Ross Chastain wins weather-shortened O’Reilly Series race at Charlotte
Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
CONCORD, N.C.—Ross Chastain drove through a succession of challenges — including a patch of oil and a brush with the outside wall — to win Saturday night’s rain-shortened Charbroil 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The victory was Chastain’s first in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series since 2019, his first at Charlotte and the third of his career. The race was stopped for rain for the second time after Chastain crossed the finish line to win the second stage on Lap 90.
With no hope of continuing, NASCAR called the race after Lap 91 and declared Chastain the winner.
“I did not think we would win one like this, driving into the fence in liquid,” said Chastain, who was driving the No. 9 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. “I have no idea what it was. I went into Turn 1 like normal, and there was something on the track.
“No matter how we win, I feel like we could have raced with them again at the end.”
Chastain’s thoughts quickly turned to the absence of champion driver Kyle Busch, who on Thursday lost his life to a sudden illness at age 41.
“This weekend, it’s just incredible trying to grasp losing Kyle,” Chastain said. “I don’t understand how he’s not here racing. I don’t grasp it mentally or spiritually.
“Obviously, racing is the best thing we can to celebrate what he did in the sport and in his life.”
Defending O’Reilly Series champion Jesse Love, who drives for Richard Childress Racing — as did Busch in the Cup Series — was second when the race was called.
“If this week taught us anything, it’s that all this doesn’t matter as much as we think it does,” Love said. “As much as I’m angry and confused and upset (about the way the race finished), I also realized there’s a lot of hurt people right now.”
A spate of cautions punctuated the second stage of the race after a rain delay of more than four hours, but the real damage came on Lap 73, when the drivers of eight cars — including Chastain — slid through fluid deposited by the No. 35 Chevrolet of Dawson Cram.
Chastain kept his car on the track with seemingly minimal damage. Other drivers weren’t as fortunate.
Victims of the oily track included series leader Justin Allgaier, Sheldon Creed, Taylor Gray and Jeremy Clements. Allgaier stayed on the lead lap after repeated trips to pit road for repairs but finished 29th as the final 18 laps of the race remained under caution, thanks to drizzling rain and mist that wet the track and obscured spotters’ views from the top of the grandstand.
Austin Hill, Love’s RCR teammate, finished third, followed by William Sawalich and Corey Day. Connor Zilisch, Ryan Sieg, Cole Custer, Carson Kvapil and Rajah Caruth completed the top 10, as JRM placed three drivers in the top 10.
Rain slowed the race twice in the first 33 laps, the first time for a drizzle under caution for Harrison Burton’s spin in Turn 4, the second time for a harder rain that fell after NASCAR called a competition caution on Lap 26.
The rain persisted while the cars circulated under the yellow flag for seven more laps, with Allgaier in the lead behind the pace car. Ultimately, NASCAR red-flagged the race after Lap 33, and the cars sat covered on pit road waiting for a resumption.
At 9:45 p.m. ET, NASCAR called the drivers back to their cars, and the race resumed with eight laps left in Stage 1 after a stoppage of four hours, 21 minutes, 58 seconds.
On Lap 42, Allgaier got loose over the bumps in Turn 3 and gave up the lead to Zilisch, who took the green-checkered flag as the stage winner three laps later.
Then came the decisive second stage, fraught with all its perils. And after it was over, Chastain took a bow, mimicking Busch’s signature move, before making his own familiar move — a watermelon smash — from the roof of his car.
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ next race is the Sports Illustrated Resorts 250, scheduled Saturday, May 30 at Nashville Superspeedway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Post-race technical inspection was completed in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage at Charlotte with no issues, confirming Chastain as the race winner. The No. 9 JRM Chevrolet of Chastain was found with two unsecured lug nuts, resulting in a $5,000 fine and a one-race suspension for crew member Michael Roberts.
NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Race Number 15
Race Results for the Charbroil 300 - Saturday, May 23, 2026
Charlotte Motor Speedway - Concord, NC - 1.5 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 91 Laps - 136.5 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 5/23/2026 @ 11:50 PM Eastern
Stage 1 Stage 2
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Pos Pos Status Tms Laps
1 14 9 Ross Chastain(i) Carolina Carports Chevrolet 91 3 1 0 Running 3 28
2 17 2 Jesse Love Whelen Chevrolet 91 6 2 49 Running 2 4
3 6 21 Austin Hill Global Industrial Chevrolet 91 3 42 Running 1 1
4 7 18 William Sawalich Starkey Toyota 91 4 40 Running
5 2 17 Corey Day HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 91 4 5 45 Running
6 5 1 Connor Zilisch(i) Registix Chevrolet 91 1 6 0 Running 2 7
7 9 39 Ryan Sieg SciAps Chevrolet 91 7 34 Running
8 29 0 Cole Custer(i) Sysco Chevrolet 91 8 0 Running
9 24 91 Carson Kvapil Clarience Technologies Chevrolet 91 9 30 Running
10 10 88 Rajah Caruth HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 91 8 10 31 Running
11 8 8 Sammy Smith Alpha Craft Chevrolet 91 26 Running
12 31 99 Parker Retzlaff Free Bird Southern Spring Water Chevrolet 91 25 Running
13 13 96 Anthony Alfredo Dogs By Andy K-9 Services Chevrolet 91 24 Running
14 21 26 Dean Thompson Thompson Pipe Group Toyota 91 23 Running
15 30 92 Leland Honeyman Jr(i) DPR Construction Chevrolet 91 0 Running
16 16 87 Austin Green Purple Hearts and Homes Chevrolet 91 21 Running
17 37 45 Lavar Scott # Urban Affairs Coalition Chevrolet 91 20 Running
18 23 48 Patrick Staropoli # Syfovre Chevrolet 91 19 Running
19 22 28 Kyle Sieg Mike Efaw's/Indpendent Metal Strap Chevrolet 91 18 Running
20 36 53 David Starr Bret Baier/Cell Phones For Soldiers Chevrolet 91 17 Running
21 27 02 Ryan Ellis Four Loko USA Chevrolet 91 16 Running
22 35 27 Jeb Burton Purina Dog Chow Chevrolet 91 15 Running
23 28 55 Joey Gase Good Dad Gang Chevrolet 91 14 Running
24 33 31 Blaine Perkins Werner Operation Freedom Chevrolet 91 13 Running 1 3
25 26 07 Josh Bilicki Mando Chevrolet 91 12 Running
26 32 42 Nathan Byrd 24 Hour Garage Door Service Chevrolet 91 11 Running
27 11 44 Brennan Poole Macc Door Systems Chevrolet 91 10 Running
28 20 32 Andrew Patterson Winsupply Chevrolet 91 9 Running
29 1 7 Justin Allgaier Liquid IV/Hellmann's/Commissary Chevrolet 91 2 17 Running 5 36
30 15 51 Jeremy Clements Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet Chevrolet 90 7 Running
31 25 54 Taylor Gray Operation 300 Toyota 73 6 Accident
32 12 00 Sheldon Creed Road Ranger Chevrolet 73 10 6 Accident
33 34 35 Dawson Cram Denver Dirt Chevrolet 72 4 Engine
34 38 38 JJ Yeley Carolina Land & Grading Solutions Ford 64 3 Fuel Pump
35 4 20 Brandon Jones Menards/Pennington Toyota 62 7 6 Running
36 3 41 Sam Mayer Charbroil Chevrolet 61 5 7 Accident 1 12
37 18 19 Brent Crews # YoungLife Toyota 51 9 3 Accident
38 19 24 Harrison Burton Dead On Tools Toyota 51 1 Accide
,
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 52 Mins, 52 Secs. Average Speed: 159.48 MPH Margin of Victory: Under Caution
Stage 1 Top 10: 1, 7, 9, 17, 41, 2, 20, 88, 19, 00
Stage 2 Top 10: 9, 2, 21, 18, 17, 1, 39, 0, 91, 88
Race Comments: Ross Chastain won the Charbroil 300, his third NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series victory. No cars dropped to the rear prior to the start of the race.
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 6 for 54 laps; Laps: 3-11 (#24 spin turn 4 [None]); 27-37 (Competition caution [Red Flag: Lap 34, 4:21:59] [None]); 47-51 (Stage 1 Completion [None]); 53-58 (#19, 20, 24 incident turn 2 [None]); 62-66 (#41 incident turn 2 [None]); 74-91 (Possible fluid on the track [None]).
Lead Changes: 14 among 7 drivers; J. Allgaier 1; S. Mayer 2-13; J. Allgaier 14-39; C. Zilisch(i) 40; J. Allgaier 41; C. Zilisch(i) 42-47; J. Allgaier 48; B. Perkins 49-51; J. Allgaier 52-58; A. Hill 59; R. Chastain(i) 60-66; J. Love 67-68; R. Chastain(i) 69; J. Love 70-71; R. Chastain(i) 72-91.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: May 30, 2026 - Nashville Superspeedway
NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875
CURRENT NASCAR O'REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES STANDINGS
UNOFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL
1. Justin Allgaier 7 15 0 696 0 0 3 5
2. Jesse Love 2 15 1 551 -145 145 0 2
3. Corey Day 17 15 1 529 -167 22 2 2
4. Sheldon Creed 00 15 -2 510 -186 19 1 0
5. Brandon Jones 20 15 0 480 -216 30 0 3
6. Austin Hill 21 15 1 466 -230 14 1 4
7. Sammy Smith 8 15 -1 453 -243 13 0 1
8. Carson Kvapil 91 15 0 450 -246 3 0 1
9. Parker Retzlaff 99 15 2 388 -308 62 0 0
10. William Sawalich 18 15 2 384 -312 4 1 0
11. Sam Mayer 41 15 -2 376 -320 8 0 1
12. Taylor Gray 54 15 -2 371 -325 5 1 0
13. Rajah Caruth 88 15 1 369 -327 2 0 1
14. Ryan Sieg 39 15 1 356 -340 13 0 0
15. Brent Crews # 19 11 -2 342 -354 14 0 1
16. Brennan Poole 44 15 0 293 -403 49 0 0
17. Anthony Alfredo 96 15 0 266 -430 27 0 0
18. Dean Thompson 26 15 0 259 -437 7 0 0
19. Jeremy Clements 51 15 0 241 -455 18 0 0
20. Jeb Burton 27 15 0 239 -457 2 0 0
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