With a hearty shove from William Byron on the race’s final restart, Justin Allgaier got to the lead of Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Pocono Raceway and didn’t relinquish it over the final two laps to score the win.
Allgaier was beside Sam Mayer on the front row the last restart of the afternoon, but Mayer fell back after his Haas Factory Team teammate, Sheldon Creed, made an aggressive three-wide move for the lead that allowed Allgaier to scoot away.
The victory is the series-leading fifth of 2026 for Allgaier, his first at Pocono and the 33rd of his NOAPS career. Allgaier also extended his points lead over Jesse Love, who crashed on Lap 1 with Corey Day Saturday and finished 37th, to 250 points.
JR Motorsports also has 11 victories through the first 17 races of the 2026 O’Reilly Series season.
“First of all, I gotta say a huge thank you to William Byron,” Allgaier told CW Sports. “So proud of this race team. This season has been special. We’re going to celebrate this one tonight.”
Allgaier has now won five races in a season for the second time in his career and the first time since 2018.
Notable results
Brent Crews nipped Byron at the checkered flag for second, while Mayer and Creed finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Anthony Alfredo, Rajah Caruth, Brandon Jones, Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil completed the top 10.
Other notable finishers include Cole Custer in 12th, Parker Retzlaff in 15th, Jeremy Clements in 16th, Taylor Gray in 17th and William Sawalich in 21st.
Gray won Stage 1, with Crews winning Stage 2. Only 27 drivers finished the race, with 11 ending it behind the wall due to mechanical failures or crashes.
There are seven races left in the O’Reilly Series regular season going into the June 20 race at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego.
All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted