The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series visited Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, and the result was as chaotic as the oldest half-mile on the schedule typically is: 13 cautions, a 26-minute red flag for a 19-car crash, and Justin Allgaier winning for the second consecutive week. With his third victory of the season and 31st of his career, Allgaier extended his championship lead to 92 points over Jesse Love and gave JR Motorsports its fifth straight win in 2026, one shy of the record set by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008.

Allgaier started from pole, led 114 of the 250 laps, won the first stage, and returned to the front on lap 224, holding the lead to the checkered flag. "We've started 2026 better than I could have imagined," said Allgaier. "When you get to this stage of your career, you never know if you're going to win another one, and this year has been very special."

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Pulliam led 40 laps and triggered the biggest crash of the day

Lee Pulliam, a legend on the late model circuit in the eastern United States, made his first start in a national NASCAR series in the JR Motorsports Chevrolet No. 9, and the 40 laps he led were surpassed only by Allgaier's 114. Pulliam ran up front for a good portion of the race, but on a late restart, he couldn't properly get up to speed on old tires, lost momentum from the front row, and triggered a chain-reaction accident that involved 19 cars and forced a 26-minute red flag.

"First of all, I want to apologize to everyone who got damaged there," Pulliam said after getting out of the car. "I couldn't get a good start on the old tires, and it was a little bit of inexperience." Dale Earnhardt Jr., co-owner of JR Motorsports, reassured him over the radio during the stoppage: "I know you didn't want that to happen, and you're going to handle it like a professional. We all make mistakes." Pulliam recovered to finish fifth, closing out a debut that included commemorative T-shirts selling out before the car ever hit the track.

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92-point lead for Allgaier with seven races to go

Corey Day finished second, 0.26 seconds behind Allgaier, the best result of his career in the category and his sixth consecutive top 10 so far in his first full season. Sammy Smith was third with his seventh top 10 in eight races at Martinsville, and Sheldon Creed was fourth.

Love, the defending champion, finished 12th and now trails Allgaier by 92 points, a gap that has nearly doubled in two weeks. Sheldon Creed moved up to third in the championship with 257 points, displacing Carson Kvapil, who did not finish the race and fell to fifth. The next race for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series is the North Carolina Education Lottery 250 at Rockingham Speedway next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. Mexico City time).