NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Highlights | 2026 World Wide Technology Raceway

It's race two in the chase. Here we go. In second. Carson got a great launch on the outside, going to be able to clear Jesse Love down into turn one. You see Corey Day, car didn't look like it turned very good. Right through the middle of the corner, it's going to allow Jesse to get right up in front of him. Bright red number seven, Justin Allgaier nosing through inside lane. Tucked up behind last week's winner, Sheldon Creed. Loved the second day to third. You saw it side by side problems for Taylor Gray. So the wheel and caution lights are on. Well, we'll take a look here. I referenced, you know, being on the inside, how easy it is to get loose. This is actually coming off of turn to essentially the lap before you see Raja fighting back hard on the outside. But Raja gives him a lot of room. You see on the entry there, side drafted down the straightaway, which is what you're going to do. But when they get to the corner, pretty tight on his door right there, almost looks like Taylor has him cleared. You see Raja is going to get a run back off. These cars have to be loose, so they'll turn to the middle. When you get somebody on your outside, you have to be so careful getting on the brakes. You're also going to have a little downshift when we get down to the middle of the corner. There's plenty of a gap. It almost looks like he had a little wheel hop and then just started chasing it. Once you get close to that car on the outside, you're just you're essentially along for the ride. I think he was trying to stay off of the 88 as well and took one for the team there. A couple of chase drivers right behind him, able to get through, not get involved. Sam Mayer was one of them, also Sammy Smith. These guys were racing for a spot inside the top ten. I think about Taylor Gray, and they had the top ten last week at Darlington, but this is the 18th race in 26 events this year where they've had some kind of an issue. Restart comes as we head toward the middle portion of stage one. What a start again on the outside. No issues at all there, being able to clear him. See if Corey Day can get a little better start. He's going to clear him as well. It looks like the 2 struggling a little bit to get that car to turn, had to wait to pick up the throttle. 17. A teammate out there in the 21 as well, just trying to take advantage, getting that momentum in the outside lane. See that sun starting to set. That's going to affect the balance of these cars as well. Adam, we referenced the pre-race show and the start of this show, Corey Day and that incredible run he had at Darlington last week, even though he had his car a little bit torn up. Man, he's off to another tremendous start here again. Nearly got away from Austin Hill. He hangs on to it. Love able to jump in front of him. I'll tell you what, Hill's not going away. What about that 2 car, Dylan? drivers are shifting through this corner, which a lot of drivers will use that lower or that higher RPM to help the car turn, that downshift, kind of gets the car rotated a little bit. Jesse is having trouble shifting back into fourth gear, though, so he's hesitant to downshift. Let's get some star key radio communication from the 2 team and hear more. They're going to run out of time here in this stage, but if you remember, they lengthened the length of this race by 20 laps, which means the stages are longer. For the 17, Adam Wall, the crew chief, told me this morning, after about 30 laps, we're going to be really good, but we've got to get there first. We've got to have the track position to capitalize on a really good long-run car. You're seeing that here as we come to one to go in the stage. They've closed the gap on the race leader after that restart, but just something to watch later on in the afternoon and evening, especially if we get longer runs. The 17 really likes their race car. Adam Wall. This is his home racetrack. He's from Teutopolis, Illinois, about 90 minutes up the road. He'd love to win here. Well, speaking of good long-run speed, 17 just ran the fastest lap on the racetrack, two tenths quicker. I don't think that Carson's pushing his car right now, but visually, you can see how much he's catching him. Did you see those brake rotors on the 17 glowing right here? This is one of those tracks that you see brake issues. Dominant stage one. Carson Kwapl. Starts on the pole. Leads them all. Third stage win of the season. And Corey Day, second in line, will be the first to hit his box. He said after the tire cycle there, he was a little bit tight on the bottom of one and two, but still feels really good. They're not going to do much to it. Austin Hill, the 21, said he was way too tight. Not going to change. Doesn't change direction. Oh, we got a big crash here on the entry to pit road. I'm not sure that I've seen one like this. I mean, just incredible. Jeremy Clements turned around. Looks like Nick Sanchez in the middle of that. Kwapl holds serve. Jesse Love, plus three, plus one for Austin Hill. Allgaier lost a spot. Look at the front end for Sanchez. You mentioned Corey Day. Gosh dang. I assume they got to red flag this, because those guys can't all go a lap down. Definitely can't kill the body work. It's a super narrow pit road here, too, Adam. It's one of the narrowest on pit road or in the series. See that right there. I mean, Indy and Rockingham's right in front of St. Louis, but this is a very narrow place when you exit. There's not a lot of room to work. The other thing is, you look at this, when they come down pit road, it looks like the cars are crawling 40 miles an hour here, but look at the damage to the cars when they make contact. Yeah, you just get so acclimated to how fast they're going on the racetrack that, you know, look at the damage, even on pit road. Brandon Jones, another one of the chase drivers, got some damage and is trapped here. Look up top of your screen as they're coming. Turn four part of pit road. Wow. He's not always not going to see anything and definitely not expecting that, man. The tire changer on the 19. Raja