By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

DARLINGTON, S.C. (September 5, 2026) – It took 138 races for Sheldon Creed to finally claim his first career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at Atlanta this February. On Saturday night he earned his second trophy – and the timing couldn’t be better with the Californian opening the nine-race Chase for the season championship with a visit to Victory Lane in the Fleetio 200 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Creed took the lead after his crew delivered a fast pit stop putting his No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet in front of the field for a restart with 49 laps remaining. The 2020 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champ took it from there and held the lead all the way to the checkered flag, crossing the finish line 2.961-seconds ahead of Hendrick Motorsports rookie Corey Day, who also turned in an impressive effort in the Chase opener.

Over his career, Creed has been especially good at the at the famed 1.366-mile Darlington oval known as the track “Too Tough to Tame.” His work Saturday was his seventh top-10 finish in nine Darlington starts. He was runner-up here in 2022 and earned two truck race wins here in 2021.

“I’ve wanted this O’Reilly win here and to finally get that is incredible,’’ Creed, 29, said, acknowledging his team tried a different strategy early in the race that got him close enough to the front to benefit from the clutch pit stop.

“It ended up working out well and was able to get second and the pit crew did a great job getting us out in the lead. Was able to control it from there. Was just praying for no cautions. Very thankful.”

Four of the 12 Chase-eligible drivers finished among the top-five. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brent Crews was third – although not eligible for the driver’s title, the finish was crucial as Crews’ No. 19 JGR Toyota is running for the owner’s championship.

Chase drivers JR Motorsports’ drivers Sammy Smith and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill were fourth and fifth in their Chevrolets.

Regular season champion, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier led a race best 60 of the 147 laps and ran among the top-five all night. But his No. 7 Chevrolet hit the wall with 23 laps remaining while he was trying to rally from fourth place. He had to nurse the car home in the closing laps and ultimately finished 17th – snapping a 10-race streak of top-10 finishes at the track.

More importantly, the frustrating finish at a track where he’s won four times, cut his lead atop the championship standings from 35 points going into the race to only seven points ahead of Creed with eight races remining to crown the champ.

Allgaier, a series-best six-race winner this season, had held a massive 229-point advantage in the standings before the points were re-set for this nine-race Chase run to the championship.

“Our Chevrolet was really good tonight and I felt like when we were out front there we were able to save the tires, really cruise and our pace was really good,’’ said the 2024 series champion Allgaier, who won Stage 1.

“And then somewhere in the middle of that second stage I started to feel like we weren’t as good as we needed to be and the last part of the race there, we just didn’t have the car that we needed at the end. And obviously, I was just trying to hang on and do everything I could.”

Viking Motorsports’ driver Anthony Alfredo finished sixth followed by Chase drivers JGR’s Taylor Gray and Creed’s teammate Sam Mayer. South Carolina native Jeremy Clements, who is not championship-eligible, finished ninth for his fourth top-10 showing of the year.

Chase driver Brandon Jones rounded out the top-10. Other title-eligible drivers Parker Retzlaff and Rajah Caruth were 21st and 26th, respectively.

It was a particularly eventful night for Caruth, who is competing for his first series championship. He rallied from being two laps down early in the race and was running well inside the top-10 with 45 laps remaining. But the same fuel pick-up issue that set him back early in the race reappeared with seven laps remaining and forced him to pit the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in those closing laps.

“We were respectable in the first stage before we had a fuel pick-up issue,’’ Caruth said, noting he wasn’t positive what the issue was yet.

“I am so proud of all our effort,’’ he continued. “We could have easily thrown ourselves out of it with an issue or put ourselves in a bad spot working through traffic. But we got all the way up to sixth place and was in good position for a good result.

“But that happens. It’s sports. … we’ll be good for next week.’’

JR Motorsports’ Kvapil is now third in points, 19 points off Allgaier. Hill is fourth, 36 points back and Day is now 5th, 46 points off the pace.

“Still a long way to go but need to keep finishing toward the front and scoring every point we can,’’ Creed said.

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action for race two of the Chase next Saturday in the Nu Way 225 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Current NASCAR Cup Series rookie Connor Zilisch is the defending race winner.

