Justin Allgaier finished seventh at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday night, and that was enough to win his second NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship. It was the last race of the season, and he never led a lap. Jesse Love, the defending champion, finished 14 points behind him in NASCAR's unofficial points report.
Allgaier, 40, drives the No. 7 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. He started 11th. With 22 laps left he was running seventh, and even a 14th-place finish would have kept him ahead of his teammate Carson Kvapil, who was leading the race, in the points. Post-race inspection found no issues, and the engine teardown was scheduled for Sunday morning.
"It's obviously not the finish we wanted tonight," Allgaier said, according to NASCAR's wire report. "Wanted to be in Victory Lane. But this team never quits."
Last year he was close to retiring, until team owners Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller talked him into a contract extension. He won a career-best six races this season and finished the regular season 229 points ahead of everyone. The Chase, the playoff that decides the title, then reset the standings, cutting his lead to 25, and he did not win again.
Brandon Jones of Joe Gibbs Racing won the race. He took the lead from Kvapil on lap 187 of 200 and won by 3.937 seconds.
Love, 21, came closest. He started fourth, was third at the end of both stages and finished fourth. Stage points are bonus points paid to the top 10 at two breaks in every race. They helped him gain eight points on Allgaier, who had led him by 22 going in, and he still finished 14 short. "I feel that at the end of the day obviously it stings, right?" Love said. He moves up to the Cup Series, NASCAR's top level, next year.
Kvapil led 36 laps, 27 of them in a row until Jones passed him, and finished second in the race. He ended third in the points, 28 behind Allgaier.
As he crossed the finish line, Kvapil asked his crew chief, Rodney Childers, whether a win would have been enough, according to NASCAR's wire report. It would not have. A win would have left him eight points short.
Sheldon Creed of Haas Factory Team started from the pole, the first spot on the grid, and led 99 laps, more than anyone. He gained nine points on Allgaier and still finished 33 behind, in sixth place in the race.
Corey Day, 20, of Hendrick Motorsports, lost the most ground. His No. 17 and fellow driver Rajah Caruth's No. 88 crashed in Turn 3 early in the race, which brought out the first caution. Day returned but finished 34th, 25 laps down, and ended 61 points behind.
It is JR Motorsports' fifth O'Reilly Series driver championship and, Allgaier said, the first for his crew chief, Andrew Overstreet.
The 2027 season opens Saturday, Feb. 20, at Daytona International Speedway.