Karuth has spun out sideways there. This would be a good view. Watch the 19 tire changers. Oh, my gosh. Oh, they're so lucky. Wow. That was so close to being bad. They have their backs turned. They don't even know that's happening. Almost looks like one of those crew guys might might be injured. You see him limping, trying to walk off right here. We'll get another look at it. I have no idea this is coming right here. So NASCAR is going to work with these teams to get the cars moved, move equipment, and then continue the stops. From an officiating standpoint, you know, we'll just wait and see how everything shakes out. We showed you the race off pit road, and it's good. Obviously, all those drivers were in front of this incident, and all that scoring we feel good about once we get the reset. After that, anybody's guess how all this is going to shake out and, you know, what cars will be able to continue, which ones will have to go behind the wall, onto the DVP, and so on. Let's get 87 team radio, Nick Sanchez and his group. I think they're referencing William Sawalich because when we saw that head-on shot, it almost looked like maybe he had almost passed his box and then tried to slow down to get turned in. I'd like to hear, see if we can find his radio to see what that communication was like. But when he checked up, it just took one car, and then... So watch the 18, I'm going to see if I can find him here. He's going to start veering to the left to come into his box. Play this here. You see Jesse Love pulls out of line right there. There goes Brent Cruz pulling in behind him. And here's the 18, 18's right here. Watch him, see how he turns in and starts to come back out. But I just wonder if he checked up, and then, you know, normally the accident doesn't happen right behind. It's like two or three back that you see it. It was almost like he was turning in, and as he was turning in, Jesse Love's pit crew was coming around, and he hesitated to make sure that he cleared them before he pulled in. And maybe it was just the chain reaction of him checking up, and then everybody else tucked up behind him, nowhere to go. Here's Raja Karuth radio. So I mean, it's kind of what we're saying there. It's like the two or three cars right behind it, they get slowed down, but then it's that accordion effect on, you know, further back, and the fact that it's a narrow pit road, there's also a curve right there, and it happened right at the start of pit road. So it's just so unexpected if you're from the driver's seat. See Sanchez out of his car, and we also got to report everybody, all those crew members on the 19, they're okay. They gave us a thumbs up, and that's the best news to report in this situation, because that was so scary. As we get ready for stage two here in St. Louis. We've had two starts just like this, and Carson's done an incredible job, and it looks to me like Jesse Love's done a much better job getting a little push right there you saw off the front bumper of Sheldon Creed. Sammy Smith trying to make it three wide back there. Love not going away. Inside lane for the lead. Austin Hill up there as well. Down the back straightaway. There goes the one. Jumping out front. Quapel in charge again. Problems for Austin Hill fading back. What's going on there, Dillon? Yeah, he had been dropping back. He's reporting a loose wheel, and they believe it's the right rear, which is the same one that Allgaier had to fix a second time. So they'll come down here under green and try to make sure that they get this tight, but obviously disastrous under green for the 21 who was having a really good night. That's what I was going to say. Biggest difference. You're doing it under green, and this was one of those nights they felt like they needed to survive after having such a good effort in the chase opener last week at Darlington. Meanwhile, his teammate loses a spot, and they are able to get around Jesse Love. Well, the fact that they're doing four tells you they don't know which tire it is. They went ahead and just changed all four tires. Might have thought it was the right rear, but, oh, contact on the left over there. Okay. With Jesse Love. All right, we don't need to get in a pissing match with him. He's been kind of moody all race. Let's just drive right past him. William is catching you. Yeah. You see the 18 behind him. Alfredo finally blew out. We'll see if this produces a caution. We stay green right now. His teammates still having a pretty good night. Parker Retzlaff up there in seventh. Inside of 20 laps to go. Yeah. Consistently the fastest car. And now the wheel and caution lights are on. at it. We'll see if stays undefeated on the restart. Green is out again. Twelve to go on the stage. One jumps away, but the two not going to stop in the turn one when you're kind of vulnerable being the outside of the one hoping that the two doesn't, you know, wash up the racetrack. See right here. He's gonna be able to side draft him now. Down into three. Best. Best restart. The two's had all night long. He's very aggressive. Diving down to the inside. Quopel stays in the outside lane. Jesse Love takes over the race. There he goes. Barely had him cleared right there. Great execution on the restart for Jesse Love. Man that won the championship last year. Got it done at Phoenix. Has not won since. He's going to be a half a lap away from the stage victory. And more importantly, control of this race. Which we know. Can be huge at this place. Hasn't won since he claimed the title at Phoenix. This will be only his fourth stage win of the year. His first since Nashville. A race he thought he could have won. Didn't work out that night. Maybe he can do it in St. Louis. Jesse Love takes stage two. Mayer is second. Quopel third. Let's take a look real quick at this pit stop. Watch Justin come in. I want you to pay attention to the right front tire changer. His job after he takes that tire off is to stand it up. Watch right here. It's going to hit this hose. He's going to knock it over. Then when the jackman or the guy comes around to roll the tire in, he's not ready for it. See it gets him just a little behind. Not too far