{"id":59934,"date":"2026-07-25T19:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T00:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=59934"},"modified":"2026-07-26T11:08:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T16:08:04","slug":"carson-kvapil-triumphs-at-the-brickyard-for-his-first-career-win-in-the-nascar-oreilly-auto-parts-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/25\/carson-kvapil-triumphs-at-the-brickyard-for-his-first-career-win-in-the-nascar-oreilly-auto-parts-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Carson Kvapil triumphs at the Brickyard for his first career win in the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series"},"content":{"rendered":"
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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JULY 25: Carson Kvapil, driver of the #1 Wilde Protein Crackers Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Pennzoil 250 Presented by Take 5 Oil Change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

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By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SPEEDWAY, Ind.\u2014Carson Kvapil chose the perfect time to claim his first victory in the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series.<\/p>\n

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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JULY 25: Carson Kvapil, driver of the #1 Wilde Protein Crackers Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Pennzoil 250 Presented by Take 5 Oil Change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Kvapil\u2019s emotional victory in Saturday\u2019s Pennzoil 250 presented by Take 5 Oil Change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway\u2014one of the biggest stages in motorsports\u2014had the driver shedding tears and team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. temporarily at a loss for words.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It was a day of milestones. With Justin Allgaier, Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott in positions two through four, respectively, JR Motorsports scored the first four-driver sweep of an event in series history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The victory was the 14th of the season for JRM with six different drivers, the latter number tying the record the organization set last year. For the 79th straight race, JR Motorsports placed at least one driver in the top 10, tying the record set by RFK Racing from 2008-2010.<\/p>\n

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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JULY 25: Carson Kvapil, driver of the #1 Wilde Protein Crackers Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Pennzoil 250 Presented by Take 5 Oil Change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt means the world to me,\u201d Kvapil said, as his No. 1 Chevrolet team climbed the frontstretch catchfence in celebration of the victory. \u201cIt\u2019s very emotional. I rode around on that lap backwards (after taking the checkered flag), and I sat there just thinking about all the hard work I\u2019ve put in\u2014me and my dad Travis\u2014to get to this point.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAnd the faith (team principals) Dale Jr., L.W. Miller and Kelley Miller put behind me to give me this opportunity\u2014a second chance, I guess you could say, to come back at it this year\u2026. I\u2019m going to try not to cry too much. I\u2019ve already shed a few tears\u2014just trying to hold it together right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In an event that featured just one caution for an on-track incident, Kvapil passed Chastain on Lap 79 of 100 and held it the rest of the way. Allgaier powered past Chastain into second place on Lap 94 and closed his deficit to Kvapil to less than a car-length on the white-flag lap.<\/p>\n

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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JULY 25: Carson Kvapil, driver of the #1 Wilde Protein Crackers Chevrolet, celebrates with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Pennzoil 250 Presented by Take 5 Oil Change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Crossing the Yard of Bricks with one lap left, Allgaier trailed by a scant 0.283 seconds, but his efforts to shrink the distance on the final circuit proved fruitless, and Kvapil crossed the stripe with a 0.643 second advantage to score his first victory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kvapil accomplished more than just a win. He moved into second place in the series standings, 265 points behind Allgaier, who already has clinched the already clinched the top Chase seed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kvapil also joined Allgaier and Jesse Love in the Chase with two regular-season races left\u2014as did Sheldon Creed (eighth Saturday), Corey Day (seventh), Brandon Jones (ninth) and Austin Hill (10th).<\/p>\n

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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JULY 25: The crew of the #1 Wilde Protein Crackers Chevrolet climb the fence to celebrate driver, Carson Kvapil winning the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Pennzoil 250 Presented by Take 5 Oil Change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Allgaier, a six-time winner this season, felt the race slipped away from him when his No. 7 Chevrolet fell from first to fourth after the Lap 67 start of the final stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThat was kind the difference maker for us, I feel like, over the day,\u201d Allgaier said. \u201cI guess, in some ways, we kind of set up to be good on long runs, and it showed through. That\u2019s why we were able to be really good at the end of that run\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe made good adjustments. We did all the right things. We just came up a couple of laps short. I think if we have a couple more laps, if we have maybe a little bit different help from some of the lapped cars, there\u2019s things that we maybe could have done different.<\/p>\n

