 2, 9, 21, 8, 20, 32, 39

Race Comments: Shane van Gisbergen won the Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas, his fifth NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series victory. Prior to the green flag, the following cars dropped to the rear for the reason indicated: Nos. 35, 99 (engine change).

Failed to Qualify: (2) 92 Josh Williams, 5 Tyler Gonzalez.

Caution Flags: 4 for 12 laps; Laps: 22-24 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]); 36-38 (#30 incident turn 2 [None]); 42-44 (Stage 2 Conclusion [96]); 58-60 (#55 stalled on track [99]).

Lead Changes: 16 among 8 drivers; S. Gisbergen(i) 1-5; C. Zilisch(i) 6-17; A. Hill 18-21; S. Mayer 22; S. Gisbergen(i) 23; C. Zilisch(i) 24; B. Crews 25-28; S. Gisbergen(i) 29-35; S. Mayer 36; C. Kvapil 37-38; S. Mayer 39-44; S. Gisbergen(i) 45-57; B. Crews 58; N. Sanchez 59; J. Allgaier 60; S. Gisbergen(i) 61-65.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: March 7, 2026 - Phoenix Raceway

NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875


CURRENT NASCAR O'REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES STANDINGS

UNOFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL

1. Austin Hill 21 3 0 154 0 0 1 3
2. Jesse Love 2 3 2 126 -28 28 0 1
3. Justin Allgaier 7 3 3 115 -39 11 0 0
4. Sheldon Creed 00 3 -1 106 -48 9 1 0
5. Carson Kvapil 91 3 2 95 -59 11 0 0
6. Rajah Caruth 88 3 -4 90 -64 5 0 1
7. Sammy Smith 8 3 2 86 -68 4 0 0
8. Corey Day 17 3 0 86 -68 0 0 0
9. Parker Retzlaff 99 3 -4 81 -73 5 0 0
10. Sam Mayer 41 3 9 78 -76 3 0 1
11. Brandon Jones 20 3 5 73 -81 5 0 0
12. Brennan Poole 44 3 0 70 -84 3 0 0
13. Taylor Gray 54 3 -2 69 -85 1 0 0
14. William Sawalich 18 3 7 66 -88 3 0 0
15. Patrick Staropoli 48 3 -2 60 -94 6 0 0
16. Blaine Perkins 31 3 2 57 -97 3 0 0
17. Ryan Sieg 39 3 5 57 -97 0 0 0
18. Jeb Burton 27 3 2 55 -99 2 0 0
19. Nick Sanchez 25 3 -4 53 -101 2 0 0
20. Anthony Alfredo 96 3 -3 52 -102 1 0 0