off. Second half or so. You see all those cars going by Allgaier. Back out ninth right here. It's an all RCR front row. Older tires. Outside lane for Austin Hill who is the control vehicle. Nobody experienced that inside lane on these restarts tonight than Jesse Love. He has been there for every single restart we've had. Austin does a great job, though. Gets a good launch. We'll see how much grip that car has on the older tires. He cooked it off into turn one. I thought he was going to get there, but Love able to sneak through. All clear for the two. He's back in charge. Mayer slides into third. Three wide behind him. down into turn three. That's going to get tight. Number one, Carson Quapel going in the wrong direction on the restart. He's gathered up in that inside lane. Gosh, the 18 is struggling on the start. He had one of the best cars on the last run. The car is just not firing off at all. All right. Thank you, Carla. Wheel and caution lights are on. It's the fifth time we've seen the yellow flag tonight, and it's big for Austin Hill We were knocking on the door of them having to make a pit stop, and here's the reason for the caution. LaVar Scott started at the back tonight. Gets away from him in the 45 and Jesse Love had a three second lead, so it's good for one. It's good for one. RCR driver. Austin Hill gets to make his pit stop from not everybody else. Jesse loves that. I do need no part of a caution right now. He's out to really protect. You seem already kind of fading to the inside, not one Sam Mayer to make it three wide super aggressive. Great job right there. Inside lane prevails. Love takes care of business. Creed's given the one a push down the backstretch, got his teammate Sam Mayer on the inside. Sam's been so good on the bottom all night long. Quapel cleared a second. Creed looking outside of him. It's gonna be a great battle to the end. 48 laps to go to the best cars out front. Jesse Love is the best car. Most recently, Quapel is the best car. First half of this race. So Wallach and day side by side again. There you go. Contact. Oh, no. Guy's gonna get this inside. All guy lost a spot on that cycle of stops. Got a report. The team was frustrated. There we go. So Wallach in today. He crashes. Yeah, but he's he's killed his own race in the process of that. Is that just not worth it? Racing for fifth big damage also to the 18 wheel and caution lights are on for a sixth time tonight. Yeah. Tell that idiot that I wasn't the one into him. Seven was the one pushing me into him. Well, we'll go back and take a look at it right here. I know the seven got into the back of Corey afterwards, but go back, get another look at this real quick and see what we had initially before he gets his inside. This is actually down in three and four. Now they're going to head down into one. All good right here, but all there's quite a ways back right here. But I think when the initial contact happens, you see, or he drives it down the corner. It's on the splitter right there, right here. There's contact. I think that's initially then Justin does get there and it's kind of he's using Corey up a little bit, trying to get to his inside. But then William makes this move right here, and I understand he was mad, but he's not to come to Pit road to and he's he's essentially, you know, run his own race, retaliating on on the 17. Quick programming note. Next race Friday evening on CW from Bristol Motor Speedway. You know, those two crash out about taking advantage of it. All guy up to fifth cruise now being shown in the sixth position. He was able to drive by when all these two got together and in plenty of room right there. Corey just got a little bit loose. Like I say, it looked like I think was on the splitter a little bit with the air pressure being a little bit low and magnified. All this is that when Justin got into Corey's left rear kind of push, trying to push him up the racetrack. You know, if you didn't have the history of last week or what's happened all year long with the 17 and 18, I don't think we would have seen the same result, but not surprised either. Love takes the inside lane again to his outside. Creed is up there. They're the only three chase drivers that haven't had an issue tonight. Got it wound up in the outside lane. The race is off a turn to Oh, and I like the position of the wall. Jesse Love is so loose. Creed's going to cross him over. Quapel back on point. Here comes Creed for second. What a restart for the one wheel and caution lights on again. Seventh time tonight. Few drivers involved. Brad Perez, Josh Bellichi, Joey Gase. You see contact. Brad Bellichi and then Joey Gase just kind of almost got through there. Yeah. Trying to just avoid that. Ends up spinning out right with Anthony Alfredo. Had that damage. Unscheduled pit stop. Going to be 24 to go when we go green. Quapel and Love going at it again. Row two, Creed and Gray. Jesse will have to protect the inside. Gray's done a great job recovering to be inside second row right there. Looks like a really nice launch by the inside again, though. The jump for Quapel. He's got control. And now the battle for second. Creed and Love are there. This is where you get the payoff if you're Creed. Outside lane. The right selection. He is up to second. Turns three and four. This is a great place to be able to do that. Looks exactly like what he's going to do. Watch. He's going to drive right in there. Trying to get him moved up the track. Little contact. Creed now is going to have a run behind him. A little bump. A little run. The race is on for the top spot. Jesse Love inside of Carson Quapel and right behind him, teammates. Creed and Mayer. This is a hard pass to make on the bottom. I don't think Jesse is going to be able to complete it. It's the throttle. Oh, he is. He gets by him. Jesse Love. All clear. Back to the lead. Coming to 15 to go. Two car leading the way at St. Louis. Picked up the championship last year in Phoenix. He was strong on that Saturday night. Hasn't won since. Special this evening and right back in the championship hunt again. The champ is going back to victory lane. Jesse Love, a winner at St. Louis.