A pit stop for fresh tires on lap 280 gave Sheldon Creed the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the third race of the Chase in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. The victory leaves him first in the championship, with Justin Allgaier 11 points back and angry at Jesse Love over the contact on lap 286.
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Creed had started second, but he himself said his No. 00 Chevrolet did not have good balance for nearly the entire night. Jonathan Toney, his crew chief, called him to the pits on lap 280 to put on fresh tires while the leaders stayed out on worn rubber. On a short concrete oval with heavily banked corners like Bristol, wear comes quickly and a fresh set gives grip that, in the first few meters of a restart, is worth several positions.
On those tires he started eighth on the restart on lap 286 and climbed to second place within a few laps. On that same restart, Allgaier, who was the leader, and Love fought for the position side by side coming out of turn 4, and Love sent the No. 7 Chevrolet into the outside wall. Allgaier was able to continue, with a damaged car, and finished fourth. Love led for three laps and ended up 17th.
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A caution on lap 297, for Ryan Sieg's crash into the wall while fighting for space with Corey Day and Parker Retzlaff, left three laps to the scheduled finish and sent the race into a two-lap overtime. On the restart on lap 304, Creed started on the inside lane alongside William Sawalich, the leader since lap 290. With tires significantly fresher than Sawalich's, he passed him at the start, and Sawalich moved to the high side of the track to respond without success. The margin at the finish was a quarter of a second. Creed led only the final three laps out of 305.
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Creed had already taken the championship lead at Gateway the previous week, but with Allgaier just three points back and with Allgaier having held the top spot since COTA in late February. After Bristol, the gap to Allgaier grew to 11 points (2,235 to 2,224), and the gaps to Kvapil and Love, who were 12 and 16 points back at Gateway, widened to 37 and 41. Allgaier has six wins on the year, double that of Creed, and remains the only one of the top four within a short distance with six races remaining.
Sam Mayer moved up one spot to fifth, 78 points behind Creed. Day and Sammy Smith are tied for sixth and seventh, and Austin Hill dropped four positions to ninth after finishing 22nd at Bristol.
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When the race ended, Allgaier walked over to Love's No. 2 Chevrolet to confront him. His car had been good enough to win the first stage and fight for the victory, and leaving Bristol with a fourth-place finish left him, in his own words, with disappointment and a single question: why.
Love, the series' defending champion, did not look for excuses. He said he got caught up in the moment while battling Allgaier, that coming out of turn 4 they were side by side, and that he ended up making an enemy he did not need, in a mistake that took both of them out of the fight for the win.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., co-owner of Allgaier's team, spoke with his driver and told him he did not like how Love raced him either, though the move happened in the closing laps of a championship race and Allgaier salvaged a good points result. Allgaier does not expect the incident to carry over into the rest of the Chase and wants to stay in the fight, according to his own words.
Kvapil led the most laps, 156, and won the second stage, but with 44 laps to go smoke began pouring from the rear of the No. 1 Chevrolet and he had to pit under green. He finished four laps down and kept third place in the championship, now 37 points back. Behind Creed came Sawalich, Brent Crews, Allgaier, Day, Taylor Gray, Mayer, Retzlaff, Dean Thompson, and Smith, in that order.
The series has a week off and returns on October 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the Focused Health 302, the first of the six remaining rounds.
Food City 300 2026
| Pos | Nº | driver | team | brand | time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #00 |  Sheldon Creed (C) |
Haas Factory Team | Chevrolet | - |
| 2 | #18 | William Sawalich |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | +0.25s |
| 3 | #19 | Brent Crews # (C) |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | +0.37s |
| 4 | #7 | Justin Allgaier (C) |
JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | +0.55s |
| 5 | #17 | Corey Day (C) |
Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | +0.61s |
| 6 | #54 | Taylor Gray (C) |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | +0.82s |
| 7 | #41 | Sam Mayer (C) |
Haas Factory Team | Chevrolet | +1.12s |
| 8 | #99 | Parker Retzlaff (C) |
Viking Motorsports | Chevrolet | +1.27s |
| 9 | #26 | Dean Thompson |
Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | +1.48s |
| 10 | #8 | Sammy Smith (C) |
JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | +1.63s |
| 11 | #9 | Jake Finch |
JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | +1.73s |
| 12 | #24 | Harrison Burton |
Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota | +1.78s |
| 13 | #44 | Brennan Poole |
Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | +1.91s |
| 14 | #51 | Jeremy Clements |
Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet | +1.96s |
| 15 | #20 | Brandon Jones (C) |
Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | +2.06s |
| 16 | #87 | Nick Sanchez(i) |
Peterson Racing Group | Chevrolet | +2.14s |
| 17 | #2 | Jesse Love (C) |
Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | +2.31s |
| 18 | #42 | Logan Bearden |
Young's Motorsports | Chevrolet | +1 vuelta |
| 19 | #32 | Andrew Patterson |
Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport | Chevrolet | +2 vueltas |
| 20 | #28 | Kyle Sieg |
RSS Racing | Chevrolet | +2 vueltas |
| 21 | #91 | Stefan Parsons(i) |
DGM Racing x JIM | Chevrolet | +3 vueltas |
| 22 | #21 | Austin Hill (C) |
Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | +4 vueltas |
| 23 | #88 | Rajah Caruth (C) |
JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | +4 vueltas |
| 24 | #1 | Carson Kvapil (C) |
JR Motorsports | Chevrolet | +4 vueltas |
| 25 | #27 | Jeb Burton |
Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport | Chevrolet | +4 vueltas |
| 26 | #48 | Patrick Staropoli # |
Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet | +6 vueltas |
| 27 | #02 | Ryan Ellis |
Young's Motorsports | Chevrolet | +6 vueltas |
| 28 | #92 | Josh Williams |
DGM Racing x JIM | Chevrolet | +6 vueltas |
| 29 | #53 | Carson Ware |
Joey Gase Motorsports | Chevrolet | +7 vueltas |
| 30 | #39 | Ryan Sieg |
RSS Racing | Chevrolet | +8 vueltas |
| 31 | #07 | Josh Bilicki |
SS GreenLight Racing | Chevrolet | +8 vueltas |
| 32 | #96 | Anthony Alfredo |
Viking Motorsports | Chevrolet | +15 vueltas |
| 33 | #0 | Garrett Smithley |
SS GreenLight Racing | Chevrolet | +47 vueltas |
| 34 | #31 | Blaine Perkins |
Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport | Chevrolet | +75 vueltas |
| 35 | #55 | David Starr |
Joey Gase Motorsports | Chevrolet | +99 vueltas |
| 36 | #45 | Lavar Scott # |
Alpha Prime Racing | Chevrolet | +167 vueltas |
| 37 | #47 | Natalie Decker(i) |
Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet | +186 vueltas |
| 38 | #38 | JJ Yeley |
RSS Racing | Ford | +197 vueltas |
-
Carlos Castillo Sansabas
Drivers Standings 2026
| POS | PILOTO | PTS | ↕ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Allgaier | 2477 | |
| 2 | Jesse Love | 2463 | |
| 3 | Carson Kvapil | 2449 | arrow_up1 |
| 4 | Sheldon Creed | 2444 | arrow_up1 |
| 5 | Corey Day | 2416 | arrow_down2 |
| 6 | Sam Mayer | 2387 | |
| 7 | Sammy Smith | 2352 | |
| 8 | Brandon Jones | 2314 | arrow_up1 |
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