Late charge nets Justin Allgaier fourth victory at Darlington
March 21, 2026
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
DARLINGTON, S.C.—Justin Allgaier’s formula for winning Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway was simple enough: take advantage of excellent pit stops and muscle his way into the lead on the final two restarts.
The result was Allgaier’s fourth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at the 1.366-mile track, his second of the season and the 30th of his career, tying him with Joey Logano for seventh on the series’ career win list.
After a slow pit stop under the third and final caution on Lap 127 buried the dominant car of Kyle Larson in fifth place, Allgaier seized the lead from Brandon Jones on the last restart with 15 laps left and beat Jones to finish line by 0.578 seconds.
Allgaier is the first repeat winner of the 2026 season, but his victory is the fourth straight for JR Motorsports Chevrolets.
“These guys have never quit all year—they won the race,” Allgaier said of his pit crew. “They’ve never given up. They were on top of it all day on pit road.
“We definitely weren’t the best all day. Kyle (Larson) obviously was amazing. He had us covered… I didn’t do a very good job with it all day, if I’m being honest with you. Probably one of the worst days personally I’ve had here at Darlington.
“At the end there, I was worried about Brandon (Jones)—he had a fast car—and I was worried that the 19 (third-place finisher Christopher Bell) and the 88 (Larson) were going to get through the traffic there.”
But it was the 39-year-old Allgaier who took the checkered flag, and the driver of the No. 7 JRM Camaro savored the victory.
“Nobody will ever know, the later you get into your career, how much these victories mean,” Allgaier said. “And to come at Darlington, a place I’ve loved for so long, is really special.”
Larson was able to catch and pass Allgaier after a restart on Lap 99, after losing a spot to Jones on pit road and watching Allgaier flash past into the lead on the restart lap.
But the final restart, which followed a five-car wreck involving Dean Thompson, Austin Hill, Kyle Sieg, Alex Labbe and Lavar Scott, was another matter. Larson could gain only one position and finished fourth ahead of Carson Kvapil.
“It became tougher to pass,” explained Larson, who led the first 94 laps from the pole and won the first two stages. “At the end, the pace picked up, and you’re stuck.
“Unfortunate, but that’s the way racing is sometimes. That sucks, but I had a lot of fun today.”
First off pit road under each of the final two cautions, Jones chose the bottom lane for the final restart, but Allgaier powered into the lead from the top lane.
“The 7 (Allgaier) just kept getting just barely better launches than I could on that second lane, and he had just a little more juice in the tank on the short run today,” Jones said. “We were matching, if not slightly better on the long run, but just ran out of laps there at the end.”
Corey Day finished sixth, posting his fifth-straight top 10 in his rookie season. Sheldon Creed, Parker Retzlaff, Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer completed the top 10.
Allgaier heads for next Saturday’s race at Martinsville Speedway (3:30 p.m. on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a 52-point lead over second-place Jesse Love in the series standings. After spinning on pit road during the first stage break, Love recovered to finish 11th, his first result outside the top10 this season.
–30–
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race – Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200
Darlington Raceway
Darlington, South Carolina
Saturday, March 21, 2026
1. (4) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 147.
2. (8) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 147.
3. (2) Christopher Bell(i), Toyota, 147.
4. (1) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 147.
5. (3) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 147.
6. (12) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 147.
7. (13) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 147.
8. (5) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 147.
9. (18) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 147.
10. (6) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 147.
11. (10) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 147.
12. (21) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 147.
13. (22) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 147.
14. (9) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 147.
15. (15) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 147.
16. (27) Nick Sanchez, Ford, 147.
17. (7) William Sawalich, Toyota, 147.
18. (23) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 147.
19. (30) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 147.
20. (32) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 147.
21. (33) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 147.
22. (14) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 147.
23. (19) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 147.
24. (17) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 147.
25. (20) JJ Yeley, Ford, 147.
26. (25) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 147.
27. (24) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 147.
28. (31) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 146.
29. (28) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, 146.
30. (26) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 146.
31. (37) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 145.
32. (36) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 145.
33. (35) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 145.
34. (38) Nathan Byrd, Chevrolet, 145.
35. (11) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 142.
36. (29) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, Accident, 123.
37. (16) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, DVP, 121.
38. (34) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, Accident, 120.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 112.442 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 47 Mins, 9 Secs. Margin of Victory: .578 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 3 for 25 laps.
Lead Changes: 6 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Larson(i) 1-94;B. Jones 95-98;J. Allgaier 99-114;K. Larson(i) 115-127;J. Williams 128;B. Jones 129-132;J. Allgaier 133-147.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Larson(i) 2 times for 107 laps; Justin Allgaier 2 times for 31 laps; Brandon Jones 2 times for 8 laps; Josh Williams 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 88,19,1,20,7,99,2,18,96,9
Stage #2 Top Ten: 88,1,20,7,99,9,96,17,19,18
Authors
Discover more from The Racing Times Magazine
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
