Brandon Jones Wins O’Reilly Finale at Homestead

Brandon Jones won the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, his second victory of the 2026 season. Jones got ahead of Carson Kvapil in the closing laps, sealing the victory even though he wasn’t in contention for the championship.

The final caution of the 2026 season came out with 57 laps remaining, after Andrew Patterson struck the tire barrier attempting to slow for pit road. Before this caution Brandon Jones had spent most of the race in the back half of the top-10. The ensuing red flag and restart allowed for some tire strategy, with Jones having slightly fresher tires then his comptition.

It was Carson Kvapil and Sam Mayer, two of the three dominant drivers of the weekend, who led the field to green with 49 laps to go, with Mayer retaking the lead briefly before losing it to Jones. Jones and Kvapil battled for the rest of the race with Jones ultimately securing the victory and Allgaier securing the championship.

“It’s obviously not the finish we wanted tonight, we wanted to be in victory lane, but this team never quits,” Allgaier said. “The effort, the time that they put in, pitcrew [did] a phenomial job. The first [championship] was for me, the first one I really enjoyed, this one is for all the men and women that are standing back here who work their tails off. To be honest with you, these two [his kids], my wife, my parents, [and] everybody you mentioned, they mean so much.”

Rest of the Race

The third dominant driver of the opening stint, Sheldon Creed earned the pole. Eight laps into the race, the Hendrickcars.com Chevrolets of Corey Day and Rajah Caruth made contact. A poorly timed block from Day took him out of contention for the win and ended his championship pursuit. Day returned to the race later in the stage, 17 laps down. On Lap 33, Mayer took the lead and won the stage ahead of his teammate. Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Kvapil, Brent Crews, Justin Allgaier, Parker Retzlaff, Jones, and Sammy Smith also earned stage points.

Love won the race off pit road and led the field to green, but lost the lead to Creed temporarily. With 13 laps to go, the Haas team-mates battled for the lead again before Mayer returned to the lead. The second caution for incident came out with two laps to go with a spin from Jeb Burton, ending the stage. The Haas team-mates finished 1-2 again, with Love, Allgaier, Hill, Crews, Jones, Kvapil (Who restarted 31st in line due to battery issues), Retzlaff, and William Sawalich also earned stage points.

A right-front tire issue from Sam Mayer allowed Creed and Love to lead Stage 3 to green. Despite challenges from Love and Kvapil, Creed maintained the lead until Lap 135, when Kvapil took the lead. With 67 laps to go, it was a four car dog fight between Creed, Kvapil, Love, and Mayer for the victory, all four within a second. With 62 to go, Allgaier had a tire issue and had to make an unscheduled pitstop. Love came to pit road with 60 laps to go, Creed came with 58 to go, while Kvapil and Mayer both came with 57 laps to go. While they were on pit road, Andrew Patterson spun out in the entrance, bringing out the red flag.

Results