By David Morgan, Associate Editor
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – This one just means more.
Justin Allgaier has been through it all throughout his storied career in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series – wins, a championship, and more heartbreak than any driver should have to face.
But in 2026, the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet persevered through the rollercoaster of a dominant regular season and a challenging run through the Chase to come out on top at the end of it all as a two-time O’Reilly Series champion – his second in the last three years.
And all of it transpiring in a year in which he nearly walked away from it all.
“Means more than you’ll ever know. It’s obviously not the finish we wanted tonight. Wanted to be in victory lane. But this team never quits. The effort, the time they put in. The pit crew, phenomenal job,” said Allgaier.
“The first one was for me. The first one I really enjoyed. This one is for all these men and women standing back here. They have worked their tail off.
“…Hats off to this whole team. Just so proud of everybody. It’s understated. It’s been pretty special tonight.”
A season of domination is complete! @J_Allgaier comes to the line to capture his second title! pic.twitter.com/5oCVMXqMAP
— NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (@NASCAROReillyAP) November 8, 2026
Allgaier came into Saturday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway as the points leader, but not safe in his pursuit of another title, with four other drivers behind him ready to pounce should he falter along the way.
But with Allgaier being the sage veteran he is, he was able to keep himself in position to secure the title throughout the night. While he never challenged for the win, he was able to stay within striking distance of his championship peers, and brought home a seventh-place finish to lock up the championship
However, it wasn’t a clean night for Allgaier by any means as the right side of his Chevrolet illustrated, with scrapes and scuff marks down the length of the body after getting into the outside wall a number of times, even forcing him to pit road a little early during the final round of green flag pit stops.
But Allgaier was able to come out the other side of those issues still in the fight and just needed to finish the race out clean with his fellow championship contenders not in position to win the race as the laps wound down.
Despite pleas from the pit box to “just be smart,” Allgaier flirted with disaster over those closing laps, running inches off the wall, but never stepped over the line and brought his Chevrolet home as champion once again.
“Tonight it was a battle. Idiot driver packed the fence down too many times. I told you before the race I wasn’t going to do that, and I did it anyways,” Allgaier said.
“…Heart rate was pretty high right there, if I’m being honest with you,” he added. “I knew that was the lane we needed to run. You never know what to expect.”
Following the championship, team owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. noted that for Allgaier being able to add a second title to his trophy case, especially getting it done in the return to the Chase format, helps to solidify the stellar career that Allgaier has been able to put up to this point.
“It’s nice to get more than one, kind of certify the career he’s had, adds some credibility to it. I’m just thankful that we had this format. It gave us a real better understanding of kind of what our goal was, what our job was every race and every weekend,” said Earnhardt.
“This felt good to win it in this style of format. I didn’t know if we’d ever get that chance. Some people may like the old one. I like this one. It’s just fun to race this way and go through the night like we did.
“I would say that when we were in Phoenix, I was miserable every one of those, just miserable. You just didn’t know what was going to happen. You hoped at the end of the night you were the chosen one.
“Tonight I feel like we were in control, we could win it or lose it. Man, that was so fun. It was fun to race and fun to duke it out, run hard for 10 races and see what happened.
“I think Justin having won a championship under both formats, got to be pretty neat part of the storyline, as well.”
Championship Rivals Fall Short
Jesse Love fell just short of back-to-back championships in his final season with Richard Childress Racing before moving on to the Cup Series next season, finishing the season just 14 points behind Allgaier in the final tally.
Love needed to bring home a win to knock off Allgaier, but a fourth-place run on the night was just not quite enough to get it done.
But even though it was a tough way to end his tenure at RCR, Love elected to instead reflect on the experience he has had with the team and in this series before moving up the ladder in 2027.
“This closes out a big chapter in my life over the last three years that I’m going to miss tremendously, but I’ll always be grateful for it,” said Love.
“While it hurts now, I know that I come back stronger from these things. I’ll put my best foot forward and not make excuses for it, just try to be the best version of myself coming back.”
Carson Kvapil very nearly gave JR Motorsports a clean sweep of the night with a race win to go along with Allgaier’s championship, but fell back to second-place with 14 laps to go and would have to settle for a runner-up result to close out the season. In the end, Kvapil would finish third in points, 28 points behind Allgaier.
Sheldon Creed was the long shot driver entering the night, needing a max points day and help from his fellow championship contenders to be able to end his stint at Haas Factory Team as champion, but a sixth-place result would leave him as the fourth-place finisher in the series standings.
Then there was Corey Day, the Hendrick Motorsports rookie, who many expected to be the biggest challenger to Allgaier on Saturday night, but his championship aspirations went away just nine laps into the race when he and JRM driver Rajah Caruth were involved in a crash.
The incident broke out when Day tried to slide up in front of Caruth down the backstretch, even though he was being told by his spotter that he was not clear, putting them both in the wall.
Day would return to the race, but well off the pace, ending the 200 lap race some 25 laps down to the leader, chalking it all up to just being “greedy”.
“I just didn’t have the pace I needed on the short run and [Allgaier] got by me and I needed those points and I just got greedy and wasn’t clear and cleared myself. So simple as that. No one did anything wrong besides me,” said Day.
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