HAMPTON, Ga. — After a nearly four-hour race that ended in double overtime, a familiar name hoisted the trophy as NASCAR O‘Reilly Auto Parts Series points leader Justin Allgaier made a last-lap pass to claim his sixth win of the season in Saturday night‘s Focused Health 250 at EchoPark Speedway.
Just after taking the white flag, signaling one lap remaining, race leader Brennan Poole and defending race winner Nick Sanchez collided during a frantic final charge to the checkered flag. As their cars hit the outside wall at the 1.5-mile track, Allgaier drove underneath in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, with teammate Carson Kvapil giving chase in pursuit of his first career win.
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But the 2024 series champion was too good at just the right time, holding off Kvapil by 0.139 seconds to secure a career-high sixth win of the season and clinch the 2026 regular-season championship.
The result also moved JR Motorsports within one top-10 finish of tying the record of 79 consecutive races with at least one team car finishing in the top 10. Roush Fenway Keselowski currently holds the mark.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos
“This team, I‘m so proud of everyone here at JR Motorsports,‘‘ a rather emotional Allgaier said immediately after the checkered flag. “Great Chevrolets today. I knew at the end, there would be some guys close on fuel. You just never give up … That‘s what this team is all about.”
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All the storylines provided a fitting ending to a long, thrilling night of competition that included a track-record 13 caution flags and four red flags — accounting for nearly half an hour of stoppage. There were 11 different leaders and 19 lead changes, including nine over the final 70 laps of the 172-lap race.
Five cautions, two of which led to red flags, over the final 11 laps defined the stop-and-go ending, which featured no sustained green-flag run. A huge 11-car accident near the front on a restart with 11 laps remaining in regulation eliminated some of the evening‘s strongest cars, including Allgaier‘s teammate Sammy Smith, who led a race-high 34 laps in the No. 8 JRM Chevrolet, and reigning series champion Jesse Love in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
“Definitely disappointing,‘‘ Love said, adding, “It was going to be a tough mountain to climb with all the JRM cars doing a really fabulous job working together so it was going to be tough.
“I could hear my amazing spotter‘s voice that we were going to tear some stuff up and we sure did.
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“Overall, honestly not a terrible points day, we got some good stage points, so try to do our best Tony Stewart in the Chase and win some races,‘‘ he added of NASCAR Hall of Famer Stewart‘s amazing five-win run in the playoffs to win the 2011 championship despite being winless in the regular season.
“We‘ve got some really good speed and our team is clicking really well,‘‘ Love said. “Shame what happened tonight, but you‘re going to land on that side of it sometimes on this style of race tracks.‘‘
Love‘s RCR teammate Austin Hill, a five-time Atlanta winner, also appeared headed for a strong finish as he moved forward amid the crashes. The Georgia native was making a run at the trophy with three laps remaining in regulation when he was involved in a seven-car melee that brought out the final red flag and eliminated another group of contenders, including JR Motorsports‘ Rajah Caruth, who led 18 laps and ran among the top five throughout the night.
In the end, Viking Motorsports teammates Parker Retzlaff and Anthony Alfredo, along with Joe Gibbs Racing‘s William Sawalich, survived the action-packed closing laps to complete the top five.
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Garrett Smithley, Brandon Jones, Kyle Sieg, Caruth and Jeremy Clements rounded out the top 10.
The race significantly affected the standings with only three races remaining before the 12-driver championship field is set. Allgaier extended his lead to 240 points over Love, who remains winless.
Around the cutline, Brent Crews and Taylor Gray — both eliminated in crashes — sit 11th and 12th. Gray holds a 17-point advantage over Caruth and a 21-point edge over William Sawalich as the series heads into a rare off weekend.
Teams return to action Saturday, July 25 with the NASCAR O‘Reilly Auto Parts Race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (4 p.m. ET, The CW, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Connor Zilisch is the most recent race winner at the Brickyard.
NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without issue in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage, confirming Justin Allgaier as the winner.
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