Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones took the lead with 14 laps remaining and pulled away to a nearly four-second victory in Saturday night’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway – impressively delivering Toyota its 700th win in NASCAR competition.
Just behind all the admirable work out front, JR Motorsports Justin Allgaier claimed his own hardware – his seventh-place finish in the No. 7 JRM Chevrolet good enough to earn the 2026 series championship trophy; his second title in the last three years which makes him the first driver in the storied JRM history to claim multiple championships.
Five drivers came into the night mathematically eligible to decide the title and Allgaier’s four closest contenders certainly kept him honest. All but one of those drivers (Hendrick Motorsports’ Corey Day) led laps. Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed led a race best 99 of the 200 laps, the most laps he’s ever been in front in a single race.
But the 40-year-old Allgaier did exactly what he needed to, if not pacing the field at least keeping the leaders in sight. A career best six-win season and just enough of a points advantage at the drop of the green flag kept him tops at the wave of the checkered flag too.
“Means more than you’ll ever know,” Allgaier said. “It’s obviously not the finish we wanted tonight. Wanted to be in Victory Lane. But this team never quits.”
Not only did the championship contenders deliver a suspenseful action-packed night at the 1.5-mile South Florida track, but the 29-year-old Jones – also a Chase driver – reminded that he expects to be part of that title mix going forward too. The win – by 3.937-seconds over JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil – marked his second of the year (also at Chicago) and ninth of his career putting the driver of the No. 20 JGR Toyota eighth in the championship points standings.
“There were so many cool positives to come out of today, first of all knocking Toyota’s 700th win out of the park, and it’s so cool to be a part of these big moments for this company,” Jones said.
“I would say we weren’t really the best car to begin this race,” he continued. “We were capable of running inside the top-five and top-10 and we consistently made better gains on the car all night long. Our long run pace was really our strong suit tonight, but this track can produce these long runs like we saw tonight. … luckily it played out for us tonight.
“Just an incredible way to cap the year off.” Jones said. “Looking forward to having a couple months off, couldn’t ask for a better way to end the year.”
JGR’s Brent Crews, 19, finished third with championship contender, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love finishing fourth and Viking Motorsports’ Parker Retzlaff rounding out the top-five.
Despite his massive time out front of the field, Creed finished sixth, followed by Allgaier, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer and William Sawalich.
“There’s a thousand different things that could have gone differently to gain us those 15 points,” the RCR driver and reigning series champ Love said of the margin he trailed Allgaier coming into the race. “I feel that at the end of the day obviously it stings, right? It’s a painful thing to go through, losing and it being close.
“I was obviously upset getting out of the car. When I get to be around our group of guys on the 2 car, a lot more happiness and gratefulness kind of overwhelms me than the sting of the loss,” added Love, who ultimately came 14 points shy of becoming a back-to-back champ before moving to the Wood Brothers Racing team next year to campaign in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“This closes out a big chapter in my life over the last three years that I’m going to miss tremendously, but I’ll always be grateful for it.”
Allgaier was similarly emotional. He claimed his first title only two seasons ago, but conceded this one gives off decidedly different vibes. At 40 years old, he is the second oldest series champion since Tommy Ellis hoisted the big trophy as a 41-year-old back in 1988. And the Illinois-native and hugely popular personality in the garage had openly discussed retiring from fulltime competition as recently as this pre-season.
Instead, he stayed on the grid with his beloved parents, wife and two daughters trackside to witness Saturday’s cherished title victory.
“The first one was for me and the first one I really enjoyed,” Allgaier said of the 2024 championship. “But this one is for all these men and women standing back here. They have worked their tail off.
“These two, my wife, my parents, everybody you mentioned, it means so much. … Congrats to all the guys in the Chase this year. It was super fun. Really proud of our whole team. Everybody knows [longtime sponsor] Brandt and our culture at Chevrolet. Andrew Overstreet, first championship as a crew chief. That’s really cool for him.”
Allgaier’s NASCAR Hall of Fame team co-owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was understandably proud. Not only did Allgaier take the title, but his 23-year-old teammate Kvapil finished third in the championship, 28 points behind. Creed was fourth in the standings, 33 points back and the 20-year-old Day, who crashed only seven laps into the race, was an impressive fifth claiming four wins in his first full season.
Chevrolet earned the series’ manufacturer’s title.
“Obviously we’re thrilled with the way this season went, [crew chief Andrew] Overstreet did a great job, the pit crew did a great job, Hendrick engines did an awesome job,” a smiling Earnhardt Jr. said. “Been a really strong season for all of our cars and looking forward to next season, let’s go win some more. But we’re going to celebrate this one.
“This is a special night.”
— NASCAR Wire Service —
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points, Owner Points, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.