Carson Kvapil earned a big win at Martinsville on Saturday, keeping his title hopes alive as JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier finished second and took over the championship lead.
Behind the JRM 1-2, Corey Day finished third, Brandon Jones fourth, and Sam Mayer fifth. Sheldon Creed, Sammy Smith, William Sawalich, Brent Crews, and Taylor Gray filled out the rest of the top ten.
“I knew we had a really fast Bass Pro Shop Chevrolet,” said Kvapil. “Rodney [Childers, crew chief] really worked hard. Rodney and everyone on this one team really worked hard from our spring race to come back with a better race car, and something that had some forward drive off the corner. Managed to qualify pole and that was cool. But just kind of had a rough race in between the beginning of Stage 1 to the end there. Just kept getting shuffled back and couldn’t really do anything right. We made the call to come in early, which in turn made us stay out on older tires later.
“But it just really worked out. Rodney and everyone on that team made the right call. It’s super cool to have Johnny [Morris, owner of Bass Pro Shops] here for a win. It’s pretty awesome. Just super excited. Winning is always great. But finally getting one at a track where I feel like I’m really good at is really cool.”
Jesse Love, who entered this race in control of the championship, finished 30th after losing brakes and crashing into the wall. He will go into the finale 22 points behind Allgaier, with Day 23 points back, Kvapil 31 points back, and Creed 42 points back.
Watch: Carson Kvapil reflects on whirlwind last 12 months
Stage 1
Kvapil led the race from pole position, and the first issue of the night involved Austin Hill, who was forced to pit under green with a flat tire.
The first caution quickly followed, with Emerling and Staropoli spinning. A handful of cars came down pit road, including Day, which proved notable a few laps later.
On the restart, Smith got into Scott, spinning him up into Ellis and Day, triggering a multi-car pileup. Crews was also collected in the Turn 1 incident.
The race went back green with just seven laps to go, and Creed quickly made it three-wide for the lead. Kvapil backed out and Allgaier took control of the race.
The stage ended early as Clements and H. Burton spun, courtesy of some contact from Mayer.
Allgaier won Stage 1, followed by Creed, Jones, Kvapil, Love, J. Burton, Retzlaff, Alfredo, Mayer, and Sawalich.
Stage 2
Those who pitted during the earlier cautions cycled to the front, leaving about 15 cars ahead of Allgaier. Mayer and Sawalich led the way, with Mayer maintaining control over the field.
As Allgaier marched back through the field, he nearly got turned off the nose of Pulliam as he tried to clear up in front of him.
The next caution was for Harrison Burton and Dye going for a spin, thanks to Harrison’s cousin Jeb Burton. This created a split strategy, as Day led six cars that stayed out and Mayer led a larger group into the pits.
This is when things started to go awry for Love, as he got boxed into his stall.
Alfredo took the lead from Day on the restart, as Love was told to ‘go like hell’ by his crew chief. Well, in his attempt to make up for lost ground, Love picked up a tire rub.
Alfredo won Stage 2, followed by Allgaier, Crews, Day, S. Smith, Sawalich, Tay. Gray, Creed, Poole, and Caruth.
Stage 3
Love had an extended stop during the stage break to work on his car. A rash of yellows followed, which included a spin by Smithley, another spin by Emerling, and then a third caution involving both. Maggio squeezed Smithley into the wall at the exit of Turn 2, who then sent Maggio spinning down the backstretch. Emerling had nowhere to go and slammed into Maggio as they crashed into the inside wall.
This led to a red flag for a lengthy cleanup, as Love reported a water line issue.
Allgaier pitted from the lead once the race went back to yellow-flag conditions, while Day stayed out and took over the race lead.
Day led Kvapil on the restart, while Dye got pushed into the wall in a hard crash that triggered the tenth caution of the race.
The next yellow followed soon after, with Clements spinning. Finally, they got some green-flag running after that. Kvapil continued to lead, and Allgaier finally worked his way forward, reaching second by the time the next caution flew.
That yellow flag was for the driver who entered this race with the championship lead, as Love lost brakes and slammed into the wall.
There was a spin mid-pack for Thompson, but the race remained green as he got back rolling.
Kvapil continued to lead, with Allgaier and Day following. However, no one could put real pressure on him. Kvapil took the checkered flag 0.434s ahead of his teammate, earning his third win of the 2026 season.
Watch: Kvapil honored to deliver Rodney Childers first grandfather clock
1
C. Kvapil JR Motorsports
1
Chevrolet
250
5
2
J. Allgaier JR Motorsports
7
Chevrolet
250
0.434
6
3
C. Day Hendrick Motorsports
17
Chevrolet
250
3.943
7
4
B. Jones Joe Gibbs Racing
20
Toyota
250
0.220
6
5
S. Mayer Haas Factory Team
41
Chevrolet
250
1.869
7
6
S. Creed Haas Factory Team
00
Chevrolet
250
0.250
6
7
S. Smith JR Motorsports
8
Chevrolet
250
2.017
7
8
W. Sawalich Joe Gibbs Racing
18
Toyota
250
0.443
6
9
B. Crews Joe Gibbs Racing
19
Toyota
250
0.799
7
10
T. Gray Joe Gibbs Racing
54
Toyota
250
0.649
7
11
R. Sieg RSS Racing
39
Chevrolet
250
0.830
8
12
H. Burton Sam Hunt Racing
24
Toyota
250
0.241
5
13
J. Burton Jordan Anderson Racing
27
Chevrolet
250
0.351
6
14
L. Pulliam Peterson Racing Group
87
Chevrolet
250
0.596
7
15
P. Retzlaff Viking Motorsports
99
Chevrolet
250
0.337
6
16
R. Caruth JR Motorsports
88
Chevrolet
250
0.268
7
17
A. Alfredo Viking Motorsports
96
Chevrolet
250
0.048
6
18
L. Scott Alpha Prime Racing
45
Chevrolet
250
0.495
12
19
P. Staropoli Big Machine Racing Team
48
Chevrolet
250
0.933
8
20
B. Poole Alpha Prime Racing
44
Chevrolet
250
0.035
6
21
K. Sieg RSS Racing
28
Chevrolet
250
0.556
8
22
A. Labbé DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports
92
Chevrolet
250
0.521
6
23
C. Ware Joey Gase Motorsports
53
Chevrolet
250
0.619
10
24
J. Bilicki SS-Green Light Racing
07
Chevrolet
250
1.042
8
25
J. Gase Joey Gase Motorsports
55
Ford
250
1.090
9
26
J. Carroll Joey Gase Motorsports
35
Chevrolet
250
0.167
11
27
B. Leguizamon Young’s Motorsports
42
Chevrolet
250
0.679
5
28
D. Cram Mike Harmon Racing
47
Chevrolet
250
1.065
9
29
J. Clements Jeremy Clements Racing
51
Chevrolet
244
6 Laps
7
30
J. Love Richard Childress Racing
2
Chevrolet
241
3 Laps
14
31
A. Hill Richard Childress Racing
21
Chevrolet
241
0.171
6
32
D. Thompson Sam Hunt Racing
26
Toyota
235
6 Laps
8
33
B. Perkins Jordan Anderson Racing
31
Chevrolet
223
12 Laps
7
34
D. Dye Jordan Anderson Racing
32
Chevrolet
174
49 Laps
6
35
G. Smithley SS-Green Light Racing
0
Chevrolet
161
13 Laps
6
36
M. Maggio DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports
91
Chevrolet
161
0.129
5
37
E. Patrick RSS Racing
38
Chevrolet
161
0.590
8
38
R. Ellis Young’s Motorsports
02
Chevrolet
60
101 Laps
5
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