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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JULY 25: Carson Kvapil, driver of the #1 Wilde Protein Crackers Chevrolet, kisses the yard of bricks after winning the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Pennzoil 250 Presented by Take 5 Oil Change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 25, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cBut again, super proud of Carson and the whole No. 1 team. He\u2019s done a really good job, and as a company, to do what we did today shows really where we\u2019re at and what we\u2019re able to accomplish, and for that I\u2019m super proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Crew chief Rodney Childers and the No. 1 team kept Kvapil in the mix from start to finish, but that was no surprise. While working as Kevin Harvick\u2019s crew chief, Childers fashioned two NASCAR Cup Series victories at the Brickyard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kvapil has cobbled the current season together in three different cars with three different teams\u2014the Nos. 1 and 9 at JR Motorsports and the No. 91 fielded by Mario Gosselin for DGM Racing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Saturday\u2019s victory was vindication of Kvapil\u2019s determination to sustain a career despite some imposing obstacles in his path.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With seven of 12 Chase positions now filled, the fight for the final spots intensified at Indy. After finishing 12th, Taylor Gray holds the final berth above the current cut line by seven points over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate William Sawalich and 20 over Rajah Caruth, who stayed out on old tires to win the second stage before finishing 22nd.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Interview: NOAPS Race Winner Carson Kvapil (No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet), Crew Chief Rodney Childers and Team Owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. –<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race – Pennzoil 250 presented by Take 5 Oil Change<\/strong><\/p>\n

Indianapolis Motor Speedway<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speedway, Indiana<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday, July 25, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

                  1. (2)  Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  2. (13)  Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  <\/span>3. (8)  Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                  4. (7)  Chase Elliott(i), Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                  5. (9)  William Sawalich, Toyota, 100.<\/p>\n

                  6. (15)  Brent Crews #, Toyota, 100.<\/p>\n

                  7. (11)  Corey Day, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                  8. (1)  Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                  9. (6)  Brandon Jones, Toyota, 100.<\/p>\n

                  10. (19)  Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                  11. (17)  Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                  12. (5)  Taylor Gray, Toyota, 100.<\/p>\n

                  13. (3)  Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                  14. (20)  Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                  15. (12)  Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  16. (26)  Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  17. (14)  Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  18. (24)  Harrison Burton, Toyota, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  19. (10)  Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  20. (23)  Nick Sanchez, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  21. (25)  Dean Thompson, Toyota, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  22. (16)  Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  23. (18)  Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  24. (22)  Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  <\/span>25. (30)  Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                  26. (21)  Mason Maggio, Chevrolet, 100.<\/p>\n

                  27. (31)  Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  28. (27)  Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  29. (28)  Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  30. (29)  Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  31. (36)  Nathan Byrd, Chevrolet, 100.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  32. (33)  Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 99.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  33. (32)  Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 99.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  34. (37)  Blake Lothian, Chevrolet, 99.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  35. (38)  David Starr, Chevrolet, 99.<\/span><\/p>\n

                  <\/span>36. (35)  Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 99.<\/p>\n

                  37. (4)  Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 97.<\/p>\n

                  38. (34)  JJ Yeley, Ford, Fuel Pump, 39.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  128.94 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  1 Hrs, 56 Mins, 20 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.643 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  3 for 13 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  10 among 8 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   S. Creed 1-23;J. Clements 24-32;C. Kvapil 33;R. Chastain(i) 34-36;W. Sawalich 37-38;R. Chastain(i) 39-54;D. Thompson 55-56;R. Caruth 57-62;J. Allgaier 63-66;R. Chastain(i) 67-78;C. Kvapil 79-100.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Ross Chastain(i) 3 times for 31 laps; Sheldon Creed 1 time for 23 laps; Carson Kvapil 2 times for 23 laps; Jeremy Clements 1 time for 9 laps; Rajah Caruth 1 time for 6 laps; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 4 laps; William Sawalich 1 time for 2 laps; Dean Thompson 1 time for 2 laps.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 51,9,1,18,41,7,00,54,19,8<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 32,7,9,00,1,26,41,18,21,88<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SPEEDWAY, Ind.\u2014Carson Kvapil chose the perfect time to claim his first victory in the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series. Kvapil\u2019s emotional victory in Saturday\u2019s Pennzoil 250 presented by Take 5 Oil Change at Indianapolis Motor Speedway\u2014one of the biggest stages in motorsports\u2014had the driver shedding tears and team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":59917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[1182,421,16,1147],"class_list":["post-59934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-carson-kvapil","tag-indianapolis-motor-speedway","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-oreilly-auto-parts-series"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2287643320-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1708&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-fAG","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59934"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59936,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59934\/revisions\/59936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}