Justin Allgaier persevered and pulled off the perfect restart to steal the win in Saturday's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Darlington.
DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Justin Allgaier persevered and pulled off the perfect restart to steal the win in Saturday's NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Darlington.
Allgaier led 31 of 147 laps to earn his second win of the 2026 NOAPS season. He backed up his pit crew's perfect pit stop with the winning pass on Brandon Jones in turns one and two with 15 laps to go.
"All these guys right here, we have not been the best on pit road all year but they never quit and were on top of it all day. We definitely weren't the best all day, Kyle had us covered, but Andrew told me, 'Never give up, if we get up there, we'll win this thing,' and we did," Allgaier said.
Allgaier burned down his No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet after the race burned the dominant driver of the day.
Kyle Larson led 107 laps, including the first 94. Then on pit road for the second stage break, Larson's crew had a bad pit stop and handed the lead to Justin Allgaier. After 16 laps, Larson passed Allgaier and led until a caution put the crew to task again.
On pit road, Larson dropped from first to fifth and couldn't recover in the final 15 laps. He finished fourth after narrowly holding off Carson Kvapil.
"Just losing the spots on pit road and having to restart in the third row, the short run and the track cooling down, made it hard to pass," Larson said. "I was able to pressure the 7 because the run was longer but at the end, the run was shorter and couldn't pass.
"That's just how Darlington goes, you lead the first two stages and then lose control at the end."
TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 147): Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Carson Kvapil, Corey Day, Sheldon Creed, Parker Retzlaff, Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer.
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 45): Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Carson Kvapil, Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, Parker Retzlaff, Jesse Love, William Sawalich, Anthony Alfredo, Ross Chastain.
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 90): Kyle Larson, Carson Kvapil, Brandon Jones, Justin Allgaier, Parker Retzlaff, Ross Chastain, Anthony Alfredo, Corey Day, Christopher Bell, William Sawalich.
Just one caution for cause fell all day. It was for a multi-car crash on lap 124 involving Austin Hill, Kyle Sieg, Alex Labbe, Dean Thompson and Lavar Scott.
The win allowed Allgaier to stretch his NOAPS points lead from 13 points to 52
- Justin Allgaier 306
- Jesse Love -52
- Carson Kvapil-84
- Sheldon Creed -88
- Austin Hill -96
- Sammy Smith -114
- Corey Day -118
- Brandon Jones -136
- Parker Retzlaff -137
- Rajah Caruth -155
- Sam Mayer -157
- Taylor Gray -174
Next is Martinsville Speedway, March 28, at 3:30 p.m. ET (CW, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90, MRN). Austin Hill won last year.