Justin Allgaier has apparently decided that winning NASCAR championships is rather addictive. Having waited more than a decade to capture his first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series title in 2024, the 40-year-old JR Motorsports veteran needed just two more seasons to collect a second.
Allgaier survived a five-driver championship battle Saturday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, finishing seventh in the season finale to secure the 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship. It was his second title in three seasons, making him the first JR Motorsports driver to win multiple championships for the organization.
Brandon Jones, meanwhile, gave Joe Gibbs Racing something to celebrate by winning the season finale, passing Carson Kvapil after a spirited fight for the lead. Jones led 25 laps to claim his first victory of the season and Toyota’s 700th in the series.
But the biggest prize belonged to Allgaier, who entered the 200-lap race with a 22-point advantage over defending champion Jesse Love. Love finished fourth, leaving him 14 points behind Allgaier in the final standings.
The championship fight also included Corey Day, Kvapil and Sheldon Creed, but the five-driver contest began losing participants almost as soon as the race got underway.
Creed started from the pole and led the early laps, but Day became the first championship contender to encounter serious trouble. Racing for position down the backstretch on lap 7, Day attempted to clear himself ahead of fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver Rajah Caruth a little too early. The two made contact, sending Day into the wall and leaving Caruth’s No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet with nose damage.
Day went to the garage for repairs and eventually returned to the race, but he was 17 laps down and effectively out of championship contention. He finished 34th.
Allgaier, meanwhile, had his own reason to start checking the mirrors. Late in Stage 1, he scraped the outside wall and began suspecting a flat tire. Despite the scare, he managed to nurse his No. 7 Chevrolet to the end of the stage in seventh place before receiving four fresh Goodyears during the break.
Sam Mayer won Stage 1, followed by Creed, Love, Austin Hill, Kvapil, Brent Crews, Allgaier, Parker Retzlaff, Jones and Smith.
Kvapil also had an eventful opening stage. Electrical problems forced the JR Motorsports driver to surrender his track position for an extended stay on pit road during the stage break to address a battery issue. He managed to remain on the lead lap and worked his way back through the field.
The second stage saw Creed initially push Love into the lead before taking the top spot himself. But Mayer again demonstrated his speed over the long run, reclaiming the lead and eventually sweeping both stages when the caution for a Jeb Burton spin brought Stage 2 to an early conclusion.
Mayer took the stage victory ahead of Creed, Love, Allgaier, Hill, Crews, Jones, Kvapil, Retzlaff and William Sawalich.
Allgaier’s championship defense wasn’t exactly a Sunday drive, either. The veteran continued battling the abrasive Homestead surface, and another suspected flat tire during the final stage forced him to make an early trip down pit road.
A caution with 57 laps remaining further scrambled the running order after Andrew Patterson struck the pit-road barrels while attempting to enter for green-flag service. The incident brought out the yellow and ultimately a lengthy red flag for cleanup.
Allgaier, Love, Kvapil and Creed had already completed their scheduled stops, putting the championship contenders in position to cycle back toward the front. But Allgaier’s second tire concern forced another trip down pit road for four fresh tires and fuel, dropping him to eighth for the restart.
It was another unwanted detour in a race that had already tested his patience. Fortunately, Allgaier had enough experience to understand that winning a championship sometimes means knowing when not to win a race.
He kept the car clean over the closing laps, picked up the positions he needed and brought home a seventh-place finish. It was enough to beat Love by 14 points and put another championship trophy on the JR Motorsports shelf.
For Allgaier, the title also carried considerably more emotional weight than the first.
Only a couple of weeks earlier, the veteran had contemplated making Saturday night his final race. It was his father, Mike, who encouraged him to reconsider and continue racing. JR Motorsports subsequently announced that Allgaier would return on a multiyear deal.
Asked what the second championship meant to him and his family, Allgaier made it clear that this one belonged to the people who had helped him get there.
“Means more than you’ll ever know,” Allgaier said. “It’s obviously not the finish we wanted tonight. Wanted to be in victory lane. But this team never quits. The effort, the time they put in. The pit crew, phenomenal job.
“The first one was for me. The first one I really enjoyed. This one is for all these men and women standing back here. They have worked their tail off.”
Allgaier also credited his wife, parents, partners and the entire JR Motorsports organization, particularly crew chief Andrew Overstreet, who earned his first championship in the role.
There was also a moment of honesty about the driver’s own contribution to the occasional drama.
“Tonight it was a battle. Idiot driver packed the fence down too many times,” Allgaier joked. “I told you before the race I wasn’t going to do that, and I did it anyways.”
Allgaier admitted his heart rate was elevated when his team warned him over the radio that he couldn’t afford another encounter with the wall.
But he got through it, and that’s what mattered.
The championship also gives Allgaier a chance to make a little more history. With two titles now on his résumé, he will head into 2027 looking to become the first driver in series history to win three O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championships.
Jones, meanwhile, enjoyed a rather satisfying way to close out the season.
The No. 20 Toyota wasn’t necessarily the strongest car when the race began, but Jones and his Joe Gibbs Racing team steadily improved it throughout the night. Long-run speed ultimately became the difference, allowing Jones to lead 25 laps and hold off the competition for the victory.
The win also marked Toyota’s 700th in the series, a milestone Jones was understandably pleased to be part of.
“There were so many cool positives out of today,” Jones said. “First off, knocking Toyota’s 700th win out of the park. I’ve gotten a couple milestones for this group a few times. It’s so cool to be a part of these big moments for this company.”
Jones said the team’s ability to improve the car throughout the race proved decisive, particularly as the long green-flag runs played to its strengths.
“Just an incredible way to cap the year off,” he said. “I’m so happy to get Menards back in victory lane.”
Kvapil finished second, followed by Crews, Love and Retzlaff. Creed finished sixth, Allgaier seventh, Hill eighth, Mayer ninth and Sawalich 10th.
For Allgaier, however, the finishing position was largely academic. He came to Homestead with a championship to defend, endured a few moments that probably shaved several years off his life, and left Florida with another title.
And after briefly thinking Saturday night might be his last in a race car, he now has another championship to chase.
RACE RESULTS
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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