Kvapil Goes Back-to-Back, Steals Win at Iowa!

Carson Kvapil celebrates Iowa win with a burnout! (Ashton Tackwell | Motorsports Today)

NEWTON, I.A. - The NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series raced its penultimate race of the regular season, Saturday, August 8, for the HyVee Perks 250. A clearer chase picture was made in the conclusion of 259 laps with two overtime restarts; Carson Kvapil was to not be denied as he won his second straight race.

HOW IT HAPPNED:

The day started off with the underdog Ryan Sieg earning the pole. It was evident that his car was not one dimensional as Sieg led every single lap of the opening stage in route to earning the stage win. It did not come easy though as in the closing laps he was contested by Justin Allgaier.

Unfortunately for Sieg, his time in the lead came to a stop in pit road during the break, as he exited pit road 7th, losing key track position. Sieg did rebound to 4th in stage two but never was truly in lead again, even with a late charge.

Instead, in stage two the battle for the lead consisted of Sheldon Creed, who led the early portions of the stage, and Allgaier, who similar to this season, was simply undeniable.

After a hard battle and numerous slide jobs that resulted in failure to complete the pass for the lead, Allgaier finally prevailed successfully on lap 102. Allgaier led the closing 18 laps of the stage, earning his 8th stage win of 2026.

As for the final stage, it was simply what many would call a wreck fest. In the final stage, there were eight cautions for incident. This caused major chaos with pit strategy.

On lap 150, Anthony Alfredo went for a spin, opening up the potential of cars making it to the end on gas. Brandon Jones took the gamble as he was the only one to pit.

This bold move paid off for Jones in the moment as on lap 159, William Sawalich got turned by Patrick Staropoli, leading to majority of the field opting to make their final pit stop.

To everyone's surprise, six cars ahead of Brandon Jones opted to stay on the racetrack, including Justin Allgaier and defending 2x Iowa Speedway winner Sam Mayer.

For Allgaier it was a bold move as he clearly had the fastest car, and wanted to not lose track position. The unfortunate part for Allgaier, is he simply never got a green flag run to get the advantage he wanted.

Instead after yet another few yellows, Allgaier finally surrendered the lead on lap 185 after yet another caution.

Taking the lead of the strategy was Sheldon Creed, but he simply was not the car that led the way. Instead, he got banged around on the restart, and Ross Chastain was able to capitalize.

Allgaier restarted 24th, and found himself 14th just after a lap, making the top of 3 wide work.

Allgaier was on a redemption tour and climbed to 3rd late, and needed a caution. Allgaier got that wish with two laps to go.

Unfortunately, this caution came at the expense of Ross Chastain as he seemingly was going to easily win the race.

Instead, on the overtime restart, Kvapil got the jump on the inside and was able to take the lead. As for Allgaier, well the caution came back out, and he was involved in a multi car accident along with Brent Crews, Ryan Sieg, and Sam Mayer. Allgaier finished 24th with his car destroyed.

For Brent Crews, this incident was costly as what seemed like a decent gap became a 1 point cushion to the cutline at Daytona. Crews finished 16th.

As for Kvapil, he led the field to the green on the final GWC, and showed strong poise. Chastain did not get a good jump, and it was rather his teammate Rajah Caruth who capitalized earning his best career finish of 2nd.

Kvapil pulled away from Caruth winning uncontested, making it back-to-back victories after an off weekend.

OTHER NOTES:

Along with Crews troubles, the battle for the final spot in The Chase has become a five-car battle. Sam Mayer is in the best position of the five as he has a 19-point cushion heading to Daytona. As for behind Mayer, well, the word is simply chaotic.

William Sawalich had a late charge in the closing laps after spinning earlier in the race and rallied for a 3rd place finish. Sawalich, like Crews, is +1 heading to Daytona.

Who is out? Taylor Gray despite a 7th place finish, failed to earn stage points. Gray leaves Iowa -1 point out.\

As for Caruth, he cut the deficit to -15 points behind the cutline. The good news for Caruth is that all of his teammates have a clear path to The Chase. Perhaps at a track where Caruth where the style connects the strongest, having teammates around to help, will allow him to be aggressive like he desires. Perhaps Caruth is in the best spot of five drivers?

Lastly, despite a tough year for Sam Hunt racing, they had both Dean Thompson and Harrison Burton tally an 8th and 9th place result. It was a feel-good story especially for Thompson, who earlier in the day announced that he would be moving to Haas Factory Team in 2027 to be the third driver apart of the O'Reilly program.

Brennan Poole also tallied his second top 10 of the season, and Nick Sanchez snuck another top ten again in the late going.

UP NEXT:

The O'Reilly Auto Parts Series will wait a long 20 days for its final race of the regular at Daytona. The race is slated for 6:30 P.M. ET, and coverage can be found on the CW and MRN.

As for the main event of the weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series is slated for a 2:30 P.M. ET start time for the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol. Coverage of the race can be found on USA and MRN. 2024 Iowa race winner Ryan Blaney scored the pole in dominant fashion. He looks to continue his dominance at Iowa, as Blaney has led 33% of the laps ran in the two races ran since the series began racing at the track.