NASCAR
Justin Allgaier Takes Third Career O’Reilly Win, Points Lead From Phoenix Raceway
AVONDALE, Ariz. – One of the best ever in O’Reilly Series history showed his mastery yet again at one of his favorite tracks. Although reigning champion Jesse Love led much of the GOVX 200, Justin Allgaier came to life and pounced late. Now a three-time desert victor, Allgaier also inherits top spot in the championship standings with his maiden win of 2026.
Showing dominance continued from last November’s championship race, Jesse Love soon found the lead and hardly looked back. The Richard Childress Racing No. 2 Chevrolet was only one position off from a max-points night, losing Stage 1 to Sammy Smith. In total, Love would pace the way for 114 laps, but lost ground on a pit cycle.
Costly crash for @JoeGibbsRacing results in another caution. pic.twitter.com/ltDwvcWYsU
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) March 8, 2026
Thanks to a restart with 15 laps left, Love was able to regain the top spot but soon had a new challenger. Restarting sixth, Justin Allgaier’s Chevrolet fired off very strong, taking the lead away from Love. With 10 flawless laps from the No. 7, he drove off to a third desert triumph. This also marked a birthday win for the 7’s new crew chief Andrew Overstreet.
“Just so proud of this team,” Allgaier said. “You know, Andrew Overstreet has done a great job taking over. And he’s been telling me all week, ‘this is our house, and we’re gonna go take it.’ And it wasn’t for lack of adversity. It seems like those are the ones that really are great for us, but I am really proud of this team, everyone in the 7 team. And we had an issue in that first pit stop, and these boys rebounded, did a great job. Brandt Professional Agriculture, I cannot say enough. Thank you to Rick, Sierra, Chrissy, everybody at Brandt, for just just how great that you’ve been to me. How all of our partners, Registix, Jarrett, Tufco, Arby’s, Hellmann’s, I’m forgetting a bunch of people that are part of this. Obviously Chevrolet, the Hendrick Engine Shop, just everybody that works in this car, I’m so proud.”
“It was my 20th wedding anniversary this week, and my wife and kids are not here, so I’m sad for that. But what a great battle there with Jesse. You know, I just knew we had to go on that last restart and we did that, so it never gets old winning, especially, first one for me here in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series with the new name. So, hats off to them for being a part of this great sport. We just got a lot of momentum, and this next part of the summer is really fun for us. Yeah, good time to get a win for sure, just an old guy, our Phoenix win number three.”
Behind Allgaier and Love at the finish were: Carson Kvapil, Sheldon Creed, and Sam Mayer. The rest of the Phoenix top-10 were: Sammy Smith, Jeb Burton, Rajah Caruth, Corey Day, and Anthony Alfredo.
Across his O’Reilly Series career, Allgaier is now a 29-time winner. This ties Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth for eighth-most all-time. Allgaier and the No. 7 team have also visited victory lane for 10-straight seasons, a new series record. With this Phoenix desert duel triumph, the 7 is now number one atop the points by three over Love.
The @NASCAROReillyAP Chase standings after four races of the 2026 season.
20 races are left in their regular season, now with @J_Allgaier as the points leader. #GOVX200 #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/dWCHZXwh3F
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) March 8, 2026
Allgaier will try and go back-to-back next week at a track he won last year–Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The LiUNA! marks race five of the O’Reilly Series season, and may see a fifth different winner in 2026. The green flag flies Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET on The CW, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
