Shane van Gisbergen escapes late-race chaos to win O’Reilly race at COTA: With a bold, brilliant move moment after the final restart of Saturday’s Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas, Shane van Gisbergen once again exhibited his road course supremacy.(Read more)(2-28-2026)

Leading a race-high 31 laps, #9-Shane van Gisbergen survived the late-race chaos and won the Focused Health 250 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Circuit of The Americas. It’s his fifth career victory in the series and first at COTA.
Stage 1 winner #21-Austin Hill finished second in the event, leading four laps. #8-Sammy Smith, #2-Jesse Love and #17-Corey Day, who upset a couple of drivers in the process, round out the top five.
#19-Brent Crews, #18-William Sawalich, #7-Justin Allgaier, #32-Ross Chastain and #44-Brennan Poole complete the top 10.
#41-Sam Mayer won Stage 2, but was involved in a incident with five laps remaining, dropping to 14th at the checkered flag.
There were 16 lead changes among eight drivers and four cautions for 12 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 70.411 mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.

COTA Paint Schemes

Race Fast Facts – Circuit of The Americas:
Shane Van Gisbergen(i) won the Focused Health 250, his fifth victory in 37 O’Reilly Series races.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2026.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in two races at Circuit of The Americas.
Austin Hill (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in five races at Circuit of The Americas. It is his second top-10 finish in 2026.
Sammy Smith (third) posted his second top-10 finish in four races at Circuit of The Americas.
Lavar Scott (22nd) was the highest finishing rookie.
Austin Hill leads the point standings by 28 points over Jesse Love.

O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase Standings after COTA (Race 3 of 33):
1)#21-Austin Hill 154, +85
2)#2-Jesse Love 126, +57
3)#7-Justin Allgaier 115, +46
4)#00-Sheldon Creed 106, +37
5)#91-Carson Kvapil 95, +26
6)#88-Rajah Caruth 90, +21
7)#8-Sammy Smith 86, +17
8)#17-Corey Day 86, +17
9)#99-Parker Retzlaff 81, +12
10)#41-Sam Mayer 78, +9
11)#20-Brandon Jones 73, +4
12)#44-Brennan Poole 70, +1
Currently below cutline
13)#54-Taylor Gray 69, -1
14)#18-William Sawalich 66, -4
15)#48-Patrick Staropoli 60, -10
16)#31-Plaine Perkins 57, -13
See the Driver Points Standings and Owner Points Standings.

