NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Highlights | 2026 Texas Motor Speedway

It's 300 miles to Texas. Here we go in the O'Reilly auto parts series. Great start. Also Brandon Jones. What should win here for all guys being on the bottom usually early in these races just has all the grip. It takes a few laps to lay the rubber. Oh! Taylor Gray sideways. Here we go. Opening lap. We've got a crash. Last week's winner. Damaged race car. The guy that got the checkered flag two weeks ago. See William Swalich heading the wrong direction trying to get spun around. That all started. Saw Taylor get a little bit loose and it looked like he was going to catch it. We got hit. See Taylor Gray. That was the first car we saw get loose. You got to think these guys checking up. Somebody maybe got in the back of someone else. Three wide. You see Sammy Smith inside of Taylor Gray. Watch Corey Day here. He's up there fighting on the outside. He's just a little high. That's what we're talking about. It's so treacherous, this racetrack, because it just has moments where there's very little grip. He talks about hitting ice. It gets dirty outside the main groove and it just, for whatever reason, takes time to clean it up. That's the same thing here for Taylor Gray and Carson Quaple there. They're too high. Two different instances here. We have some contact here with Carson Quaple and Taylor Gray. Corey Day just got too high and the track flattens out. You mentioned it being dirty there. You know you're going to wreck for a long time as we see. Taylor had to check up just a little bit. But I think part of what Taylor's trying to do there is not be that high, so he's trying to crowd back down. He doesn't want to be up there. You have Carson Quaple who's trying to fill that gap but has nowhere else to go. He's three wide, and so you just end up with three cars in the spot for two. State water heaters on board camera riding with Jeff Burton. Jeff. Kind of think there was maybe a little contact there with Swalich. Saw him get spun around as we're riding on board. Taylor Gray, you see him trying to catch it inside of the car. Did a pretty good job, really, hanging on to it. He came out the best of all these guys involved in the wreck. I don't think there was any contact with the 54. Here we are through the Echo Park automotive restart zone. Completing lap six as we go to the green flag. Front row was Larson with Allgaier, but seven gets the jump in that inside lane. You got to think they're going to be a little more careful through turns one and two this time. Larson just went a little too high there. Yeah. Brandon Jones able to slide up in front of Kyle Larson. You see three wide now. This will get sketchy as we get down into turn three. What's going to give? Oh, my gosh. What a save. Wow. That is so impressive. It's hard to describe how difficult that is and how at some point in that side he definitely thought game over. Good start to this race for Austin Hill. What about the 32 Rajah Carruth inside the top ten? Well, you see all these. Oh, no. Green. Fresh off the top ten finish at Talladega and Mason Maggio in the ninety one going around as well. When you see there's gonna be a little bit of contact right here with Josh Williams went up the track. Yeah. Josh went up, but it it didn't look like there was contact, but it doesn't take much at all in order to push you all the way around. Her Taylor Gray kind of reference like, look, I'm already on the edge, a better view here. It's a little too too late to see exactly how much contact there was between those two. Mason just caught him. Wow. As unfortunate. We got a boy. Oh, boy. Oh, no. I mean, when the pace car's got to take a base of what is the start of this race? Hmm. Wow. That's a first. All Geyer inside lane. Restart just past lap. Ten. Stage one. Pay attention to these guys on the outside. We saw everybody fighting to get to the inside top has been extremely slick at the start of this race. You can see the lack of grip. The bottom road is slowly advancing forward through the middle of the corner. Tip toeing through turn to this time. That top is going to come in, though it's going to have to get cleaned off, get the rubber picked up. The top will be good. It was good yesterday in practice on older tires, but right now the bottom is the place to be. Zilch. You started there on the outside of the front row. Falls back to fourth. Just to show you how detrimental it is to be out there this early on. You see Brent Crews a little bit up right there. Most likely going to want to get back down if he can clear Sheldon Creed. Sheldon's going to fill that hole, though. Yeah. See right here. It looks like his his teammate Sam Mayer right behind him trying to break the side draft with Austin Hill on his outside. You don't want to be there. 