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 | Nº | 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 |
Photo By Getty Images - Nascar
Photo By Getty Images - Nascar
Photo By Getty Images - Nascar