Corey Day won the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, his second straight win and fourth of the 2026 season. Day out-dueled Jesse Love on the final restart to bring the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet within seven points of the championship lead.
“I kind of knew it was going to be a struggle restarting in the top lane [on the final restart]. There’s actually a big difference in restarting on the top versus the bottom. I was able to get through the gears good enough, I just had a really good car firing off and was almost completely flat-out going into Turn 1. I could see [Allgaier] and [Love] didn’t have a great corner and I got to them pretty quick.
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series standings, once a runaway for JR Motorsports’s Justin Allgaier, have become a tight battle amongst four of the series’s best drivers. Sheldon Creed held onto his points lead with a third-place finish, while runner-up Jesse Love pulled to just two points out. Day sits third in the standings at seven out. Justin Allgaier finished fourth, but dropped two places to fourth in points at 15 behind Creed.
“I know I had to get into the gears and not spin them, because they were super slick,” Love said. “I was in a tough spot because I knew I wanted to not get stuck on the bottom in Turn 2 and have no shot. Had to get a good restart.”
Carson Kvapil fell two spots to fifth in the standings after tire woes caused a disappointing 32nd-place finish. He’s now 40 points out of the championship hunt. Sam Mayer had similar issues and a potential top-five turned into a 24th-place run.
Making just his second career start for Jordan Anderson Racing, 18-year-old Carson Brown finished second in the No. 32 Chevrolet. With his rookie year for Richard Childress Racing on the horizon, Brown is impressing the O’Reilly garage.
“It’s just really, really impressive,” said team owner Jordan Anderson. “His demeanor, the way he handles things is just really impressive for the age he is now. I’ve been following him for a couple years from when was running dirt late models to super late models.”
Race Results
| Position | Car | Driver | Margin |
| 1 | 17 | Corey Day (C) | — |
| 2 | 2 | Jesse Love (C) | 0.728 |
| 3 | 0 | Sheldon Creed (C) | 2.992 |
| 4 | 7 | Justin Allgaier (C) | 3.029 |
| 5 | 32 | Carson Brown | 3.177 |
| 6 | 20 | Brandon Jones (C) | 4.073 |
| 7 | 21 | Austin Hill (C) | 4.514 |
| 8 | 96 | Anthony Alfredo | 5.465 |
| 9 | 54 | Taylor Gray (C) | 5.556 |
| 10 | 44 | Brennan Poole | 5.83 |
| 11 | 18 | William Sawalich | 5.994 |
| 12 | 99 | Parker Retzlaff (C) | 6.097 |
| 13 | 24 | Harrison Burton | 6.761 |
| 14 | 26 | Dean Thompson | 7.272 |
| 15 | 55 | Joey Gase | 8.025 |
| 16 | 8 | Sammy Smith (C) | 8.441 |
| 17 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | 9.456 |
| 18 | 7 | Josh Bilicki | 10.8 |
| 19 | 31 | Blaine Perkins | 10.88 |
| 20 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | 11.536 |
| 21 | 42 | Matt DiBenedetto | 12.401 |
| 22 | 27 | Jeb Burton | 18.928 |
| 23 | 87 | Austin Green | 1 lap |
| 24 | 41 | Sam Mayer (C) | 1 lap |
| 25 | 91 | Myatt Snider | 2 laps |
| 26 | 92 | Mason Maggio | 3 laps |
| 27 | 45 | Lavar Scott # | 4 laps |
| 28 | 53 | Derek Lemke(i) | 4 laps |
| 29 | 0 | Garrett Smithley | 4 laps |
| 30 | 19 | Brent Crews # (C) | OUT |
| 31 | 9 | Jake Finch | OUT |
| 32 | 1 | Carson Kvapil (C) | 29 laps |
| 33 | 48 | Patrick Staropoli # | OUT |
| 34 | 2 | Ryan Ellis | OUT |
| 35 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | OUT |
| 36 | 88 | Rajah Caruth (C) | OUT |
| 37 | 47 | Dawson Cram | OUT |
| 38 | 38 | JJ Yeley | OUT |
