NASCAR O'Reilly Series race at Atlanta live updates, highlights, leaderboard as Sheldon Creed claims win

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series continues the early-season run of drafting tracks with Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 on Feb. 21 at EchoPark Speedway.

Sam Mayer is on the pole after running the fastest lap in the second round of qualifying on Feb. 20.

Austin Hill, a five-time winner at Atlanta and the Daytona race winner last week, will start a surprising 20th.

Rain forced Cup Series qualifying to be canceled earlier in the day, but the storm line is clearing out of central Georgia.

Follow along with the Tennessean’s race updates below:

WEATHER FORECAST: NASCAR Atlanta weather forecast update, rain chances for Trucks, O’Reilly races

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Atlanta live updates, highlights, live leaderboard for the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250Sam Mayer suffers major damage post-raceNASCAR Xfinity Atlanta results

The unofficial top 10:

Sheldon Creed, No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet

Parker Retzlaff, No. 99 Viking Motorsports Chevrolet

Nick Sanchez, No. 25 AM Racing Ford

Corey Day, No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Jesse Love, No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Ross Chastain, No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet

Sam Mayer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet

Rajah Caruth, No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Taylor Gray, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Brandon Jones, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

The full NASCAR Atlanta Xfinity results can be found here.

Post-race comments

Some drivers’ initial comments on the CW race broadcast:

Sheldon Creed was very grateful for his first victory in the series, and he believes it could be a turning point for his career.

Austin Hill noted that Ross Chastain committed all the way through the move that Hill blocked into turn 3, and said it was just racing for the win.

Ross Chastain thought he made mistakes both in Hill’s move on the frontstretch coming to the white flag and in not executing on the move Hill tried to block later on.

Sheldon Creed wins! Creed’s first NASCAR O’Reilly Series win

Austin Hill takes the lead to the white flag. Down the backstretch, Hill goes all the way to the apron to block Ross Chastain and nearly spins. Chastain loses all momentum, and Sheldon Creed rockets to the lead!

Creed’s luck finally is on the right side of things! He wins for the first time in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series!

Lap 158: Ross Chastain leads off the restart

Back to green. Six laps to go. Ross Chastain gets a good restart and leads.

Back to yellow

The field is fired back up, and there should be 6 or 7 laps to go at the restart.

Red flag with 10 laps to go

Red flag is out with 10 laps to go. That was major contact for Josh Williams.

Lap 152: Josh Williams hits hard twice after sudden shunt

Josh Williams loses it down the backstretch after contact from Sam Mayer and pounds both the outside and inside walls. Caution is out.

Rajah Caruth had a right-side tire going down while that was going on.

Lap 149: Tight restart for Ross Chastain vs. Austin Hill

On the restart, Ross Chastain and Austin Hill are even. Going to be a fun finish.

Austin Green has a tire going down at the restart and falls away.

Lap 141: Sammy Smith loses tire in the pack, produces 9-car crash

Sammy Smith cuts a tire down going into turn 1, triggering a nine-car crash. Smith may have done it via contact with Rajah Caruth.

William Sawalich and Taylor Gray are involved, as is Patrick Staropoli, Lavar Scott, Brennan Poole and others. Ryan Ellis was also collected.

Smith is done for the day.

Sam Mayer gets the free pass.

Lap 139: Ross Chastain to the lead

Austin Hill gets shuffled back as Ross Chastain works the bottom lane and makes the pass for the lead.

Lap 136: Sheldon Creed to P1

Jesse Love tries to pass Austin Hill for the lead, and Sheldon Creed decides to make a 3-wide pass for the lead a la Rajah Caruth earlier.

Lap 131: Austin Hill, Jesse Love lead the field

Austin Hill controls the field on the restart, with Jesse Love sliding in front of Sheldon Creed for second.

For the first time today, the RCR cars are together up front.

Lap 123: Caution for debris

Cody Ware has a major issue, with debris coming from that slow No. 30 Chevrolet in the tri-oval. Caution is out.

Corey Day gets the free pass.

Lap 121: Jeremy Clements spins on backstretch, no caution

Jeremy Clements spins toward the inside wall on the backstretch, but doesn’t make contact. No caution.

Austin Hill remains the leader.

Lap 113: Austin Hill in control with 50 laps to go

Austin Hill is in control up front ahead of Sheldon Creed after a clean restart. Sammy Smith is the lone JRM car up in the top 10, so we’ll see how things change.

Justin Allgaier, Carson Kvapil done for the day

Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil are both done for the day. Corey Day’s team is making repairs, as he’s been down pit road a few times under caution.

Lap 105: Corey Day, Carson Kvapil crash from the lead

JR Motorsports’ monopoly on the front ends with Corey Day and Carson Kvapil crashing from the top two spots going into turn 3. Day drifted up to Kvapil from the bottom. Not sure if that was a handling issue or driver error.

Justin Allgaier also has damage.

“Corey just straight wrecked (Kvapil),” Allgaier tells his team.

Day claims he had a tire down. He asked his team if there was any smoke noticeable before the crash, and they say there was none.

New leader: Austin Hill.

Lap 99: Back to green with Carson Kvapil leading

Carson Kvapil gets the lead on the restart as the top line is unsettled.

Nick Leitz restarted at the tail end of the field with a pit-road penalty.

Rajah Caruth wins Stage 2

Rajah Caruth wins Stage 2 over teammates Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil.

The top 10:

Good points days so far for Caruth and Parker Retzlaff.

Lap 82: Rajah Caruth, JRM in control late in Stage 2

The top four cars are all JR Motorsports cars, with Rajah Caruth leading Justin Allgaier, Corey Day and Carson Kvapil.

