In NASCAR overtime for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, Brandon Jones passed Cup star Chase Elliott for the win. Racing on older tires, he slid up in front of Elliott. Elliott tried to fight back, running up against the wall to pick up momentum before sending it under Jones into the final corner, but Jones had the run to the line.
That was the eighth victory of Jones’ career, delivering Joe Gibbs Racing its third win of the 2026 season.
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“I had to earn that one,” said Jones. “Haven’t had an exciting one like that in a long time. Thank you guys for sticking that one out through the rain, and everything … It’s been an up-and-down year. We’ve had some success early on, we’ve been in a little bit of a rut the last couple of weeks, so it’s nice to do it like we did today. We really had to earn that one.”
On battling a driver like Elliott, Jones added: “It says a lot about just how resilient we are, and how hard we’re working at this. Chase made it really difficult on me. He’s one of the best in the sport, so I knew he was going to be difficult. We were all on old tires — that was a blast to slide around and duel it out like that.”
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Elliott was of course disappointed to come up one spot short of the checkered flag. He doesn’t run many O’Reilly races these days, last winning a NOAPS race at Charlotte during the 2024 season.
“I don’t think that was the reason why we lost (not having a restart push), by any means,” said Elliott. “I know that he [Jesse Love] was planning on giving me a good push, and it was really at that point about managing old tires. Just trying to get a launch, more so than getting a shove. Ended up having momentum going the wrong way into Turn 3 and I tried to drive in really hard, got myself super tight. Super bummed about that, honestly … Credit to Brandon. He did a good job, had a good restart, and we stayed side-by-side through (Turns) 1 and 2. He had the momentum going the right way into Turn 3, and I got myself in a bad spot and paid the price.”
Jesse Love, Brent Crews, and Austin Hill filled out the remainder of the top five. Justin Allgaier, Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Cole Custer, and Connor Zilisch filled out the rest of the top ten.
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Stages 1 and 2
After a lengthy rain delay, the race finally went green at 10:15pm EST. Zilisch dominated from pole position, and led the entire opening stage.
Behind him, there were plenty of battles, and even some contact as driver moved all over the track. Allgaier and Gray both started deep in the field, but they quickly cut through the pack.
Zilisch went on to win Stage 1 with a five-second advantage over Love, followed by Day, Elliott, Creed, Gray, Mayer, Sawalich, Allgaier, and Alfredo.
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During the stage break, Zilisch lost fuel pressure from the lead and actually needed a push back to the pits. He managed to stay on the lead lap, but was now back in the mid-20s. He eventually made his way back into the top ten.
Elliott won the race off pit road and was in control for the restart. Much like Zilisch in the stage before, Elliott dominated and won the stage with relative ease. He was followed by Love, Gray, Allgaier, Mayer, Jones, Creed, Day, Zilisch, and Crews.
Fog was also descending on the track, making visibility a challenge for spotters.
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Stage 3
Brandon Jones wins, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota; followed by Chase Elliott, No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and Jesse Love, No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Brandon Jones wins, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota; followed by Chase Elliott, No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and Jesse Love, No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
During the stage break, Jeremy Clements actually lost a wheel, resulting in a two-lap penalty as the runaway wheel made it all the way back to the pit lane on its own.
Allgaier got sent to the rear after a safety valuation (crew member stepped into box without wearing proper attire).
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On the restart, there was a stellar battle between Love and Elliott for the lead, with Elliott ultimately prevailing.
Creed made an unscheduled pit stop under green for a tire issue, while Gray ran Elliott down for the race lead. He took control and drove away, but the first natural caution of the race followed soon after.
Zilisch’s once-promising night was only getting worse as he blew a tire after hitting the wall, with the tire carcass causing the yellow.
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On the ensuing restart, Elliott pulled off an impressive three-wide pass on the apron to reclaim the lead, holding back Gray until the next caution. Once again, it was Zilisch, who went spinning from the high line.
This now put the entire field inside the fuel window, with just over 40 laps remaining.
R. Sieg won the race off pit road after a fuel-only call to save a set of tires, with Jones beating Elliott out as well.
Jones moved into the lead on the restart, and the next caution flew followed shortly after as Sawalich went spinning down the backstretch. He lifted at corner exit, and got bumped from behind by his JGR teammate Crews.
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Elliott made the decision to restart behind Jones on the outside for the next restart, which put Gray on the front row. That worked out well for him, as Gray moved into the race lead as Elliott and Jones battled back-and-forth in a thrilling battle for second. That allowed Gray to drive off with the race lead.
With 16 laps to go, Sieg (who was on older tires than the rest of the field), went for a half-spin. Now under caution, he tried to limp back around to the pits, only for the entire fender to get blown apart by a flat right-front tire.
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Things got very dramatic on the restart as the field fanned out four-wide for the race lead. Love briefly took command before Elliott snatched it away, while Gray fell all the way back outside the top five.
Elliott then moved into defensive mode against a charging Jones, only for the caution to fly once more. Kyle Sieg collided with Patrick Staropoli, sending both cars spinning. They also collected Brennan Poole and Lavar Scott as they spun down the track.
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On the final restart, the second row struggled to get going, so Elliott and Jones were left to battle side-by-side for most of the lap. Jones cleared Elliott just before the white flag, who responded by running right up next to the wall, touching it as he picked up some momentum. He shot his car up the inside of Jones into the final corner, but Elliott didn’t have the exit speed, allowing Jones to clear him and take the win by 0.171s.
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