Las Vegas, NV — What an amazing finish for Hendrick Motorsports driver Corey Day (17) as he brought the speed and good car-handling in the final lap. Bass Pro Shops driver Carson Kvapil (1) brought the pressure as he took his driving skills all the way through the finish line. Both Chevrolet drivers delivered a finish that everyone will be talking about for a long time.
Day had a great car this weekend at the Focused Health 302 race. He won the Pole Position with a lap of 29.858 seconds running 180.856 mph. This is his second pole in 39 NASCAR O’Reilly Series races, his second pole and his sixteenth top 10 start in 2026. Today is a little bit more special as this is his first pole in 3 races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Championship leader, Sheldon Creed finished second while he posted his 19th top 10 start of 2026 while taking on his sixth top 10 in Las Vegas. He finished third at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this year. Rounding up third and fourth are Brandon Jones and fastest qualifying rookie Brent Crews, consecutively.
Day held off Kvapil by 0.287 seconds to win the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, earning his third victory of the 2026 season. The pole sitter led a career-high 136 laps, but it was the final lap performance that will go down in the history books as Day hit the wall, and was fighting for survival as he and Kvapil fought for survival down the stretch.
This year is Day’s first full time season competing in this series adding to his Talladega Superspeedway and Dover Motor Speedway victories at 20 years old.
JR Motorsports driver, Rajah Caruth (88), is a driver to watch. After the practice and qualifying laps, he finished 6th which gives him a good start to the front to contend for
early stage points at the Las Vegas Speedway where he earned his first Truck Series win. During the first and second stages, Caruth had a good run and finished third in both. It was an unfortunate tire penalty after stage 2 that sent him to the rear for the restart. Day also had to restart stage 3 in the rear, but pushed his way back to front line with his strategic pit stops.
Caruth’s Las Vegas performance reflected both the promise and the challenges of his first full season in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. The Washington, DC native has recorded two top five finishes, eight top ten finishes, one pole position, and eighty-seven lead laps. Keep your eyes open for this young driver. We will definitely see his name in top ten finishes for seasons to come. He is the third Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race as he joins Wendell Scott and Bubba Wallace.
After race inspection, Caruth looses a pit stall next week in Charlotte due to one lug nut was either missing or too loose.
Before the race inspections, the other contenders to keep an eye out are Sheldon Creed (00) and Joe Gibbs Racing Brandon Jones (20). Unfortunate circumstances ended the race early for Justin Allgaier and Jones during lap 56 at turn 2. Creed has been disqualified due four or more lugs not safe and secure which is very dangerous during the post race inspection.
Next Up: Charlotte Roval on Saturday, October 10th at 4:30 PM EST.
