NASCAR
Justin Allgaier Takes 30th Career O’Reilly Win at Darlington
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Coming into the weekend with Darlington Raceway tied as his winningest track, Justin Allgaier flexed his muscles on The Lady in Black. Despite not leading until the final stage, the No. 7 picks up a record-tying victory on the historic track
From the pole, the JR Motorsports No. 88 of Kyle Larson remained perfect through both opening stages. Larson, a two-time past Darlington winner between both Cup and O’Reilly, was out front unopposed for the opening 94 laps. Each stage win for Larson came by more than three seconds.
Larson only ever lost ground on pit road after the stages, where the No. 88 exited pit road second but soon found the top spot again. This sequence would repeat itself during the final trip down pit road as well. This time though, Larson would be put back to fifth. This gave restart control to Justin Allgaier, who soon dispatched of Brandon Jones and drove off to a fourth Darlington triumph. The now 30-time Saturday race winner was quick to give credit to others for this victory.
“These guys have never quit all year—they won the race,” Allgaier said. “They’ve never given up. They were on top of it all day on pit road. We definitely weren’t the best all day. Kyle [Larson] obviously was amazing. He had us covered… I didn’t do a very good job with it all day, if I’m being honest with you. Probably one of the worst days personally I’ve had here at Darlington.”
“At the end there, I was worried about Brandon [Jones]. He had a fast car—and I was worried that the 19 (Christopher Bell) and the 88 (Larson) were going to get through the traffic there.”
“Nobody will ever know, the later you get into your career, how much these victories mean. And to come at Darlington, a place I’ve loved for so long, is really special.”
Behind Allgaier and Jones at the finish were: Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, and Carson Kvapil. The rest of the Darlington top-10 were: Corey Day, Sheldon Creed, Parker Retzlaff, Sammy Smith, and Sam Mayer. Hear a few of these drivers’ post-race thoughts below.
Today’s runner-up @BrandonJonesRac thought the inside line would work, but praises his pit crew on gaining multiple spots all day today. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/YoaJzR2uIW
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) March 21, 2026
.@CBellRacing walks through his race after a 3rd-place effort from @TooToughToTame #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/8DT3UVoXWf
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) March 21, 2026
.@KyleLarsonRacin talks through what happened on that last run after losing ground on pit road. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/4hxe179Cw4
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) March 21, 2026
.@Carson_Kvapil leaves Darlington with a strong top-5 result after multiple handling issues all day today. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/v9qcNpsuth
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) March 21, 2026
.@corey_day_ has another strong result in Darlington with a 6th-place result. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/ZbAVjAfdf8
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) March 21, 2026
30 career O’Reilly Series wins for Allgaier ties Joey Logano for seventh on the all-time victories list. Allgaier will try and keep JR Motorsports’ winning ways alive next week at Martinsville Speedway. The NFPA 250 goes green Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo credits to Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
