Justin Allgaier victorious in wild NASCAR O'Reilly race at Martinsville

After taking the lead on a late-race restart, Justin Allgaier held on to win for the 31st time in his NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts (NOAPS) career, and the third time this season. His victory at Martinsville means that JR Motorsports has managed to win the last five consecutive races.

Corey Day finished second, Sammy Smith third, Sheldon Creed fourth, and Lee Pulliam fifth in his O'Reilly Series debut. Austin Hill, Dean Thompson, Ross Chastain, Ryan Sieg, and Brent Crews filled out the remainder of the top ten.

"I keep saying it and I keep talking about how great this team is," said Allgaier. "We’ve fired off in 2026 better than I could have ever imagined. So proud of the race cars we brought to the race track and all of our partners."

Allgaier now holds a commanding lead in the championship standings, 92 points clear of reigning champion Jesse Love. 

Justin Allgaier, No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet (Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images)

Stage 1

Allgaier led from pole, working with teammate Caruth on the start so that both could get in line. He was cruising out front when the first caution of the race flew, triggered by Luke Baldwin. Making his NOAPS debut, he slammed the wall after wheel-hopping. Lavar Scott also got a piece of it.

The strategy then split among the lead lap cars with about half choosing to pit while the leaders stayed out.

Allgaier remained in control for the rest of the stage, which ended under caution after a spin from Garrett Smithley. Allgaier won Stage 1 over B. Jones, Caruth, Crews, Creed, S. Smith, Alfredo, Kvapil, Love, Sawalich.

Stage 2

Jones beat Allgaier off pit road, but they restarted back in the mid-teens with all those who stayed out. 

Day now led Mayer at the front of the field, while Clements punches the nose in after contact with Nick Sanchez in the middle of the field. Since he was leaking fluid, NASCAR threw the caution.

Another wild restart followed, with Mayer muscling Day out of the race lead. Debris on track forced another quick yellow, and being on the edge of the fuel window, the strategy split again with Day leading a big group of cars onto pit road. Pulliam, who followed Day off pit road, was penalized for an uncontrolled tire.

Hill ended up winning the stage, beating Mayer in a photo finish. Tay. Gray, R. Sieg, Sawalich, Alfredo, Caruth, H. Burton, Day, and Allgaier filled out the rest of the top ten.

Stage 3

Caruth  now led the way as the race got extremely aggressive throughout the pack, leading to constant contact. It also led to several restarts with various drivers going for a spin.

Caruth finally gave up the lead for a planned pit stop during a caution with 105 laps to go, handing the lead to Burton.

With 90 to go, Allgaier took the lead. When the caution flew for another spin 20 laps later, most of the field chose to pit. However, a handful did not, led by Pulliam.

He remained out front for a bit, but Allgaier cleared him from the outside on a restart with less than 30 laps to go, just before Chastain went for a spin.

Pulliam had another slow restart from the outside of the front row, missing a shift. This led to a massive pileup, collecting about half the field and resulting in a 26-minute red flag.

WOW!

Major pileup at Martinsville in the closing laps of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race. pic.twitter.com/ozx2uo8K6p

— Motorsport (@Motorsport) March 28, 2026

Allgaier held the lead on the restart, while Pulliam dealt with a tire rub after getting body-slammed by Love. The caution flew one more as Sawalich went around in the middle of the pack.

On what would be the final restart, Allgaier got away with ease, and the race ended under caution after Rajah Caruth went spinning on the final lap.

cla	#	driver	manufacturer	laps	time	gap	laps led	retirement
1	7	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	250	2:23'25.188		114
2	17	Corey Day	Chevrolet	250	2:23'25.446	0.258	37
3	8	Sammy Smith	Chevrolet	250	2:23'25.447	0.259
4	00	Sheldon Creed	Chevrolet	250	2:23'27.061	1.873
5	9	Lee Pulliam	Chevrolet	250	2:23'27.832	2.644	40
6	21	Austin Hill	Chevrolet	250	2:23'28.061	2.873	9
7	26	Dean Thompson	Toyota	250	2:23'28.657	3.469
8	91	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	250	2:23'30.424	5.236
9	39	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	250	2:23'30.829	5.641
10	19	Brent Crews	Toyota	250	2:23'31.240	6.052
11	99	Parker Retzlaff	Chevrolet	250	2:23'31.597	6.409
12	2	Jesse Love	Chevrolet	250	2:23'32.220	7.032
13	54	Taylor Gray	Toyota	250	2:23'32.513	7.325
14	44	Brennan Poole	Chevrolet	250	2:23'32.867	7.679
15	96	Anthony Alfredo	Chevrolet	250	2:23'32.962	7.774
16	48	Patrick Staropoli	Chevrolet	250	2:23'32.989	7.801
17	31	Blaine Perkins	Chevrolet	250	2:23'33.596	8.408
18	20	Brandon Jones	Toyota	250	2:23'34.090	8.902	1
19	30	Myatt Snider	Chevrolet	250	2:23'34.818	9.630
20	18	William Sawalich	Toyota	250	2:23'35.481	10.293
21	42	Brad Perez	Chevrolet	250	2:23'35.851	10.663
22	45	Lavar Scott	Chevrolet	250	2:23'36.763	11.575
23	41	Sam Mayer	Chevrolet	250	2:23'37.686	12.498	14
24	55	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	250	2:23'38.761	13.573
25	88	Rajah Caruth	Chevrolet	250	2:23'50.380	25.192	18
26	24	Harrison Burton	Toyota	248	2:23'44.321	2 Laps	17
27	0	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	242	2:23'46.471	8 Laps
28	1	Carson Kvapil	Chevrolet	234	2:11'42.658	16 Laps		Accident
29	87	Austin Green	Chevrolet	233	2:10'58.438	17 Laps		Accident
30	27	Jeb Burton	Chevrolet	233	2:10'58.665	17 Laps		Accident
31	32	Andrew Patterson	Chevrolet	233	2:10'58.901	17 Laps		Accident
32	92	Josh Williams	Chevrolet	233	2:10'59.070	17 Laps		Accident
33	25	Nicholas Sanchez	Ford	213	1:58'57.179	37 Laps		Accident
34	28	Kyle Sieg	Chevrolet	207	1:54'33.470	43 Laps		Suspension
35	07	Josh Bilicki	Chevrolet	205	2:23'39.817	45 Laps
36	02	Ryan Ellis	Chevrolet	183	1:41'14.738	67 Laps		Brakes
37	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	89	45'08.055	161 Laps		Oil cooler
38	5	Luke Baldwin	Ford	31	11'07.430	219 Laps		Accident

 

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