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O'reilly auto parts series

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The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 14 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR sanctions races in three national series (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series™, and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series™), four international series (NASCAR Brasil Series, NASCAR Canada Series, NASCAR Euro Series, NASCAR Mexico Series), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour) and a local grassroots series (NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts). The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in five cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races annually in 11 countries and more than 30 U.S. states.

Corey Day captures first career NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series victory

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

April 25, 2026

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Corey Day claimed the first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory of his career Saturday afternoon, driving to the yellow and checkered flags in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway – his No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet leading only the last lap to earn his first trophy in his first fulltime season.

The 20-year old Californian sprint car driver delivered the multi-time NASCAR Cup Series championship Hendrick team its first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at Talladega and this weekend earned a win for a special “guest” crew member, former NFL great Jason Kelce who dressed out in Hendrick blue and helped transport tires for the team on pit road Saturday.

“I sure as heck didn’t think it [first win] would be at a superspeedway,’’ said a grinning Day, who also won a sprint car race in Nebraska earlier this week. “My 17 guys just built a rocket ship.

“I feel like we’ve been close, had a good day at Rockingham (N.C. race) and had a couple other good days and just didn’t finish it off, so this is super cool.’’

Rookie Brent Crews finished a career best runner-up in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with Haas Factory Team driver Sheldon Creed scored third in a typical photo finish-type conclusion on the 2.66-mile Talladega high banks. Creed’s work was good enough to claim the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash incentive prize for his effort – the second straight week he did so.

“Hard to be too mad at second here when so much happens and very easily could have been in one of those crashes at the end. Getting to take home the Dash 4 Cash is really special and thank the guys in the shop for that.’’

JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith was fourth in the No. 8 Chevrolet extending a top-10 streak for the team to 68 races, second best all-time in the series. Owner-driver Jeremy Clements was fifth in the South Carolina-based No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing team Chevrolet, earning the independent team’s best showing since 2022.

Dean Thompson, Jesse Love, Brandon Jones, Parker Retzlaff and Austin Green rounded out the top-10 with J.J. Yeley earning the only Ford in the 38-car field an impressive 11th place finish.

Love started on pole position in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, led the most laps (37) and was out front late before getting shuffled backwards with six laps remaining. The field split his car high and low on track with Creed moving into the lead with five laps remaining.

Creed’s Haas Factory Team teammate Sam Mayer, who had been impressive throughout the afternoon, was scored the leader with two laps to go in a three-wide front row also featuring Creed and Day. And then as so often happens at Talladega, contact during the final frantic laps of competition shuffled the front pack, slammed Mayer’s No. 41 Chevy and two-time former winner Jeb Burton’s No. 27 Jordan Anderson Chevrolet into the outside wall.

Creed settled for 25th despite leading three times for eight laps on the day. Burton, a photo-finish runner-up last year in the race, settled for 26th.

JR Motorsports teammates Carson Kvapil (stage one) and Justin Allgaier (stage two) claimed the two wins but both were unable to recover from a mid-race green flag penalty for “impeding” cars on track during the final stage of racing.

The four caution periods was the fewest since 2022. The 38 lead changes were the most at the track since 2013.

Despite recording the lowest finish of the season (23rd), Allgaier retains the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship lead by 105 points over Creed.

The series moves to Texas Motor Speedway for next Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 (3:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson is the defending race winner.

Day, Crews, Creed and Smith will be eligible for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash award next week.

NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Race - AG-PRO 300

Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega, Alabama

Saturday, April 25, 2026

1. (3) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 113.

2. (18) Brent Crews #, Toyota, 113.

3. (5) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 113.

4. (13) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 113.

5. (15) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 113.

6. (17) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 113.

7. (1) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 113.

8. (22) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 113.

9. (19) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 113.

10. (31) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 113.

11. (25) JJ Yeley, Ford, 113.

12. (23) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 113.

13. (6) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 113.

14. (35) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 113.

15. (34) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 113.

16. (27) Patrick Emerling(i), Chevrolet, 113.

17. (10) Mason Maggio, Chevrolet, 113.

18. (28) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 113.

19. (29) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 113.

20. (37) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 113.

21. (12) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 113.

22. (8) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 113.

23. (11) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 113.

24. (32) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, 113.

25. (2) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, Accident, 112.

26. (24) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Accident, 112.

27. (30) Harrison Burton, Toyota, Accident, 112.

28. (16) William Sawalich, Toyota, 112.

29. (26) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 112.

30. (7) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 112.

31. (9) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 112.

32. (33) Tyler Ankrum(i), Chevrolet, 112.

33. (36) Natalie Decker, Chevrolet, 112.

34. (38) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 112.

35. (4) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 112.

36. (21) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 111.

37. (14) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, 105.

38. (20) David Starr, Chevrolet, Overheating, 14.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 152.128 mph.

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 58 Mins, 33 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds.

Caution Flags: 4 for 15 laps.

