After JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier won the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series regular season championship by 229 points, a value worth more than three full perfect 76-point races, over second-place teammate Carson Kvapil, many NASCAR fans were not fans of the fact that he lost the points lead just two races into the playoffs.
Based on NASCAR's new postseason format, the regular season champion was always guaranteed to enter the nine-race Chase with a 25-point lead over the driver in second, regardless of how big of a lead he actually had at the end of the regular season before the points reset.
Haas Factory Team's Sheldon Creed took the points lead in the second race of the postseason at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, despite finishing 276 points behind Allgaier in the regular season standings, and he held that lead until Richard Childress Racing's Jesse Love took it away at Phoenix Raceway in the postseason's sixth race.
Justin Allgaier back on top with one race remaining in 2026
Allgaier had fallen to as low as fourth, but he never fell to more than 36 points behind, and he jumped back up to second at Phoenix. He remained second behind Love after the race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Now Allgaier is back on top following this past Saturday's race at Martinsville Speedway, thanks to a runner-up finish and the fact that the reigning series champion Love finished 30th, nine laps down, in a race where everything that possibly could go wrong for him seemingly did.
As a result, Allgaier turned a 19-point deficit into a 22-point lead, with only this coming Saturday's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway remaining on the 2026 schedule. But Love isn't his only challenger.
Sitting just 23 points out of the lead is Hendrick Motorsports' Corey Day, and just eight points behind Day is Kvapil, who actually won Saturday's race at Martinsville. Creed remains championship eligible as well, but he's down to fifth in the standings, 42 points behind.
Saturday's Hard Rock Bet 300 is set to be shown live on the CW Network from Homestead-Miami Speedway beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship decider!
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