Kyle Larson Battles Justin Allgaier to the Finish Line at Texas Motor Speedway

Kelsey Christman - Staff Writer

Kyle Larson celebrating his first win of the season for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series in Las Vegas. (Sean Gardner, Getty Images, March 2026)

Fort Worth, TX - O’Reilly Auto Parts arrived in the Lone Star State for the Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 at Texas Motor Speedway. Justin Allgaier led the field to green with his second pole of the season. Lavar Scott started in the rear due to an engine change, and Ryan Sieg and Ryan Ellis joined Scott at the rear of the field with unapproved changes.

Chaos erupted immediately after the green flag waved as Taylor Gray and Carson Kvapil made contact while three wide with William Sawalich resulting in Sawalich and Gray spinning through the exit of turn two. Simultaneously, Corey Day, coming off his first win last week, spun into the outside wall resulting in heavy damage to the rear end of his Chevrolet ending his day. 

Upon restart, the field stayed green for one lap before Austin Green spun and caught the rear end of Mason Maggio. Lap 18 brought the third caution involving Austin Green, Lavar Scott, and Brad Perez. Perez, through turn 4, got loose and collected Green. Scott spun to avoid contact with both. Justin Allgaier maintained the lead for the remainder of Stage One as it ran green for the stage win. 

Connor Zilisch took over the lead early in Stage Two. Austin Dillon brought out the fifth caution of the race on lap 66 when his tire blew leaving significant debris across the backstretch. Zilisch maintained his lead through the restart  and the remainder of the stage to win Stage Two.

Zilisch lost the lead in the final stage after a three wide battle with Kyle Larson and Brent Crews resulting in contact between the JR Motorsports teammates. Zilisch began to fade back before being forced to pit early on lap 136 by a flat right front tire. Laps 141 to 150 included the green flag pit cycle. William Sawalich received a penalty for driving through too many pit boxes during his stop. Larson returned to the lead upon the conclusion of the pit cycle. 

Rajah Caruth brought the yellow flag out on lap 178 after he got loose and made contact against the outside wall before spinning into the inside wall through turn two. Larson and Allgaier restarted side by side battling for the lead. Larson pulled ahead but continued to battle closely with Allgaier on his tail for the remainder of the race. Larson was able to block him to claim his second win of the 2026 season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. JR Motorsports teammates finished first and second. 

UP NEXT:

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will return to road course racing at Watkins Glen for the Mission 200. The race will be at 4:00 PM ET on Saturday, May 9th, and can be found on CW.