The O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship favorite has fallen further in the standings due to an incident at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Justin Allgaier is now further behind points leader Sheldon Creed.
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The incident occurred during the second stage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Allgaier, who scored one point in the opening stage, raced in the eighth position on Lap 55. He had the outside lane, and he began to slow after hearing reports about Brandon Jones struggling.
Suddenly, Jones wiggled before his car suddenly shot to the right. It slammed into the outside wall directly in front of Allgaier, who had nowhere to go. Allgaier slammed into Jones as their cars remained stuck together.
A crash with BIG implications on the Championship!@BrandonJonesRac gets loose and collides with @J_Allgaier as he hits the wall. pic.twitter.com/V2332ycoSP
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) October 4, 2026
"Why do these guys not do what they are supposed to do and lock it down and turn it to the left?" Allgaier asked over the radio after the wreck. "They always try to drive out of it, even though we know they are not going to save it, and wreck the field."
Both drivers went to the garage. Jones could not continue in the race, so he finished the race in the 35th position.
Allgaier spent time in the garage working on the No. 7 until he could get back out and make two more laps. This allowed him to pass Jones and gain one championship point.
Allgaier fell to 17 points behind Creed immediately after the crash. He then fell to 30 points back after the second stage. He left the track 31 points back of Creed after Corey Day won in a wild finish.
According to Jones, the wreck happened due to a loose wheel. His pit crew did not get all of the lug nuts tight during the pit stop between the first and second stages.
"That is essentially what took us out," he said after exiting the infield care center. "I'm beyond frustrated here. These first four races in the Chase — we have done nothing but execute very poorly. On our behalf, I can only do so much.
"I try to defend my guys the best I can, but we are just making too many mistakes right now. It is unfortunate. I really hate this for Menards and NIBCO and all of these great partners. They deserve a lot better than this."
Allgaier entered the Chase as the No. 1 seed after piling up six wins in the regular season. He had a 229-point lead over Carson Kvapil in second, but this reset to 25 points for the start of the Chase.
The Chase has not gone as Allgaier and the No. 7 team hoped. Creed has won two of the four races and taken the points lead.
Meanwhile, Allgaier finished 17th at Darlington Raceway due to an ill-handling car, 13th at World Wide Technology Raceway after being collected in a wreck and heading to the garage for repairs, fourth at Bristol Motor Speedway, and 34th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after the being collected by Jones.
He has limited some of the damage by scoring 48 stage points across the four races, but he has still fallen far short of the No. 7 team's expectations due to some circumstances out of their control.
