Sheldon Creed leads the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series by two points over Jesse Love with four races left. Corey Day is seven back and Justin Allgaier is 15 back. All four start Saturday night's Timberland PRO 200 at Phoenix Raceway, where Allgaier won in March.
The race starts at 7:30 p.m. ET on The CW, with coverage beginning at 7, and on MRN radio. It is 200 laps on the 1-mile oval, and the first two stages, the segments that pay bonus points before the finish, end on laps 45 and 90. It is one of the last four races of the Chase, the 12-driver playoff that decides the series championship. After Phoenix come Talladega on Oct. 24, Martinsville on Oct. 31 and the finale at Homestead-Miami on Nov. 7.
How Charlotte closed it up
Creed finished third at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 11 but scored only one stage point, so he lost at least 15 points to each of the three drivers behind him, according to NASCAR.
Day won. It was his second straight win and his fourth of the season, and it cut 34 points off his deficit to Creed. Over the last two races he has gained 85 points on Creed, going from 92 behind to seven. NASCAR says he is the first Hendrick Motorsports driver to win back-to-back O'Reilly Series races since Kyle Busch in 2004. The Mercury's Charlotte story has the race.
Love, the defending series champion, finished second. Allgaier finished fourth.
What happened at Phoenix in March
Allgaier started 17th in the GOVX 200 on March 7 and won it, his 29th career O'Reilly Series win. Love was second, Carson Kvapil third and Creed fourth. Day finished ninth.
Allgaier drives the No. 7 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. He has three wins and 22 top-10 finishes in 32 starts at Phoenix, and his six wins this season are the most in the series.
"This has been a really strong track for us, and I know that we will have what it takes to continue to gain ground in the points," Allgaier said in NASCAR's race-week preview. He said his crew chief, Andrew Overstreet, "has had this place circled on our calendar since the Chase started."
Day, in the No. 17 Hendrick Chevrolet, has less to go on. He finished 14th in his first Phoenix start last year and ninth in March.
"Phoenix hasn't been my strongest track in the past, and I've struggled there in my last two starts, so I've been working on reviewing footage to make sure I'm as prepared as possible," Day said.
The two at the top
Creed drives the No. 00 Chevrolet for Haas Factory Team. He has three wins this season, 13 top-five finishes and 20 top 10s. He has already signed a multi-year deal to drive for Sam Hunt Racing starting in 2027.
Love drives the No. 2 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. He has one win this season and four stage wins.
The rest of the field
Kvapil, Allgaier's teammate at JR Motorsports, is fifth, 40 back. Then come Sam Mayer, 59 back; Taylor Gray, 87; Austin Hill, 94; Sammy Smith, 106; Parker Retzlaff, 126; Brandon Jones, 141; and Rajah Caruth, 180. The full standings are here.
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