Lead Changes: 38 among 16 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J. Love 0;J. Love 1-5;C. Kvapil 6;J. Love 7-10;C. Kvapil 11;S. Mayer 12-16;C. Kvapil 17-19;J. Love 20;S. Mayer 21-22;C. Kvapil 23-27;J. Yeley 28;C. Kvapil 29-30;H. Burton 31;C. Kvapil 32;J. Love 33-34;A. Hill 35-37;S. Smith 38-39;J. Allgaier 40;C. Kvapil 41-49;J. Allgaier 50-52;J. Yeley 53;T. Gray 54-56;J. Burton 57-58;T. Gray 59-61;A. Green 62;S. Creed 63;R. Caruth 64;S. Creed 65;A. Green 66-69;R. Caruth 70-73;B. Poole 74-76;L. Scott # 77;S. Creed 78;J. Love 79-83;S. Smith 84-87;J. Love 88-107;S. Creed 108-110;S. Mayer 111;S. Creed 112;C. Day 113.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Jesse Love 6 times for 37 laps; Carson Kvapil 7 times for 22 laps; Sam Mayer 3 times for 8 laps; Sheldon Creed 5 times for 7 laps; Taylor Gray 2 times for 6 laps; Sammy Smith 2 times for 6 laps; Austin Green 2 times for 5 laps; Rajah Caruth 2 times for 5 laps; Justin Allgaier 2 times for 4 laps; Brennan Poole 1 time for 3 laps; Austin Hill 1 time for 3 laps; Jeb Burton 1 time for 2 laps; JJ Yeley 2 times for 2 laps; Lavar Scott # 1 time for 1 lap; Harrison Burton 1 time for 1 lap; Corey Day 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 1,8,00,88,26,31,41,24,2,51

Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,39,00,26,99,1,24,51,87,21

-30-

Connor Zilisch makes late surge to O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at Bristol

Matt Kelley/Getty Images

Reid Spencer

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Connor Zilisch rediscovered his identity on Saturday night — as a winner.

Thanks to a bold call from crew chief Rodney Childers, Zilisch stayed out on older tires with 28 laps left in the Suburban Propane 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway and took the checkered flag.

Race results

With track position at the front of the field, Zilisch was able to hold off the dominant car of Kyle Larson, who had to settle for second place after leading 230 of 300 laps and sweeping the first two stages in the ninth NASCAR O‘Reilly Auto Parts race of the season.

For Zilisch, his first victory on a short track was a welcome respite from the struggles he has faced as rookie in the NASCAR Cup Series.

“That was awesome,” said Zilisch, the fourth different winner for JR Motorsports this season. “It‘s been a tough past two weeks for me in the Cup Series, and it feels good to come back down here into the O‘Reilly Series and prove that I can still do it.

“It‘s tough. You finish in the back every week and you forget who you are. This feels good. We played strategy. Rodney made a great call to keep us out. The tires weren‘t wearing much all night, and we were able to get our (No. 1) Roto-Rooter Chevrolet in the track position that I needed to go out and win the race.”

Zilisch picked up his first win of the season, his first at Bristol and the 12th of his career. He was one of four JRM drivers in the top five, a group that included Larson, Justin Allgaier (fourth) and Carson Kvapil (fifth). Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brent Crews crashed that party with a third-place finish on the same strategy that propelled Zilisch to the victory.

For the eighth time in his career, Allgaier collected a $100,000 bonus in the O‘Reilly Auto Parts Dash 4 Cash program as the highest finisher among four eligible drivers (the top four in last Saturday‘s race at Rockingham Speedway).

A three-time winner this year, Allgaier retained his series lead by 130 points over second-place Sheldon Creed, who ran sixth at Bristol.

Larson was leading with Allgaier in pursuit early in the final stage, when the engine in Mason Maggio‘s Chevrolet exploded on the backstretch, filling the “Last Great Coliseum” with smoke.

Maggio steered the car to pit road where it erupted in flames. Several of Allgaier‘s crew members helped pull Maggio from the car. The driver was uninjured.

But the fireworks were just starting. After the resumption from a three-minute, five-second red flag period, Larson dominated — until Gray Gaulding‘s spin in Turn 1 caused the seventh caution of the evening on Lap 270.

Zilisch, Crews and Corey Day stayed out on older tires, with Larson fourth on new rubber. Larson, Zilisch and Crews battled for position until the eighth caution for Anthony Alfredo‘s spin on the frontstretch slowed the race for the final time.

An intense battle for the lead followed the subsequent restart with 11 laps left. Larson passed Crews for second and harried Zilisch until his No. 88 Chevy slipped in Turn 4 with just over two laps left, giving Zilisch the margin he needed to win by 0.703 seconds.

The victory was Childers‘ first in the O‘Reilly Series, after a long and successful run as a Cup crew chief, predominantly with Kevin Harvick.

Larson enjoyed the battle, if not the outcome.