Lap 73: Rajah Caruth makes daring 3-wide move for the lead

As Sheldon Creed and Justin Allgaier shuffle Jesse Love back and battle for the lead, Rajah Caruth goes from the top to the very bottom to make a 3-wide pass for the lead.

Meanwhile, Gio Ruggiero has a flat tire. No caution.

Lap 55: Back to green in Stage 2 with Jesse Love in front

Jesse Love leads Sheldon Creed and Carson Kvapil on the restart.

Meanwhile, Sam Mayer begins Stage 2 at two laps down in 32nd.

Taylor Gray crew member OK after car makes contact on pit road; Gray penalized for safety violation

Taylor Gray runs over a crew member as he drives out of his pit box under caution. Crew member is OK, up and joking with the rest of his team. But Gray will be penalized for a safety violation. He would have restarted in second.

Gio Ruggiero is penalized for equipment over the wall too soon. Cody Ware, Josh Bilicki and Anthony Alfredo are penalized for speeding on pit road.

Jesse Love wins Stage 1

Jesse Love blocks each lane to win Stage 1 over Rajah Caruth and Parker Retzlaff.

The top 10:

Lap 38: Austin Hill bails out of lead draft after near-spin

Austin Hill had to get out of the gas as Justin Allgaier worked to his outside in turns 3 and 4, and Hill bails out of the lead pack.

“I had a really big moment two different times,” Hill tells his team on the radio, mentioning that he is too loose.

Sam Mayer penalized for speeding on pit road

Sam Mayer is penalized for going too fast on pit road. He’ll have to serve a pass-through penalty.

Lap 28: Sam Mayer’s tire rub re-appears, left-front tire flat

Sam Mayer’s left-front tire finally goes down, and Mayer slowly makes his way around before pitting under green.

New leader: Jesse Love.

Lap 24: Anthony Alfredo stops under green for flat tire, gets penalty

Anthony Alfredo pits for a flat left-rear tire and gets penalized for a commitment line violation. Alfredo will be multiple laps down.

Lap 20: Sam Mayer’s tire rub goes away

Sam Mayer’s tire rub has gone away. Mayer and teammate Sheldon Creed are 1-2, leading the pack up in the top lane.

Lap 14: Back to green; Sam Mayer has tire rub

Sam Mayer and Taylor Gray make side-by-side contact while battling for the lead on the restart. Mayer has a tire rub.

Corey Day re-groups after early incident

“Tower wants to remind you it’s Lap 4,” Corey Day is told from his team, who also reassures him. “It wasn’t intentional,” Day replies.

The Sieg brothers and Blane Perkins are in the garage.

Ryan Sieg tells CW Network about Day that “it’s his normal race” and cited Day’s issues at Martinsville and Daytona.

Lap 5: Corey Day triggers multi-car crash

Corey Day sticks a nose where there is little room off of turn 4, shoving Ryan Sieg into the wall and causing a multi-car crash through the tri-oval. Caution is out.

Harrison Burton, Blaine Perkins and Shane Sieg all have major damage. Patrick Staropoli also got into the wall.

Tough circumstance on Lap 5 for those drivers. Day could have had an opening, but it wasn’t there for long if at all.

“Could see that from a mile away,” Austin Hill, who was just behind that crash, says. He’s already up to 10th.

Lap 1: Green flag!

Sam Mayer gets a solid jump, but Carson Kvapil gets a good push off of turn 2. Mayer leads Lap 1 by a nose as the bottom lane dissipates.

Pace laps underway

Cars are rolling at Atlanta. 163 laps tonight, 45 laps each for the first two stages.

“Let’s minimize mistakes all day and gain track position when we can,” Austin Hill says from his P20 starting spot.

NASCAR Trucks Atlanta results as Kyle Busch wins

Kyle Busch holds off Spire teammate Carson Hocevar to win the FR8 Racing 208 at Atlanta, his third straight Truck Series win at the track. Find the full results here.

The O’Reilly Series race will go green at about 4:20 p.m. Central.

Sam Mayer on the pole; full NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Atlanta race starting lineup

The top 10:

Sam Mayer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet

Carson Kvapil, No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Taylor Gray, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Sheldon Creed, No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet

William Sawalich, No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Rajah Caruth, No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Gio Ruggiero, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Sammy Smith, No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Corey Day, No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Jesse Love, No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Find the full starting lineup here.

NASCAR race radio coverage: How to listen to NASCAR O’Reilly race at Atlanta

The Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 will be aired on the radio by the Performance Racing Network. PRN has affiliates all across the country, and their feed can also be streamed on NASCAR.com as well as the NASCAR app. The race can also be heard on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

NASCAR O’Reilly Atlanta race TV schedule, start time

Green Flag Time: Approx. 4 p.m. CT Saturday, Feb. 21

Track: EchoPark Speedway (1.5-mile oval) in Hampton, Georgia

Length: 163 laps, 251 miles

Stages: 45 laps, 45 laps, 73 laps

TV coverage: CW Network

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts race at Atlanta will be broadcast nationally on the CW Network. Streaming options for the race include FUBO in limited markets nationwide, which offers a free trial to potential subscribers.

Recent NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series winners at Atlanta

2025 summer: Nick Sanchez

2025 spring: Austin Hill

2024 summer: Austin Hill

2024 spring: Austin Hill

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR O’Reilly Series Atlanta race live updates, highlights, leaderboard

NASCAR O’Reilly Series race at Atlanta live updates, highlights, leaderboard as Sheldon Creed claims win

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