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Justin Allgaier Outlasts for O’Reilly Series Title Number Two

Justin Allgaier Outlasts for O'Reilly Series Title Number Two
Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

NASCAR

Justin Allgaier Wins 2026 O’Reilly Series Championship at Homestead

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Seventh proved to be good enough for the No. 7. Justin Allgaier elevated himself to legendary status with a second career O’Reilly Series championship coming at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 40-year-old racer from Illinois now stands alongside the series’ all-time greats as the 10th multi-time champion. Announcing earlier this week that he’s back for more with a multi-year deal, this JR Motorsports team may just be starting a dominant era.

Haas Factory Team led all of the opening Stage between Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer. Behind them, early trouble derailed the night for Corey Day. Chevrolet No. 17 tried clearing himself by Rajah Caruth’s 88 on lap eight. Day did come back out on track laps down, but ultimately finished 34th.

Stage 2 would likewise also be won by Mayer in similar fashion, making a late pass over Creed. Mayer saw a long pit stop after sweeping the stages, however, setting the No. 41 back for the final segment.

Creed held the lead again to start Stage 3, only to be stalked down by Carson Kvapil. After a brief red flag, the last restart saw Kvapil’s No. 1 scoot away again, only to lose ground in the closing laps to Brandon Jones. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran closed the season on top with another win. Behind him, though, but the party was on for seventh-place finisher Justin Allgaier, taking home title number two.

“This mean more than you ever know,” Allgaier said. “It’s obviously not the finish we wanted tonight. We wanted to be in victory lane, but this team never quits. Yeah, for the time that they put in, the pit crew, phenomenal job. The first one was for me, right? The first [championship] I really enjoyed. This one is for all these men and women. They’re sitting around back here and they have worked their tails off and to be honest with you, these two, my wife, my parents, everybody, it means so much. And, congrats to Kaden [Honeycutt] last night, obviously. He did a great job and congrats to all the guys in The Chase this year. It was super fun, but really proud of our whole team. Everybody on this Brandt Professional Agriculture Chevrolet. Andrew Overstreet, first championship is a crew chief, so that’s really cool for him.”

“There’s so many people that have stood behind me and tonight, it was a battle, you know. Idiot driver, I knocked the fence down too many times. I said before the race I wasn’t going to do that and I did that anyways. Like I said, hats off to this whole team. Yeah, just so proud of everybody. It’s understated, so it’s been pretty special tonight.”

“You know, it was a cool year for us. To add O’Reilly Auto Parts as the primary sponsor of our sport. Thought I was going to do a one-and-done with them as a primary and here we are standing in this achievement. So I’m going to enjoy the 2X in front of that patch next year. But I’m just so proud of what we’ve accomplished. I can’t wait to celebrate with these guys. This is a family sport for me and if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here. And I’m very proud of that. And, you know, we’re going to enjoy this one for sure.”

NASCAR Championship Weekend wraps on Sunday with the Cup Series season finale. The green flag flies from Homestead-Miami Speedway at 3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Justin Allgaier now shifts focus to soon begin another title defense season. He will ty to become the first man ever to three O’Reilly Series championships.

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