Race Updates:
Lap 65: #9-van Gisbergen wins at COTA, his first victory at the 2.4-mile track. #21-Hill, #8-Smith, #2-Love, #17-Day, #19-Crews, #18-Sawalich, #7-Allgaier, #32-Chastain and #44-Poole are the rest of the top 10.
Lap 62: #17-Day misjudges the esses and gets into the rear of #1-Zilisch who clobbers the wall.
Lap 61: #41-Mayer lost control entering Turn 6, with #91-Kvapil and #88-Caruth piling in.
Lap 61: #24-Burton spun through the esses after contact with #54-Gray and was clipped by #51-Clements while stalled in the middle of the track. #02-Ellis also received damage.
Lap 60: #9-van Gisbergen sneaks through to the lead after restarting sixth. #41-Smith, #8-Smith and #25-Sanchez all went wide entering Turn 1, leaving the bottom open.
Lap 58: The majority of the field pits for fresh tires. #8-Smith leads the race off pit road, followed by #41-Mayer, #2-Love and #9-van Gisbergen. #25-Sanchez and #7-Allgaier stayed out to get track position.
Lap 56: #55-Karam is stalled in the grass to bring out the caution with nine laps remaining. #42-Perez jumped into the car, replacing #42-Yeley who got sick earlier in the race.
Lap 55: #9-van Gisbergen leads #2-Love by 1.9 seconds with 10 laps remaining. #8-Smith, #21-Hill and #19-Crews fill out the top five. #17-Day and #18-Sawalich make contact while battling for seventh position. #55-Karam has a broken left-front suspension part and is limping around the track.
Lap 54: #87-Green is having transmission issues, stuck in fourth gear. #48-Staropoli drove hard into Turn 6 and pushes #02-Ellis into the barriers.
Lap 52: #54-Gray got loose entering Turn 6, dropping five spots to 12th. #1-Zilisch is challenging for a top 10 position in 11th, gaining 18 spots since the restart.
Lap 51: #7-Allgaier has a flat right-front tire and makes an unscheduled pit stop.
Lap 49: #91-Kvapil has raced back to 10th position after restarting 20th on fresher tires.
Lap 47: #45-Scott checked up not to run into #20-Jones and got spun by #39-Sieg, battling outside the top 20.
Lap 46: #9-van Gisbergen and #2-Love have begun pulling away from the field. #8-Smith is third, 2.3 seconds off the lead. #41-Mayer is being pressured by #21-Hill for fourth position.
Lap 45: #9-van Gisbergen makes a three-wide move on #41-Mayer and #2-Love to take the lead through Turns 18 and 19.
Lap 44: #41-Mayer keeps the lead on the restart, with #2-Love handing on to second spot. #9-van Gisbergen files in third, with #8-Smith and #21-Hill rounding out the top five.
Lap 42: #1-Zilisch has a broken right-rear brake rotor. The JR Motorsports team is replacing it during the stage break.
Lap 40: #41-Mayer wins Stage 1, his first stage victory of the season. #7-Allgaier, #91-Kvapil, #2-Love, #91-van Gisbergen, #21-Hill, #8-Smith, #20-Jones, #32-Chastain and #39-Sieg earn stage points. #25-Sanchez makes contact with #26-Thompson after the green-white-checkered flag was displayed.
Lap 38: #41-Mayer takes the lead through Turns 14 and 15. #7-Allgaier is challenging #91-Kvapil for the runner-up spot.
Lap 38: #41-Mayer jumps three spots through Turn 1, sitting behind #91-Kvapil for the race lead with two laps remaining in the stage.
Lap 36: #41-Mayer wins the race off pit road, ahead of #9-van Gisbergen. Eight cars stay out, led by #91-Kvapil, #20-Jones, #39-Sieg, #27-Burton and #7-Allgaier.
Lap 34: #30-Leguizamon wrecks hard into the tire barriers entering Turn 1 to bring out the caution.
Lap 32: #1-Zilisch continues to fall back through the field, dropping to 17th position. #7-Allgaier pits for fresh tires. #41-Mayer slides by #8-Smith for second entering Turn 6, 1.5 seconds behind race leader #9-van Gisbergen.
Lap 31: #41-Mayer has driven up to third after restarting the stage outside the top 10.
Lap 29: #9-van Gisbergen takes the lead through Turn 6. #8-Smith and #00-Creed power by #19-Crews. Crews got loose while battling Creed and spun him out. Creed has dropped to 15th position.
Lap 27: #9-van Gisbergen passes #1-Zilisch for the runner-up spot, who locks up his right-front tire and slips back to fifth position.
Lap 26: #19-Crews pushes #8-Smith wide in Turn 1 and fades back to fourth position.
Lap 25: #19-Crews makes a dive bomb on #9-van Gisbergen and #1-Zilisch to take the race lead in a three-wide move.
Lap 24: #9-van Gisbergen will lead the field back to green with #1-Zilisch, #19-Crews, #00-Creed and #8-Smith are the top five. #32-Chastain, #54-Gray, #24-Burton, #26-Thompson, #25-Sanchez, #31-Perkins and #50-Pardus all flipped the stage.
Lap 20: #21-Hill wins Stage 1, his third stage victory of the season. #41-Mayer, #7-Allgaier, #20-Jones, #2-Love, #91-Kvapil, #17-Day, #87-Green, #88-Caruth and #9-van Gisbergen earn stage points.
Lap 18: #9-van Gisbergen takes the lead back from #1-Zilisch prior to both hitting pit road with two laps remaining in the stage. #21-Hill stays out to go for points. #7-Allgaier, #41-Mayer, #20-Jones and #2-Love are the top five.
Lap 17: #19-Crews, #00-Creed, #54-Gray, #32-Chastain, #24-Burton, #26-Thompson, #25-Burton, #31-Perkins and #50-Pardus pit to flip the stage.
Lap 16: With pit stops looming for some of the frontrunners, #1-Zilisch and #1-9-van Gisbergen have put eight seconds in front of third-place #21-Hill. #8-Smith is the first car to dip to pit road.
Lap 13: #19-Crews passes his teammate #20-Jones to become the lead Toyota in the field.
Lap 11: #1-Zilisch continues to lead. #30-Leguizamon stalled after spinning between Turns 19 and 20 but powers on.
Lap 8: #35-Hill has lost power and is coasting back to the pit area.
Lap 7: #32-Chastain flat-spotted his right-front tire while racing #54-Gray for 16th position.
Lap 5: #1-Zilisch passes #9-van Gisbergen for the lead entering Turn 1. #41-Mayer has raced into the top five, passing #20-Jones and #91-Kvapil.
Lap 4: #9-van Gisbergen and #1-Zilisch have gaped the field, with #21-Hill nearly four seconds back in third position.
Lap 3: #51-Clements spun through the esses in Turn 5 and rolls through the gravel trap.
Lap 2: #7-Allgaier takes third spot from #21-Hill, with #91-Kvapil closing in on the battle.
Lap 1: #9-van Gisbergen takes the lead from #1-Zilisch through the esses on the opening lap to lead in his 10th straight road-course start. On the initial start, #18-Sawalich got into the rear of #87-Green and has significant front-end damage.

