By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
PHOENIX, Ariz. – JR Motorsports’ driver Justin Allgaier pushed forward when it mattered most, his No. 7 Chevrolet leading only the last 11 laps of Saturday night’s GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway to claim his third win at the one-mile oval and take over the championship lead in NASCAR’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Allgaier had to pass the night’s most dominant driver, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love to earn the trophy. Love came into the race with the best average finish in the last four Phoenix races and again proved how good he is in the desert, leading a race best 114 of the 200 laps.
There were no caution periods in the opening two stages of the race – the first stage won by Allgaier’s teammate Sammy Smith and the second stage won by Love.
Two late race yellow flags however, bunched the field on restarts and allowed Allgaier’s team to rally from a slow pit stop earlier in the night. The two former champions went door-to-door following the final restart with 15 laps to go, the 2024 series champ Allgaier ultimately besting the 2025 champ Love with a daring move on the outside and then holding him off by .449-seconds at the finish line to earn JR Motorsports’ 107th victory.
“So proud of this team,” said Allgaier, praising the team for overcoming a poor stop early. “It wasn’t for lack of adversity and it seems like those are the ones that are big for us. I cannot say enough about this team.
“It never gets old winning,” added Allgaier, who has now won at least one race for a record 10 consecutive seasons. “This team rallied and never gave up.”
As encouraging as the night was – a stage win and fourth consecutive top-10 finish on the season for Love, the 21-year-old was understandably frustrated to finish runner-up after such a dominant showing.
“The car tightening up there at the beginning of stage three put us behind, so just frustrated,” said Love, noting that he refused to just walk away happy with a runner-up showing after such a strong effort.
“Obviously not why I’m here [to finish second]. Just beyond frustrated with myself. I don’t know what else to say, just upset, upset with myself.”
The top finishing 14 cars were Chevrolets. Allgaier’s JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil, who looked strong midrace and led 22 laps, finished third, followed by Haas Factory Team co-drivers Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer.
Sammy Smith, Jeb Burton, Rajah Caruth, Corey Day and Anthony Alfredo rounded out the top-10. It’s the third top-10 of the season for both Smith and Day.
The championship standings now mirror Saturday’s outcome with Allgaier holding a three-point advantage over Love as the series heads to the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway for next week’s The LiUNA (5:30 p.m. ET on CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Allgaier is the defending winner of that race.
Interview: Justin Allgaier (No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet) – NOAPS Race Winner’s Press Conference –
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race – GOVX 200
Phoenix Raceway
Avondale, Arizona
Saturday, March 7, 2026
1. (17) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.
2. (2) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 200.
3. (14) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 200.
4. (16) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 200.
5. (12) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 200.
6. (7) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 200.
7. (9) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 200.
8. (25) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 200.
9. (8) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 200.
10. (4) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 200.
11. (21) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 200.
12. (13) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 200.
13. (6) William Byron(i), Chevrolet, 200.
14. (31) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 200.
15. (1) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 200.
16. (3) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 200.
17. (18) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 200.
18. (5) Brent Crews #, Toyota, 200.
19. (35) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 200.
20. (29) Daniel Dye(i), Ford, 199.
21. (24) Chandler Smith(i), Ford, 199.
22. (27) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 199.
23. (11) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 199.
24. (10) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 199.
25. (23) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 199.
26. (28) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, 199.
27. (20) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 199.
28. (26) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 198.
29. (22) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 198.
30. (33) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 197.
31. (32) Nathan Byrd, Chevrolet, 197.
32. (37) Mason Maggio, Chevrolet, 196.
33. (30) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, 195.
34. (34) Austin J Hill, Chevrolet, 195.
35. (19) Nick Sanchez, Ford, 193.
36. (36) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 192.
37. (15) William Sawalich, Toyota, Accident, 173.
38. (38) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Suspension, 13.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 93.909 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 7 Mins, 47 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.449 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 37 laps.
Lead Changes: 20 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Gray 1-10;J. Love 11-40;S. Smith 41-50;C. Kvapil 51;J. Love 52-95;C. Kvapil 96;J. Love 97-132;C. Kvapil 133;J. Love 134;C. Kvapil 135-137;J. Love 138;C. Kvapil 139-153;J. Burton 154;R. Caruth 155;S. Creed 156-170;C. Kvapil 171;S. Creed 172-173;S. Mayer 174-184;S. Creed 185-187;J. Love 188-189;J. Allgaier 190-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Jesse Love 6 times for 114 laps; Carson Kvapil 6 times for 22 laps; Sheldon Creed 3 times for 20 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 11 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 11 laps; Sammy Smith 1 time for 10 laps; Taylor Gray 1 time for 10 laps; Jeb Burton 1 time for 1 lap; Rajah Caruth 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 8,2,1,7,88,27,17,19,00,20
Stage #2 Top Ten: 2,1,88,7,19,8,27,54,00,51
