Corey Day surprises at Talladega with his first win

He took the lead on the final lap at the Alabama Superspeedway

Corey Day Wins His First O'Reilly Race at Talladega

Corey Day surprises at Talladega with his first win

He took the lead on the final lap at the Alabama Superspeedway

Photos: Getty Images - Nascar
Talladega
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The Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega was decided on the final lap, when the two leaders made contact against the outside wall and Corey Day appeared on the inside lane to win by fifteen hundredths of a second over Brent Crews.

Day earned his first victory in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series on a track foreign to him. His background comes from dirt sprints, and a few days earlier he had celebrated a win in Nebraska. Hendrick Motorsports also had never won at this circuit in the division and achieved it with an invited member in the pits: former NFL player Jason Kelce worked as a tire carrier.

The race produced 38 lead changes, the highest number at Talladega since 2013, and needed only four caution flags. That combination kept the pack tight and made it difficult to maintain a fixed race strategy. Jesse Love, who started first and led 37 laps, lost control of the outside lane with six laps to go and dropped to seventh place.

That same dynamic altered the order of the top three. Sheldon Creed moved to the front on the final straight, Sam Mayer displaced him with two laps to go, and just when Mayer and Jeb Burton were battling for the lead, the two hooked together and were taken out of contention. Day exploited the space that opened on the inside and held the position to the checkered flag.

Creed finished third and collected the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus. Seven days earlier at Kansas, he had done the same while finishing second to Taylor Gray; on that occasion Gray benefited from an early pit stop that gave him clean air and held off Creed by seven tenths. Talladega, by contrast, left no room for a pit stop to define the race. The finish tightened in the final hundred meters and rewarded Day's track reading.

Brent Crews matched his best career result in the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota No. 19, and Sammy Smith finished fourth. Jeremy Clements advanced to fifth place in his Chevrolet No. 51, the best result for an independent team since 2022.

Justin Allgaier maintained the championship lead despite posting his worst finish of the season (23rd). His advantage over Creed dropped to 105 points. The two JR Motorsports drivers who won the stages, Carson Kvapil and Allgaier himself, received a penalty for interfering with other cars and could never return to the front group.

Day, Crews, Creed, and Smith are eligible for the next Dash 4 Cash. The series travels to Texas Motor Speedway for the Andy's Frozen Custard 340 next Saturday, where Kyle Larson defends last year's victory.

AG-PRO 300 2026

Pos Piloto Marca Diferencia Vueltas
1 #17 Corey Day Chevrolet - 113
2 #19 Brent Crews # Toyota +0.15s 113
3 #00 Sheldon Creed Chevrolet +0.15s 113
4 #8 Sammy Smith Chevrolet +0.60s 113
5 #51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet +0.94s 113
6 #26 Dean Thompson Toyota +0.94s 113
7 #2 Jesse Love Chevrolet +1.63s 113
8 #20 Brandon Jones Toyota +2.35s 113
9 #99 Parker Retzlaff Chevrolet +2.70s 113
10 #87 Austin Green Chevrolet +3.36s 113
11 #5 JJ Yeley Ford +3.52s 113
12 #31 Blaine Perkins Chevrolet +11.71s 113
13 #21 Austin Hill Chevrolet +33.20s 113
14 #07 Josh Bilicki Chevrolet +34.05s 113
15 #44 Brennan Poole Chevrolet +34.57s 113
16 #38 Patrick Emerling(i) Chevrolet +35.08s 113
17 #91 Mason Maggio Chevrolet +35.13s 113
18 #28 Kyle Sieg Chevrolet +35.22s 113
19 #55 Joey Gase Chevrolet +36.36s 113
20 #0 Garrett Smithley Chevrolet +37.28s 113
21 #39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet +67.00s 113
22 #1 Carson Kvapil Chevrolet +72.78s 113
23 #7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet +75.29s 113
24 #45 Lavar Scott # Chevrolet +75.67s 113
25 #41 Sam Mayer Chevrolet +1 vuelta 112
26 #27 Jeb Burton Chevrolet +1 vuelta 112
27 #24 Harrison Burton Toyota +1 vuelta 112
28 #18 William Sawalich Toyota +1 vuelta 112
29 #54 Taylor Gray Toyota +1 vuelta 112
30 #88 Rajah Caruth Chevrolet +1 vuelta 112
31 #96 Anthony Alfredo Chevrolet +1 vuelta 112
32 #32 Tyler Ankrum(i) Chevrolet +1 vuelta 112
33 #35 Natalie Decker Chevrolet +1 vuelta 112
34 #74 Dawson Cram Chevrolet +1 vuelta 112
35 #92 Josh Williams Chevrolet +1 vuelta 112
36 #02 Ryan Ellis Chevrolet +2 vueltas 111
37 #48 Patrick Staropoli # Chevrolet +8 vueltas 105
38 #42 David Starr Chevrolet +99 vueltas 14
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