By Neha Dwivedi, Staff Writer
In the first race since the passing of Kyle Busch on Thursday, Ross Chastain took the win in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The result marks Chastain’s 4th win in the O’Reilly Series and his fifteenth across all three divisions of NASCAR’s touring categories. It also means he has now registered wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway across all three series.
He led 28 laps in a race cut short due to rain and concluded after just 91 laps, securing the victory after dealing with track conditions involving rain and oil on the surface. Even with all of that in play, Chastain made sure to pay his respect to Kyle Busch.
The starting lineup for the event was set by a metric qualifying system after the weather canceled Saturday’s on-track qualifying. Under that system, Justin Allgaier started from pole position and shared the front row with rookie Corey Day. When the green flag dropped, Allgaier got the jump from the inside lane while Corey Day struggled to start from the outside, creating a stack-up behind them
As the field spread out through the first two turns and onto the backstretch, the JRM driver came under pressure from Sam Mayer in a side-by-side fight for the lead that carried from Turns 1 and 2 through Turns 3 and 4. Through that exchange, Allgaier held the opening lap by 0.024 seconds.
Before the second lap could settle, the first caution came out after Harrison Burton spun in Turn 3 following contact with Jesse Love. As the caution period was extended due to light rain, the race restarted on Lap 11, where Mayer battled Allgaier from the inside lane and eventually edged ahead through Turns 1 and 2. While Allgaier fought off teammate Connor Zilisch for second, Day challenged Zilisch for third as Mayer led the following lap.
By Lap 15, Allgaier had retaken the lead from Mayer two laps earlier and held a margin of four-tenths of a second over Mayer, with Zilisch, Austin Hill, and Day running in the next positions. Behind them came Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones, Rajah Caruth, Ross Chastain, and Sammy Smith.
Over the next five laps, Brent Crews passed Sammy Smith for tenth, while Day and Hill swapped positions for fourth, and Jones and Sieg switched places for sixth. The No. 7 JR Motorsports driver stretched the gap to more than a second over Zilisch, while Day ran third at a gap of two seconds, followed by Hill in fourth.
On Lap 25, a planned competition caution came out with Allgaier still leading over Zilisch, Day, Chastain, and Jones. During the caution, most of the field led by Allgaier came to pit road, while JJ Yeley, Nathan Byrd, Dawson Cram, and Joey Gase stayed out for one extra lap. After the stops, Allgaier came off pit road first ahead of Zilisch, Day, Jones, and Chastain, and cycled back to the lead once Yeley, Byrd, Cram, and Gase eventually pitted.
On Lap 33, the field under Allgaier’s control was sent to pit road, and the race was placed under a red flag that lasted 4 hours, 21 minutes, and 59 seconds due to rain. When the red flag was lifted and cars returned under caution at 10 p.m. ET, some drivers, including Jeb Burton, Blaine Perkins, David Starr, Joey Gase, and Josh Bilicki, pitted, while the rest, led by Allgaier, stayed out.
When the race restarted on Lap 37 at 10:08 p.m. ET, Allgaier moved forward from the inside lane and held the lead through a full cycle, with Zilisch running second. On Lap 39, Zilisch briefly got ahead, but Allgaier retook position from the outside lane. Then again, on Lap 41, Allgaier slipped in Turns 3 and 4, allowing Zilisch to regain the lead while Day moved into second using momentum on the frontstretch. Allgaier then fought with Chastain and Day for second while Zilisch stayed ahead.
At the end of Stage 1 on Lap 45, Zilisch claimed his third O’Reilly stage win of the 2026 season. Allgaier, Chastain, Day, and Mayer followed in the top five, while Love, Jones, Caruth, Crews, and Creed filled out the top ten.
During the stage break, most of the field led by Allgaier returned to pit road, while Blaine Perkins stayed out. After pit stops, Allgaier left pit road first after taking only fuel, Austin Hill, taking two tires, exited second ahead of Zilisch, Day, and Love.
Stage 2 began on Lap 51 with Perkins and Allgaier on the front row. Allgaier used the outside lane to pass Perkins and lead onto the backstretch. Soon after, Creed and Jones made contact, sending Jones sideways and collecting Crews and Harrison Burton into the outside wall, which ended the race for Jones, Crews, and Burton.
On the restart on Lap 58, Allgaier and Hill battled for the lead while Chastain moved forward. Hill and Chastain used the outside lane to pass Allgaier before Hill led the following lap. Love then moved into P3 while Allgaier struggled for grip. On Lap 60, Mayer got loose between Day and Zilisch, hit the wall, and ended his race.
On the Lap 66 restart, Love went 3-wide under Hill and Chastain to take the lead. The RCR driver led two laps before Chastain passed him, and the two traded the lead over the next four laps before Chastain cleared ahead.
On Lap 72, multiple cars, including Chastain, Allgaier, Gray, and Creed, hit the outside wall after running through oil that came from Dawson Cram’s entry. Chastain kept the lead while Allgaier pitted, and Gray and Creed retired to the garage area.
With cleanup underway and visibility affected by mist, the second stage ended under caution. Chastain was scored as the stage winner ahead of Love, Hill, Sawalich, Day, Zilisch, Sieg, Custer, Kvapil, and Caruth.
After that, the field led by Chastain was sent to pit road and placed under a second red flag due to wet conditions. With foggy, wet conditions continuing, NASCAR declared the race official and awarded Chastain the win. The consensus was that everyone knew before the green flag that it would likely be a “race to halfway” even though NASCAR now deems races official at the end of the second stage.
With that result, Chastain earned his third O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win in his 220th start, his first at Charlotte, and his first with JR Motorsports. It was also his first win in the series since Daytona in July 2019 and the ninth win of the 2026 season for JR Motorsports.
Ross Chastain’s celebration in memory of Kyle Busch
Chastain uses a signature victory routine in NASCAR. Drawing from his family’s watermelon farm, he stands on his car and throws a watermelon onto the track, where it breaks for fans. He carried out that routine at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday night.
Before that, he paid tribute to Kyle Busch, who had a known celebration routine in victory lane. Chastain stood on top of his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and said, “I have to do it.” He then placed his right arm across his body and bent at the waist, replicating the bow Busch used after wins. After that, he completed his usual watermelon routine.
Chastain said, “I didn’t know what I was going to do. And we had conversations about, do we smash the watermelon or not? We were very aware and mourning with everybody. The bow I did was in the most respectful way of showmanship to one of the greatest drivers I’ve ever raced against, and to do it as a nod to him.”
“I think racing is the best thing we can do. Getting on the track felt so good, to go fast, to just drive and slide the car. This is the start of feeling a little bit of healing through this. It felt good to go fast tonight. … Losing Kyle was on my mind through all of this,” he continued.
Chastain will compete in both the Craftsman Truck Series race and the Cup Series race on Sunday. The Truck race, which was moved from Friday night, is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET, and the Coca-Cola 600 is set for 6 p.m. ET.
When asked whether his celebration would lead other winners on Sunday to honor Busch in the same way, Chastain said, “I hope nobody else gets the chance, and we just win all the races.”