Cars to the rear: #35-Austin J Hill, #99 Parker Retzlaff (engine change)

Race Information:
Broadcast: CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 65 laps / 156 miles
Stages: 20 / 40 / 65
Average time of race: 2:13:32
Pit road speed: 40 mph
Caution car speed: 45 mph
Fuel Window: 28 laps

Pit-Stall Selections

For the second straight season, #1-Connor Zilisch won the pole for the Focused Health 250 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Circuit of The Americas (88.398 mph). It’s the 10th pole of his career, and the eighth time in nine road-course starts that he’s started on the front row.
JR Motorsports swept the front row with #9-Shane van Gisbergen qualifying second (88.209 mph). #21-Austin Hill will line up third (87.841 mph), with #20-Brandon Jones (87.762 mph) and #7-Justin Allgaier (87.661 mph) rounding out the top five.
#91-Carson Kvapil will start sixth, with #19-Brent Crews, #41-Sam Mayer, #00-Sheldon Creed and #8-Sammy Smith complete the top 10.
Did Not Qualify: #5-Tyler Gonzalez, #91-Josh Williams.
See the complete COTA Starting Lineup and Qualifying Results.

Qualifying Fast Facts — Circuit of The Americas:
Connor Zilisch(i) won the Pole Award for the Focused Health 250 with a lap of 97.74 seconds, 88.398 mph.
This is his 10th pole in 37 NASCAR O’Reilly Series races.
This is his first pole and first top-10 start in 2026.
This is his second pole in two races at Circuit of The Americas.
Shane Van Gisbergen(i) (second) posted his first top-10 start of 2026 and his second in two races at Circuit of The Americas.
Austin Hill (third) posted his second top-10 start at Circuit of The Americas. It is his second in three races this season.
Lavar Scott (31st) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

Qualifying Order

Practice for the Focused Health 250 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Circuit of The Americas race at EchoPark Speedway is complete. The top five, slowest, news and notes:
#41-Sam Mayer 87.532 mph
#00-Sheldon Creed 87.441 mph
#87-Austin Green 87.419 mph
#2-Jesse Love 87.049 mph
#96-Anthony Alfredo 96.690 mph
Slowest: #5 Tyler Gonzalez 61.840 mph
Most laps run: #17-Corey Day, 21
Best 10 consecutive lap avg (of 3 drivers): #54-Taylor Gray 84.393 mph.
Notes: In the opening minute, #25-Nick Sanchez went off course in the esses and got stuck in the gravel. The red flag was displayed halfway through the session when #35-Austin J Hill blew an engine. #1-Connor Zilisch had a flat right-front tire go flat late in the session. #9-van Gisbergen had an alternator issue and the team will replace it before qualifying.
See full COTA Practice Results.

Crew Rosters

Goodyear Tire Notes: O’Reilly Auto Parts Series teams will run the road course tire Goodyear introduced for last season’s July race at Sonoma Raceway, which also saw action at Watkins Glen International, Portland International Raceway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.

There are 40 drivers/teams on the entry list for the Focused Health 250 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Circuit of The Americas. Two cars will miss the race. Notables: #0-Alex Labbe, #1-Connor Zilisch, #5 Tyler Gonzalez, #9-Shane van Gisbergen, #19-Brent Crews, #30-Blatazar Leguizamon, #32-Ross Chastain, #35-Austin J. Hill, #42-JJ Yeley, #50-Preston Pardus, #55-Sage Karam, #91-Carson Kvapil.
See the full COTA Entry List.

COTA At-Track Schedule

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Race rules and information: (Will be updated for 2026 as needed).

• Inspection Penalty Protocol
• Pit Road Penalties
• Pit Road Speeds
• Points Explanation
• Qualifying Procedures