For just the sixth time in NASCAR national series history and the first time in the history of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, a team swept the top four positions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in late July, with Carson Kvapil winning the race for JR Motorsports ahead of Justin Allgaier in second, Ross Chastain in third, and Chase Elliott in fourth.
Chastain, a full-time Cup Series driver for Trackhouse Racing, is the only full-time Cup driver to take complete advantage of NASCAR's loosened restrictions on drivers with at least three years of experience competing in O'Reilly Series and Craftsman Truck Series races, running 10 in the former and eight in the latter this year.
After being a part of the historic day at Indy, he returned to the seat of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet at Iowa Speedway and finished fourth.
While it was not the first time in NASCAR history that a team immediately followed up a top four sweep with another win or even another 1-2 finish, it marked the first time that a team that had just swept the top four took three of the top four spots in the next race as well, as Kvapil earned his second win in a row ahead of Rajah Caruth in second place. Caruth was in the No. 88 Chevrolet that Elliott, another full-time Cup driver, drove at Indy.
Joe Gibbs Racing's Williams Sawalich broke up the JRM party in third place, although they wouldn't have swept the top four anyway since Allgaier was only 24th. The other JRM driver, Sammy Smith, was 17th, after finishing 19th at Indy.
Ross Chastain done for the 2026 O'Reilly Series season
Because this Friday night's O'Reilly Series race is the regular season finale, Cup Series drivers are ineligible to compete. But even if they weren't, Chastain would be the only one ineligible anyway, since his Iowa start was his 10th of the O'Reilly Series season.
But even with Chastain not eligible, JR Motorsports have opted not to run the No. 9 Chevrolet for anybody else in this 160-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval, instead placing a focus on their four full-time entries.
Allgaier has already clinched the regular season championship while Kvapil is second in the standings and looking to clinch the No. 2 seed for the upcoming nine-race postseason. Sammy Smith is eighth in the standings and can finish the regular season anywhere between fourth and ninth, while Caruth is just 15 points below the cut line, after having split time with JRM and Jordan Anderson Racing throughout the regular season.
While the No. 9 car won't be back this weekend, it is lined up to make four appearances during the playoffs, all with Jake Finch, who made his first start of the season at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) in mid-July, behind the wheel.
Finch is set to run the postseason races at Darlington Raceway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, and Talladega Superspeedway. JR Motorsports have no current plans to run the car in the other five "Chase" events.
The CW Network is set to provide live coverage of the Winn-Dixie 250 from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET this Friday, August 28. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action from the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series regular season finale!
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