Allgaier Clinches Regular Season Championship with EchoPark Speedway Win!
- Tim Moore
- 10 hours ago
- 3 min read
HAMPTON, G.A. - Justin Allgaier clinched the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series regular season championship, Saturday, July 12 after picking up his career high sixth win of 2026 at EchoPark Speedway. The scoreboard of the Focused Health 250 may display that Allgaier had an excellent day, but in reality his win was anything but easy.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Sam Mayer of Haas Factory team earned the pole Saturday morning leading the field to green. Unfortunately for Mayer though, his race was filled with disaster. Early in stage one, Mayer cut down a tire leading to wall contact, in which he had to pit under green to service causing him to lose two laps.
Mayer did eventually get back on the lead lap, but his night ended 53 laps early as contact after a stack up on a restart caused his radiator to bust open, causing oil to leak out and end his day. Mayer finished the race 31st, and leaves EchoPark Speedway just 33 points above the cutline.
As for the winner of stage one, Carson Kvapil accomplished that feat for JR Motorsports giving critical points towards his pursuit of finishing 2nd in the regular season standings.
In stage two Justin Allgaier scored the stage win in a surprising fashion as both him and teammate Sammy Smith broke away from the pack. Smith was seemingly going to win the stage but Allgaier just snuck by on the front stretch winning stage two by a close .003.
In the final stage Allgaier led the way to green, but the win came anything but easy. On the initial restart, Allgaier fired off from the lead and lost draft help causing him to cycle back to the back half of the top ten. Allgaier worked himself back to the front after a surplus of cautions, but in the closing, laps found himself out of the picture after contact with Austin Hill damaged his car.
But cautions were the story. The race tallied 13 total yellows over the stretch of 172 laps. 44.2% of the race laps were ran under yellow. Nine of the thirteen yellows occurred in the final stage.
Why is this important you ask? When chaos breaks out, many times good drivers find a way to make the most of it. And that is exactly what Justin Allgaier did. On the white flag Justin Allgaier took the lead and missed the carnage around him allowing him to persevere.
Coming out of turn four, he was Challenged by Viking Motorsports driver Parker Retzlaff, but there was nothing that would deny Allgaier as Kvapil stole second just behind securing the regular season championship for the #7 team!
OTHER NOTABLES:
It was the story of the good finish for many teams and heart break for others.
Brennan Poole led coming to the white flag for Alpha Prime Racing, but he unfortunately tangled with Peterson Racing Groups Nick Sanchez resulting in a hard crash. Poole finished 17th, while Sanchez scored 19th.
In the list of heart break also was RSS Racing's Ryan Sieg who ran out of gas on the final restart. Sieg was looking to score a big time win after coming close many times previous, but it wasn't in the cards as fate had it. He finished 16th.
On the bright side for RSS Racing, Kyle Sieg earned his first top ten of 2026 with an 8th place finish, making it five straight seasons where he has earned a top ten.
Now to the good stories, Garrett Smithley earned a 6th place finish for SS Greenlight Racing earning the team's best result of 2026! His teammate Josh Billicki also earned a 12th place finish, his best of 2026.
Lastly, DGM Racing x JIM saw a career day for driver Mason Maggio, who was in the mix on the final restart and crossed the line 11th. Maggio bested his previous career high of 15th.
UP NEXT:
The NASCAR Cup Series will main event the weekend for the Quaker State 400 on TNT. The race begins at 7:00 P.M. ET with Penske Racing's Ryan Blaney starting on the pole. His teammate Joey Logano who is on the brink of the playoffs starts alongside Blaney. Motorsports Today will have coverage of the action so stay tuned to all our social medias!