Carson Kvapil Wins at Martinsville as Justin Allgaier Takes O’Reilly Series Points Lead

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Carson Kvapil won Saturday’s National Debt Relief 250 at Martinsville Speedway, and Justin Allgaier finished second to take the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase lead with one race left.

Allgaier leads Jesse Love by 22 points and Corey Day by 23 heading into the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, November 7. Love came into Martinsville leading Allgaier by 19 points.

O’Reilly Series Chase standings after Martinsville

1. Justin Allgaier, 2,436
2. Jesse Love, -22
3. Corey Day, -23
4. Carson Kvapil, -31
5. Sheldon Creed, -42
6. Sam Mayer, -97
7. Sammy Smith, -107
8. Taylor Gray, -159
9. Brandon Jones, -183
10. Austin Hill, -197
11. Parker Retzlaff, -210
12. Rajah Caruth, -231

How Kvapil won

Day, on a different pit strategy from the other leaders, was in front when the race went back green with 78 laps to go. After Daniel Dye was sent into the wall to bring out another caution with 75 to go, Kvapil took the lead from Day on the restart.

Allgaier climbed from eighth to third in the closing laps and cleared Day for second with 36 to go, but by then Kvapil had pulled out a lead of more than 3.6 seconds. Kvapil held on for the win, Allgaier finished second and Day was third.

Kvapil and Allgaier both drive for JR Motorsports.

Love’s nightmare day

Love, the points leader coming in, finished fifth in Stage 1, then had almost everything go wrong. He got blocked in his pit stall, took damage in two incidents that left a tire rubbing and finished 22nd in Stage 2, outside the points. He pitted three times and restarted 32nd for the final stage.

In the final stage, he had a cut water line, and his team could not get the water pressure back even after several stops. He worked his way up to 16th before he lost his brakes with 31 laps to go and hit the wall hard.

Stages

Allgaier won Stage 1, which ended under caution four laps early after Harrison Burton and Jeremy Clements brought out a yellow. Creed, Brandon Jones, Kvapil and Love completed the top five.

Anthony Alfredo won Stage 2, which also ended under caution, with Allgaier second. Day stayed out for track position and finished fourth in the stage.

Trouble for Hill and Day

Hill cut a tire and was eight laps down at the end of Stage 1. Day stayed on the lead lap after contact with Brent Crews in the first stage, but a pit road penalty sent him to the rear.

What’s next

Five drivers are within 42 points of the lead going into Homestead. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series finale is Saturday, November 7, at Homestead-Miami Speedway.