By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (August 28, 2026) – After 424 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts – earning five runner-up finishes – Georgia owner-driver Ryan Sieg hoisted his first career trophy Friday night at Daytona International Speedway in a dramatic overtime victory in the Winn Dixie 250 Powered by Coca-Cola.

A favorite in the garage and the grandstands, the 39-year-old from Tucker, Ga. benefitted from a two-tire late race pit stop to get inside the top-five and was running fourth when a caution flew with a single lap of regulation remaining.

Restarting the two-lap overtime period from the outside lane on the second row, Sieg was able to get around front-row starting JR Motorsports teammates Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier immediately and then drove away. His No. 38 Ryan Sieg Racing Chevrolet ultimately took the checkered flag by .149-second over Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill.

In the closing yards to the finish line, Sieg conceded he just kept thinking, “don’t mess up.”

He did not.

“This is incredible, unbelievable, especially doing it here at Daytona,” said a grinning Sieg as he received a hug from his brother Kyle and a kiss from his girlfriend. “I’ve been coming here since I was a baby, we’ve come here every summer race.

“To do it right now and the way we did it, that’s amazing and to get the pole last [race], just want to thank everybody that helped us out to get here. My mom and dad, my girlfriend, all the support from the whole team, everybody.

“This has been a long time coming. Last race got the pole and [now] we came back to Daytona where I really wanted to win and we freaking did it.”

For so much of the race it looked like Kvapil may earn his third consecutive win – that last lap caution flag cutting short his bid to become the first driver in series history to claim his first three career wins consecutively. His 50 laps out front in the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet were most on the night.

Viking Motorsports driver Anthony Alfredo and newly re-signed Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brandon Jones rounded out the top-five. Allgaier rallied to a sixth-place finish in the typically frenzied final laps.

The extra time – a two-lap overtime period was necessary after Allgaier and another of his JR Motorsports teammates touched with a lap remaining – the contact from behind sending pole-winner Rajah Caruth’s No. 88 Chevrolet spinning.

Fortunately for Caruth, the bad luck didn’t end up ruining such a successful night when he put himself inside the 12-driver Chase field that will now go on to challenge for the 2026 title.

Caruth finished 32nd but the greater misfortune of two other competitors, put the 24-year-old into the Chase in his first fulltime season in the series. Similarly, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Taylor Gray moved from outside Chase contention to the 12th and final eligible position, his 26th-place finish at Daytona good enough to move him forward after two of his teammates suffered a heart-breaking night.

The Chase standings took a dramatic turn mid-race with a pair of accidents – both near the front of the field – ending JGR teammates Brent Crews’ and William Sawalich’s hopes of contending for a title. Both had been running top-10 when separate incidents derailed their quests.

Crews’ No. 19 JGR Toyota suffered a lot of damage, collected in a five-car accident in Turn 3 on lap 28 and had to go to the garage for lengthy repairs. Only 19 laps later Sawalich was an innocent victim in another five-car incident, the damage to his No. 18 JGR Toyota proving too much to return to the race competitively.

Crews did come back on track with 42 laps remaining but was 31 laps down to the field.

“We did all we could but just got taken out and it sucks,” said a disappointed Sawalich, who won at Rockingham, N.C. this year and had made up 45 points to become Chase eligible in just the last few weeks.

After the points reset for this Chase run, the season’s most dominant driver, six-race winner Allgaier will take a 25-point lead into the 10-race trophy run that begins next week. His teammate Kvapil is seeded second, followed by Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed, defending series champion, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love and his teammate Hill, Jones, Hendrick Motorsports’ rookie Corey Day, and JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith.

Viking Motorsports’ Parker Retzlaff will make his Chase debut, with Haas driver Sam Mayer, Gray and Caruth rounding out the Chase field.

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action next week at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway – the nine-race Chase to decide the 2026 series champion beginning with the Fleetio 200 (7:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). NASCAR Cup Series regular Christopher Bell won the last Fall race at Darlington in 2024. Allgaier won at the track this March.

By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

LOUDON, N.H. (August 22, 2026) – Layne Riggs capped his 2026 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular season with his series-best sixth win of the year, claiming the Team EJP 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday afternoon in a dramatic double overtime victory in the regular season finale.

