MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The standard Martinsville Speedway attrition returned on Saturday evening, setting up a five-driver title bout heading into the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series finale.
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Justin Allgaier now leads the points again, but he does not have a comfortable cushion. Defending champion Jesse Love is 22 points behind while Corey Day is 23 points behind. Martinsville winner Carson Kvapil is fourth at 31 points back while Sheldon Creed is the last driver mathematically in contention at 42 points back.
"We're gonna go there and hopefully put on a show for the fans," Allgaier said after a runner-up finish. "That's the whole goal with this was to have cars battling it out for a championship.
"And right now, we got five of us that can go get it done. So, regardless of the outcome, I think it's going to be a lot of fun."
DON'T COUNT OUT CARSON!@Carson_Kvapil improves his championship chances by claiming his third victory of the season at Martinsville! pic.twitter.com/QO13w7NAjB
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) October 31, 2026
For the 12th time in the past 13 races, the O'Reilly Series race at the Virginia short track had a double digit number of cautions. As a result, the average speed of the race fell to 57.084 mph. Of the 250 laps, 90 ran under caution.
Day is one of the many drivers involved in the 12 cautions. He was collected in a five-car incident in stage 1 that significantly damaged the rear of his Chevrolet.
Yet, the team worked on the car throughout the night and kept him in contention for the championship. He scored seven stage points and finished third.
"(A) must win's okay though," Day said on pit road. "I like that. I like those odds. It's better than being out of it entirely.
"So yeah, never been (to Homestead) in an O'Reilly car, but really look forward to it, for sure."
While multiple contenders spent time on pit road for repairs, Kvapil and the No. 1 team took advantage of others' misfortune. They scored seven points in the opening stage and then used pit strategy to gain track position in the final stage.
Once Kvapil had clean air in the No. 1 Chevrolet, he just had to play defense against Allgaier. This is the position he wanted to be in, and he capitalized on the opportunity by winning for the third time this season.
"You're not going to be on the best tires at the end," Kvapil said. "But I feel like this Martinsville race, man, sometimes it can go green from start to end in that situation, and that's good because you get away.
"Or it could be a bunch of yellows, which is good too because the guys on older tires, like I don't have to, I guess, wear and tear on them as much. You can fire off on older tires for a few laps and hold off the new tires."
The night did not go as smoothly for Love, who has struggled at short tracks this season. He scored six stage points early in the race, but the night went awry after that point.
The defending champion missed out on points during the second stage. He then had to spend extra time on pit road as the team worked to make his car better. However, they cut his water line while cutting through the bumper bar, which led to him losing water pressure and making more trips down pit road.
Big setback for @jesselovejr1's championship hopes as he has trouble with his brakes with 30 laps to go. pic.twitter.com/VTFVmTwcyL
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) October 31, 2026
The night grew worse after Love lost brakes and spun into the outside wall. His No. 2 Chevrolet sustained far more damage and led to another trip down pit road. At that point, the team made enough repairs to get Love on the track so that he could just complete more laps. He ended the night in 30th place and nine laps down.
"There wasn't a magic thing that I was going to do to pull us out of the hole once it kind of started," Love said on pit road. "Just had to be smart and make high-percentage moves, and I feel like we kinda did."
Love entered the night with the points lead. Now, he sits second in the standings with one race remaining. He has to go to Homestead-Miami Speedway and just win. That's how he can clinch his second consecutive championship.
"Funny how that works out," he said with a smirk.
