Carson Kvapil lined up beside his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier for the last restart at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, with 22 laps to go and older tires than Allgaier had. Kvapil cleared him and held him off to win the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race by 0.434 seconds.
Allgaier finished second and leaves with the points lead in the Chase, the series' championship playoff, which ends Saturday, Nov. 7, at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing, who led by 19 coming in, crashed late after losing his brakes and finished 30th. Allgaier leads him by 22 points, according to NASCAR's unofficial standings.
Kvapil said pitting early turned his race around. He spent the middle of the race in traffic and finished 13th in the second stage, one of the two segments that pay points before the finish. His crew brought him in for tires on lap 146, before most of the leaders. "That was our only play there at the end, was to pit before everybody and just gain track position on them," he said. He took the lead on a restart on lap 183 and led the rest of the way.
Allgaier came through the field on newer tires, from eighth on lap 197 to second by lap 213. Kvapil said the two were running the same lap times when Love's crash brought out the race's 12th and final caution. "I thought I was screwed," he said. It put Allgaier on his door for the restart on lap 229.
Love's trouble started late in the second stage, when contact left the right-front tire of his No. 2 Chevrolet rubbing, and he finished the stage 22nd. During a red flag on lap 164, Love was told he had a pinched water line. NASCAR's infraction sheet shows two penalties for pitting before pit road was open, on laps 164 and 219, each sending him to the back. On lap 219 he crashed after losing his brakes. Love, the defending series champion, finished nine laps down.
Five drivers can still win the title. A driver can score at most 76 points in a race, and NASCAR's unofficial standings have:
- Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports, 2,436 points
- Jesse Love, Richard Childress Racing, 22 behind
- Corey Day, Hendrick Motorsports, 23 behind
- Carson Kvapil, JR Motorsports, 31 behind
- Sheldon Creed, Haas Factory Team, 42 behind
It was Kvapil's third O'Reilly Series win, all this season, and his first in the Chase. He started on the pole in the No. 1 Chevrolet and led 121 of the 250 laps, more than anyone. It was also the first Martinsville win for his crew chief, Rodney Childers. Allgaier, who has six wins this season, won at Homestead last year.
Day finished third despite heavy right-rear damage from a crash on lap 37 and a penalty on lap 39 for too many crew members in his pit box, which sent him to the back. Creed finished sixth. Sam Mayer of Haas Factory Team, 97 back, and Sammy Smith of JR Motorsports, 107 back, are out of reach. Mayer finished fifth and Smith seventh.
Kvapil came in 59 points out of the lead and leaves 31 back. He called the championship "a pretty tall task." Later he added, "We just got to have the perfect day."