The 24-year-old North Carolinian claimed a .293-second win over his Front Row Motorsports teammate Chandler Smith – Riggs’ pole-sitting No. 34 Front Row Ford leading a race high 106 of the 189 laps, including the last 71 through a pair of overtime restarts. It’s his 11th career Truck Series win.

“Statement win, this is awesome,” a grinning Riggs told a thrilled New Hampshire Motor Speedway grandstand, receiving cheers as he spoke about how much he loves racing in New England.

“Thank you to everybody at Front Row Motorsports and Ford racing. I thought I was off a little bit and thought I was in trouble,” Riggs said, of finishing second and third to NASCAR Cup Series regular Connor Zilisch who swept Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the race.

But Riggs credited his team with making the key adjustments to his truck to close out the race and the young talent took it from there in what’s been his most successful season of NASCAR competition.

“One, two, Front Row Motorsports, it’s in the name,” he added of his and Smith’s effort Saturday. “Let’s bring on the Chase. Only got seven [races] left. No mercy.”

Another big winner on the day was McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Tyler Ankrum, claiming the 10th and final position for the seven-race Chase that will decide the ultimate 2026 season champion. Ankrum persevered after his No. 18 Chevrolet suffered mechanical gremlins mid-race, dropped nearly a lap down but rebounded for a 16th-place finish in the 36-truck field.

Although disappointed with the struggles, the finish was good enough to give Ankrum a seven-point edge over veteran Stewart Friesen and an 11-point edge over Jake Garcia who were vying with him for the final Chase position. Both of those drivers led multiple laps, but ultimately, Ankrum’s points advantage coming into the race was enough cushion to keep him in that final championship transfer position. Friesen’s No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota finished fourth while Garcia’s No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford was 14th.

Ankrum was excited about making the Chase, but still visibly frustrated with an emotional day full of challenges to get to that point.

“It’s extremely rare you come to a place as fast as this and have no rear brakes and can’t fix the problem,” Ankrum said. “We’ve had adversities like this through the year, and I thought we were done with them. Luckily, Eddie D’Hondt, my spotter, gave me some advice [in the closing laps].

“Definitely did not want to come to New Hampshire and perform like that. Got lucky. Did not perform like we belong in the Chase,” he added, promising in a couple hours he would be able to, “Move on past this and go to the shop and improve and race for the championship.”

Friesen, whose fourth-place run at New Hampshire was his fourth top-five finish in the last five races, was proud of his team effort despite the near miss. A heart-breaking 36th-place finish at Richmond, Va. last week after an early-race crash, essentially made the mathematical difference.

“It was what it was, proud of the Halmar team,” the 42-year-old Friesen said. “We just didn’t bring enough speed all year. We battled today, [crew chief] Bruce [Cook] made a good call to get two tires and up in the front we got the balance pretty close and found a lane I could work with.

“It’s a bummer, I think we’re definitely at top 10 team, we just had some misfortune at Richmond last week and some other times throughout the season. We’ll just go back to work and keep building this team up and get better and better, I promise you that.. … We’ll go back to work and finish the year as strong as we can and bring better stuff for next year.”

TRICON Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt finished third in another remarkable competitive recovery – a tire went down in the opening stage, and he ended up losing a lap but battled back to his 11th top-five on the season. He’ll start the Chase ranked second in the reseeded championship standings, 25 points off Riggs.

Friesen was fourth with Zilisch rounding out the top-five in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet – his effort coming the same week he announced big plans to move in 2028 to the championship Hendrick Motorsports organization in the NASCAR Cup Series.

His Spire Motorsports teammate, Tristan McKee continued his impressive work, the 16-year-old answering an eighth-place finish in his series debut last week at Richmond with a sixth-place showing in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet on Saturday.

Christopher Bell, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series New Hampshire winner was seventh with McAnally-Hilgemann’s Daniel Hemric, Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley and Niece Motorsports’ Parker Eatmon rounding out the top-10.

The CRAFTSMAN Truck Series takes a four-week break before starting its seven-race Chase run to the title. Joining Riggs and Honeycutt in that championship run are Smith, McAnally-Hilgemann’s Christian Eckes, TRICON Garage’s Gio Ruggiero, ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski, CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger, Hemric, three-time series champion ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes, and Ankrum will contend for the season trophy.

The title run begins Sept. 17 with the UNOH 250 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Riggs is the defending race winner.