Anyone who questioned the Carson Kvapil-Rodney Childers pairing should no longer have any doubts about JR Motorsports’ decision to put the two together as they recorded their second straight victory in Iowa Speedway’s Hyvee Perks 250 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.
In Saturday’s race that ended in double overtime, Kvapil led the final nine laps, holding off teammate Rajah Caruth whose second-place finish was his career best.
It was the third O’Reilly Series race in the last four to have an overtime finish.
“I felt like we were not the greatest in the first two Stages, and then Rodney did his touches to it, and he turned us into a race winning car,” Kvapil said.
Kvapil endured a 63-race winless streak before claiming his first career victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway two weeks ago. At Iowa, he didn’t appear to be a victory contender as JR Motorsports teammate and standings leader Justin Allgaier dominated the event, leading twice for 83 laps in the 260-lap race. However, five caution flags in the final Stage’s first 32 laps adversely affected Allgaier’s pit strategy.
“We made a different strategy call there and I’ll take the blame for it if it didn’t end up working out, but I thought we were going to be where we needed to be at the checkers,” Allgaier said.
Allgaier pitted from the lead on lap 185 during the race’s ninth caution flag. That left him 24th on the restart with 61 laps remaining in the scheduled 250-lap race. When the green flag waved for the restart Allgaier charged to 14th on the first lap.
When the race’s 10th caution period ended on lap 201, Allgaier was 11th. While Allgaier maneuvered through the field, Kvapil focused on running down leader Ross Chastain, who was in his final race for JR Motorsports. With 20 laps remaining, Chastain was first, Kvapil second and Allgaier fifth. With five laps to go, Kvapil
had cut his deficit to Chastain to 0.582-second and Allgaier was closing from third.
Then Jeb Burton cut a tire, triggering the race’s 11th caution flag on lap 246. That sent the race into overtime. When the field lined up for the restart, Chastain took the outside and Kvapil chose the inside. Allgaier lined up behind Chastain. It appeared the win would be decided among the three JR Motorsports cars, but then chaos broke out on the restart. Brent Crews’ Toyota broke loose, slammed into Ryan Sieg, knocked him into Allgaier and then Crews hit Allgaier. When the smoke cleared, eight cars were involved and the race went into its second overtime.
Allgaier confronted Crews after the race.
“I told Brent you’re way too good of a racer to make mistakes like that,” Allgaier told the CW. “I got a big tag there on that restart and kinda got shoved to the top. It’s a shame that we didn’t have a chance to race for it.
“It’s my daughter’s 13th birthday today … I really, really wanted to go to victory lane for her. Disappointed that didn’t happen.”
For the second overtime restart, Kvapil chose the outside and Chastain the inside with Austin Hill, William Sawalich, Taylor Gray and Dean Thompson behind him.
Chastain found himself dealing with Sawalich while Caruth shot past both of them and into second. He finished 0.343-second behind Kvapil.
“I think we were not very good the first two Stages and I think we got respectable there in Stage 3,” Caruth said. “We were chasing the balance all day and the restarts kind of worked out for us. I was trying to just be the closest to the front because you never know how they’ll shake out and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. It worked out for us today.”
Caruth is now one of six drivers vying for four positions in The Chase with one race remaining in the regular season. Joining Caruth are Gray, Crews, Sawalich, Sam Mayer and Parker Retzlaff. The top 12 drivers in the standings advance into The Chase. Caruth is 15 points below the cutoff while Gray is one point outside the top 12. Sawalich and Mayer are tied in the standings and are 18 points behind Mayer, who trails Retzlaff by 27 points.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race Results Hy-Vee Perks 250
Iowa Speedway
Newton, Iowa
Saturday, August 8, 2026
1. (3) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 260.
2. (4) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 260.
3. (17) William Sawalich, Toyota, 260.
4. (2) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 260.
5. (6) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 260.
6. (14) Nick Sanchez, Chevrolet, 260.
7. (13) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 260.
8. (27) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 260.
9. (16) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 260.
10. (26) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 260.
11. (28) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 260.
12. (21) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 260.
13. (10) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 260.
14. (15) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 260.
15. (20) Carson Brown, Chevrolet, 260.
16. (18) Brent Crews #, Toyota, 260.
17. (9) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 260.
18. (22) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, 260.
19. (19) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 260.
20. (25) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 260.
21. (23) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 260.
22. (34) Joey Gase, Ford, 260.
23. (32) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 260.
24. (5) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 260.
25. (31) Nathan Byrd, Chevrolet, 260.
26. (30) Derek Lemke(i), Chevrolet, 259.
27. (12) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 259.
28. (24) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, 259.
29. (33) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 258.
30. (7) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 257.
31. (35) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 257.
32. (36) Tyler Tomassi, Toyota, 256.
33. (1) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, Accident, 252.
34. (29) Mason Maggio, Chevrolet, Suspension, 231.
35. (11) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 200.
36. (8) Corey Day, Chevrolet, Accident, 193.
37. (37) Carson Ware, Chevrolet, Accident, 164.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 83.418 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 43 Mins, 38 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.343 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 12 for 72 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Sieg 1-65;S. Creed 66-101;J. Allgaier 102-178;S. Mayer 179;J. Allgaier 180-185;J. Burton 186-188;R. Chastain(i) 189-251;C. Kvapil 252-260.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Justin Allgaier 2 times for 83 laps; Ryan Sieg 1 time for 65 laps; Ross Chastain(i) 1 time for 63 laps; Sheldon Creed 1 time for 36 laps; Carson Kvapil 1 time for 9 laps; Jeb Burton 1 time for 3 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 39,7,00,9,8,41,1,20,17,18
Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,00,8,39,41,17,19,18,21,88
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.