“It‘s a bummer, but I had a lot of fun tonight,” said Larson, who will race in Sunday‘s Food City 500 NASCAR Cup Series event (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “Our car was really good. Just tough being the leader in that situation of knowing to pit or not…

“But I‘m happy with the run. It just doesn‘t always work out.”

Pole winner William Sawalich was seventh, followed by Day, Parker Retzlaff and Taylor Gray. Day recorded his eighth straight top-10 finish.

The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ next race is scheduled Saturday, April 18, at Kansas Speedway (7 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Inspection in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage was completed without major issue, confirming Zilisch’s victory. The No. 44 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet that Brennan Poole drove to an 18th-place finish had one lug nut unsecured in a post-race check, which will result in loss of pit selection for the circuit’s next race.

O'reilly auto parts series

2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Schedule

Round	Date	Track	Location	Race Name	Time (ET)
1	Sat., Feb. 14	Daytona International Speedway	Daytona Beach, FL	United Rentals 300	5:00 PM
2	Sat., Feb. 21	EchoPark Speedway	Braselton, GA	Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250	5:00 PM
3	Sat., Feb. 28	Circuit of The Americas	Austin, TX	Focused Health 250	3:00 PM
4	Sat., Mar. 7	Phoenix Raceway	Avondale, AZ	GOVX 200	7:30 PM
5	Sat., Mar. 14	Las Vegas Motor Speedway	Las Vegas, NV	The LiUNA NASCAR Xfinity Series	5:30 PM
6	Sat., Mar. 21	Darlington Raceway	Darlington, SC	Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200	5:30 PM
7	Sat., Mar. 28	Martinsville Speedway	Martinsville, VA	NFPA 250	3:30 PM
8	Sat., Apr. 4	Rockingham Speedway	Rockingham, NC	North Carolina Education Lottery 250	2:30 PM
9	Sat., Apr. 11	Bristol Motor Speedway	Bristol, TN	SciAps 300	7:30 PM
10	Sat., Apr. 18	Kansas Speedway	Kansas City, KS	Kansas Lottery 300	7:00 PM
11	Sat., Apr. 25	Talladega Superspeedway	Lincoln, AL	Ag-Pro 300	4:00 PM
12	Sat., May 2	Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, TX	Andy’s Frozen Custard 300	3:30 PM
13	Sat., May 9	Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, NY	Mission 200 at The Glen	4:00 PM
14	Sat., May 16	Dover Motor Speedway	Dover, DE	BetRivers 200	4:00 PM
15	Sat., May 23	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Concord, NC	BetMGM 300	5:00 PM
16	Sat., May 30	Nashville Superspeedway	Lebanon, TN	Tennessee Lottery 250	7:30 PM
–	Sat., June 6	–	–	Off Week	–
17	Sat., June 13	Pocono Raceway	Long Pond, PA	Explore the Pocono Mountains 250	4:00 PM
18	Sat., June 20	Naval Base Coronado	Coronado, CA	N/A	5:00 PM
19	Sat., June 27	Sonoma Raceway	Sonoma, CA	Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250	5:30 PM
20	Sat., July 4	Chicagoland Speedway	Joliet, IL	N/A	5:30 PM
21	Sat., July 11	EchoPark Speedway	Braselton, GA	Focused Health 250	7:00 PM
–	Sat., July 18	–	–	Off Week	–
22	Sat., July 25	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Indianapolis, IN	Pennzoil 250	4:00 PM
–	Sat., Aug. 1	–	–	Off Week	–
23	Sat., Aug. 8	Iowa Speedway	Newton, IA	Hy-Vee Perks 250	5:00 PM
–	Sat., Aug. 15	–	–	Off Week	–
–	Sat., Aug. 22	–	–	Off Week	–
24	Fri., Aug. 28	Daytona International Speedway	Daytona Beach, FL	Wawa 250	7:30 PM
25	Sat., Sept. 5	Darlington Raceway	Darlington, SC	N/A	7:30 PM
26	Sat., Sept. 12	World Wide Technology Raceway	Madison, IL	Nu Way 200 Sauced by Blues Hog	7:30 PM
27	Fri., Sept. 18	Bristol Motor Speedway	Bristol, TN	Food City 300	7:30 PM
–	Sat., Sept. 26	–	–	Off Week	–
28	Sat., Oct. 3	Las Vegas Motor Speedway	Las Vegas, NV	Focused Health 302	7:30 PM
29	Sat., Oct. 10	Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL	Concord, NC	Blue Cross NC 250	4:00 PM
30	Sat., Oct. 17	Phoenix Raceway	Avondale, AZ	N/A	7:30 PM
31	Sat., Oct. 24	Talladega Superspeedway	Lincoln, AL	The Progress Group 250	3:30 PM
32	Sat., Oct. 31	Martinsville Speedway	Martinsville, VA	IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250	4:00 PM
33	Sat., Nov. 7	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, FL	O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Championship	5:00 PM

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