Justin Allgaier Secures 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Championship as Brandon Jones Claims Homestead Finale

Veteran driver Justin Allgaier, 40, prevailed in a five-way battle to claim the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship.

Brandon Jones won the Homestead finale for Joe Gibbs Racing, overtaking Carson Kvapil after a thrilling battle for the lead.

Allgaier secured the title with a seventh-place finish—his second championship in three years. Jesse Love ended the season as the championship runner-up.

“It’s obviously not the finish we wanted tonight,” Allgaier said, smiling as he was greeted by friends, family, team members, and Rick Hendrick. “We wanted to be in victory lane, but this team never quits. The effort, the time they put in, the pit crew—they did a phenomenal job. The first one was for me. This one is for all these men and women standing right here. They have worked their tails off, and it really meant a lot to have my wife, my parents, and everyone else here. Congratulations to Kaden Honeycutt on winning the Truck Series title last night, and congratulations to everyone in the Chase this year. It was super fun, but I’m really proud of our whole team. Andrew Overstreet won his first championship as crew chief, which is really cool for him. Tonight was a battle. You know, the idiot driver knocked the fence down too many times. I told you before the race I wasn’t going to do that, and I did it anyway.”

Stages 1 & 2

Creed led early from pole position, and it didn’t take long for one of the five title contenders to fall by the wayside.

Trying to pass Caruth for position down the backstretch, Day cleared himself too early, and the two Hendrickcars.com cars collided. Day crashed into the wall, essentially ending his title hopes, while Caruth suffered nose damage.

On the restart, it was Haas versus Haas for the lead, while title contenders Love and Kvapil made slight contact behind them.

Day returned nearly 20 laps down, limping around without a right-front fender but still managing to meet minimum speed.

Late in the stage, Allgaier lost a couple of positions after slapping the wall, but he nursed the car to the end of the stage.

Mayer won Stage 1, followed by Creed, Love, Hill, Kvapil, Crews, Allgaier, Retzlaff, Jones, and S. Smith.

During the stage break, Kvapil gave up his track position to change a battery in the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

On the restart, Creed pushed Love into the lead before taking the top spot himself. Over the course of a long run, Mayer emerged again and reclaimed the lead.

The stage ended two laps early after a spin by Jeb Burton, with Mayer sweeping both stages.

Mayer won Stage 2 over Creed, Love, Allgaier, Hill, Crews, Jones, Kvapil, Retzlaff, and Sawalich.

Stage 3

Creed won the race off pit road, while Mayer lost all track position due to a slow stop for the No. 41 Haas team.

On the restart, Allgaier immediately went three-wide for the lead with title rivals Love and Creed, with Creed prevailing. At that point, Love winning the race would have been the worst-case scenario for Allgaier, provided he kept his own car near the front.

Mayer quickly cut through the field, re-entering the top five within 15 laps of the restart.

Creed continued to lead, but Kvapil made forward gains and passed Love for the runner-up spot.

With 70 laps to go, Kvapil pulled alongside Creed, sparking a multi-lap battle for the lead. The intense back-and-forth brought Love and Mayer into the fight, and Kvapil finally took the top spot with 65 laps remaining.

A few laps later, Allgaier pitted with a flat right-rear tire. The stop came near a scheduled round of green-flag stops, so it wasn’t as damaging as it could have been.

The title rivals quickly made their planned stops. Kvapil was the last title contender to come down pit road, but as he did, Andrew Patterson slammed into the sand barrels at pit entry, forcing an immediate caution. The race was red-flagged for cleanup for just over ten minutes.

Allgaier and several others came down pit road for fresh tires, leaving Kvapil with the race lead.

Love lost several spots on the restart as Kvapil and Mayer raced aggressively for the top spot. It nearly ended in contact when Mayer surged ahead, with Jones moving up to second. Jones then made a bold move to take the lead as Mayer fell back to third.

Under pressure from Kvapil, Jones hit the wall as the spectacular battle for the lead continued. With 40 laps to go, Kvapil cleared Jones for the race lead, but the battle was far from over.

They continued to trade positions, but Kvapil eventually gained breathing room. Once lapped traffic appeared, however, the battle tightened again.

Meanwhile, Allgaier’s team urged him to drive conservatively and keep the car off the wall, as he was in prime position to win the championship.

With 13 laps to go, Jones moved back into the race lead. Mayer had to pit from third with a flat right-rear tire, unraveling his strong day.

Debris appeared on track with five laps to go, but NASCAR did not deem it caution-worthy.

Jones went on to win the race, four seconds clear of Kvapil. Allgaier crossed the line in seventh, smacking a tire carcass from Creed in the middle of the track as he finished.

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