Justin Allgaier triumphs in NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series at Nashville
Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
LEBANON, Tenn.—After a multiple brilliant and exhilarating door-to-door battles – veteran against rookie – in the closing portion of the race, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier prevailed to hoist his series best fourth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race trophy of the season.
The 2024 series champion had to hold off talented 18-year-old rookie Brent Crews, who called the close-quarter racing in Saturday night’s Sports Illustrated Resorts 250 at Nashville Superspeedway, “the most fun I’ve had without winning.’’
Allgaier’s win in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – ultimately by 1.4-second over Crews – was his third at the 1.33-mile Nashville concrete oval and the 32nd overall win of his championship career. And it took hard, clean side-by-side racing lap-after-lap for Allgaier to eventually get by Crews’ No. 19 Joe Gibbs Motorsports Toyota for good with 20 laps remaining and hold on to victory.
The veteran Allgaier celebrated by climbing out of his Chevy’s roof hatch then bowing to the Nashville crowd – an ode to the trademark winning celebration of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, who passed away last Thursday after being ill with pneumonia and sepsis.
“First of all, it’s been a rough couple of weeks, and lots of prayers to [Busch’s wife] Samantha and Kyle and [their children] Brexton and Lennix – it’s been an emotional couple weeks,’’ said Allgaier.
“This team, right here, they are incredible. To win in Nashville, you fans. .. this place is electric. I love coming to Nashville.
“I told them before the race, that we were going to go to victory lane,’’ said a grinning Allgaier, who turns 40 years old next week and is capping his winning race weekend by running a triathlon in downtown Nashville Sunday.
“What a race,’’ he added with a grin.
The near-miss marks the North Carolinian Crews’ second runner-up this season. He led the race twice for a total of 45 laps – the most he’s ever led in a single race.
“Man, the positive was, I thought we were going to win that race,’’ Crews’ said when asked about the takeaway from the race. “I’m happy for our guys.
“Had to start 33rd and worked our way up to the lead and led a lot of laps and got to race one of the best guys in our series of all-time for the win in the last few laps,’’ he said. “Couldn’t ask for much more, other than to beat him.’’
Crews’ teammate William Sawalich finished third to claim his third-consecutive top five. Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer finished fourth – his fifth straight top 10 at Nashville with another JGR driver, Brandon Jones rounding out the top five.
Corey Day, Carson Kvapil, reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, Taylor Gray and Sammy Smith rounded out the top 10. Smith, of note, is competing in the Nashville triathlon with his JR Motorsports teammate Allgaier.
Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love finished 16th after leading the most laps (87) – a later race pit stop miscue putting the reigning series champion a lap down at one point, before he rallied back. He lost some ground in the title run and now sits 179 points behind the 2024 series champion Allgaier in the championship.
“Definitely really frustrating,’’ a disappointed Love said after the race. “Our Camaro was really fast and I know we had a misstep on pit road but we’ve got the best pit crew in the garage right now, it’s not even close.
“The only thing I can control is the way I prepare and keep showing up even when it hurts and I know right now, my path isn’t necessarily coming with a lot of wins and that can be frustrating but it’s the past now, so all I can do is keep showing up and preparing. It’s going to turn around. It has to. There’s no other possible way it’s not going to and having faith in that will get me through all this.’’
YouTube personality Cleetus McFarland finished 36th in his second NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start – rallying from a series of late race pit stop miscues and penalties to take the checkered flag in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
After a streak of 16 consecutive races, the series has its first off-week next weekend before returning to competition June 13 in the Miller Tech Battery 250 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (4 p.m., The CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Connor Zilisch is the defending race winner.
NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Race Number 16
Race Results for the Sports Illustrated Resorts 250 - Saturday, May 30, 2026
Nashville Superspeedway - Nashville, TN - 1.33 - Mile Concrete
Total Race Length - 188 Laps - 250.04 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 5/30/2026 @ 09:58 PM Eastern
Stage 1 Stage 2
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Pos Pos Status Tms Laps
1 17 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT/Precision Build/Trademark Chevrolet 188 3 1 74 Running 3 50
2 33 19 Brent Crews # YoungLife Toyota 188 10 5 42 Running 2 45
3 5 18 William Sawalich Starkey Toyota 188 7 4 45 Running
4 34 41 Sam Mayer Audibel Chevrolet 188 7 37 Running
5 29 20 Brandon Jones Menards/Atlas Toyota 188 32 Running 1 1
6 3 17 Corey Day HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 188 2 6 45 Running
7 4 1 Carson Kvapil Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet 188 6 3 43 Running
8 6 88 Kyle Larson(i) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 188 5 9 0 Running
9 27 54 Taylor Gray Operation 300 Toyota 188 28 Running
10 8 8 Sammy Smith Pilot Chevrolet 188 9 29 Running
11 2 21 Austin Hill 1-800-PACK-RAT Chevrolet 188 4 33 Running 1 2
12 9 99 Parker Retzlaff FUNKAWAY Chevrolet 188 8 28 Running
13 7 39 Ryan Sieg SciAps Chevrolet 188 8 10 28 Running 1 2
14 13 26 Dean Thompson MCM Transportation Toyota 188 23 Running
15 24 00 Sheldon Creed Ollie's Chevrolet 188 22 Running
16 1 2 Jesse Love 40 Whelen/Whelen Aerospace Technologies 188 1 2 Running 4 87
17 12 96 Anthony Alfredo VaVia Chevrolet 188 20 Running
18 31 51 Jeremy Clements 19 All South Electric/Alliance Driveway Solutions 187 Running
19 25 32 Rajah Caruth HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 187 18 Running
20 21 31 Blaine Perkins WERNER Chevrolet 187 17 Running
21 23 44 Brennan Poole Macc Door Systems Chevrolet 187 16 Running
22 15 92 Leland Honeyman Jr(i) DPR Construction Chevrolet 187 0 Running
23 19 27 Jeb Burton Beretta/PH Outdoors Chevrolet 187 14 Running
24 20 28 Kyle Sieg Sustainachem Chevrolet 187 13 Running
25 16 48 Patrick Staropoli # Syfovre Chevrolet 187 12 Running
26 32 42 Logan Bearden T3 Vodka Chevrolet 186 11 Running
27 35 24 Harrison Burton Jesse Gerhard Memorial Fdn/Bulovas Toyota 186 10 Running
28 11 91 Mason Maggio ControlAltProtect Chevrolet 186 9 Running
29 26 02 Ryan Ellis Tablo TV Chevrolet 185 8 Running
30 14 87 Austin Green 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet 185 7 Running
31 18 45 Lavar Scott # Urban Affairs Coalition Chevrolet 184 6 Running
32 28 07 Josh Bilicki Graphics 615 Chevrolet 184 5 Running
33 10 0 Garrett Smithley Knight Fire Chevrolet 184 4 Running
34 36 35 Dawson Cram Denver Dirt Chevrolet 183 3 Running
35 38 33 Cleetus McFarland Tommy's Express Car Wash Chevrolet 182 2 Running
36 30 55 Joey Gase Bcarestoration.com Chevrolet 179 1 Running
37 22 53 David Starr Alarm Tech Chevrolet 151 1 Suspension
38 37 38 JJ Yeley Carolina Land & Grading/Mike Efaw's Ford 59 1 Rear End 1 1
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 53 Mins, 16 Secs. Average Speed: 132.452 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.403 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 2, 17, 7, 21, 88, 1, 18, 39, 8, 19
Stage 2 Top 10: 7, 2, 1, 18, 19, 17, 41, 99, 88, 39
Race Comments: Justin Allgaier has won the Sports Illustrated Resorts 250 at Nashville Superspeedway, his 32nd career victory in the NASCAR O?Reilly Auto Parts Series. Prior to the start of the race, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: Nos. 0, 00, 20, 99 (unapproved adjustments), No. 99 (engine).
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 2 for 15 laps; Laps: 47-53 (No. 33 Spin Turn 4 / Stage 1 Conclusion [42]); 92-99 (Stage 2 Conclusion [91]).
Lead Changes: 12 among 7 drivers; J. Love 1-49; J. Yeley 50; J. Love 51-54; J. Allgaier 55-75; J. Love 76-85; J. Allgaier 86-94; J. Love 95-118; B. Crews # 119-145; B. Jones 146; A. Hill 147-148; R. Sieg 149-150; B. Crews # 151-168; J. Allgaier 169-188.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: June 13, 2026 - Pocono 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. Justin Allgaier 7 16 0 770 0 0 4 6
2. Jesse Love 2 16 0 591 -179 179 0 3
3. Corey Day 17 16 0 574 -196 17 2 2
4. Sheldon Creed 00 16 0 532 -238 42 1 0
5. Brandon Jones 20 16 0 512 -258 20 0 3
6. Austin Hill 21 16 0 499 -271 13 1 4
7. Carson Kvapil 1 16 1 493 -277 6 0 1
8. Sammy Smith 8 16 -1 482 -288 11 0 1
9. William Sawalich 18 16 1 429 -341 53 1 0
10. Parker Retzlaff 99 16 -1 416 -354 13 0 0
11. Sam Mayer 41 16 0 413 -357 3 0 1
12. Taylor Gray 54 16 0 399 -371 14 1 0
13. Rajah Caruth 32 16 0 387 -383 12 0 1
14. Brent Crews # 19 12 1 384 -386 3 0 1
15. Ryan Sieg 39 16 -1 384 -386 0 0 0
16. Brennan Poole 44 16 0 309 -461 75 0 0
17. Anthony Alfredo 96 16 0 286 -484 23 0 0
18. Dean Thompson 26 16 0 282 -488 4 0 0
19. Jeremy Clements 51 16 0 260 -510 22 0 0
20. Jeb Burton 27 16 0 253 -517 7 0 0
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