24. Harrison Burton making a play. Oh, no. Oh, my gosh. Brad is already at contact. Then another hard hit into the wall. Caution number three. And we've not even reached lap 20. Forty five. LaVar Scott and another slide for Austin Green in the eighty seven. What is going on here? Ah, Brad, maybe just got a little off of believe. Cars are all on edge. I think Austin Green was just kind of an innocent victim in this. Had that spin earlier. Had to go to the back. Yeah. So here's Brad up top of the screen. You see, he's just loose already right there. That comes down and Austin Green. This is huge right here. This quad oval angle. Really vicious hit the back of that car. Come off the ground. It's such a shame for Brad who gets such limited starts working so hard to get these opportunities to be in these race cars. Does a great job on social media, works multiple jobs, puts all together to have this happen. Usually you don't hear about Brad Perez wrecking race cars. Oh, he's. Jeb is so lucky. Did Dylan reference it in the start of the show? You cannot go through the grass. We saw last night the truck series. How many guys got the entire front of their car ripped off? Watch Austin Green right there. You see that catch. It's part of having natural grass on the infield of these tracks, cars, the splitters are just right on the ground. It's I kind of compare it to like a fishing lure, a deep diving when it catches the grass. It bites. This might be the restart of the day. Pay attention. All guy are Larson up front and just in reference, he's like, I know why he's doing it. He's trying to crowd him down to get in a good, good part of the track. Seven got a great jump right there, though it's gonna be really hard for Larson to hang on the outside. You see, oh, he's trying to grab him. Look at Zillow coming up the middle there. Oh, he dies down to the inside. Zillow around Jones cruise around the outside is all guy or gets away with a race. Lee didn't work for him, though, got away big time. Final lap opening stage. All guy or has just been in command and dominant. He didn't worry about the restarts. Nothing. He's blasted by three of them. One quarter. I had new tires and they didn't gonna be his eighth stage win here at Texas Motor Speedway. Justin Allgaier back to the green and white checkered flag. The championship leader continue his continues his domination in two thousand twenty six front row. All guy or in Zillow Zillow going for all guy or going from the inside lane as we head to the Echo Park Automotive Restart Zone and then outside is gonna be a little bit better here. We saw guys migrating, especially in turns one and two. We'll see. Justin got a great restart there. Look at Austin Hill threw it to the inside there. Brent Cruz. That's what you have. Look at Connor. Connor on the outside. There's gonna be three wide and got to his inside. It's actually gonna be in the lead when they get to turn three. All guy or it led every lap until now. His teammates attack him on the restart. Zillow getting by. Larson gets by both of them. Eighty eight on point. Wow. The eighty eight. Great adjustment. Great restart. Right there. I thought Connor was going to be in the preferred position. It just looked like the seven could not go is now he's under fire from Brent Cruz in the nineteen. And he's really in the top lane for the first time here today. Remember, they told him about it yet. Use it. But he fights off. Fence off their bread. Cruz on the outside and now puts the site set on those two that got by him. And Zillow had a good one and two had a big run down the backstretch. You see now he's working to the inside of Larson going to be underneath him here on the exit of four for the lead teammates at Junior Motorsports. The one is Zillow. Eighty eight is Larson. Yeah. And the one thing we heard from both of these guys on the pit stops that they were too tight. And that was really the only two cars I heard say tight. Everybody else was screaming. Lose. But great battle right here between those two. Larson does not want to give up the clean air if you're still just position there. He lost the positive momentum down into three. That's a tough place to be. You lose the side for the outside that gives Larson all the leverage. But he's able to stick just there. fray as well. If you're still, you've got to overdrive this corner right here to clear Kyle to try to maintain that top. We saw an older tires. How good that was seven. Not good on the restart. But it looks to me like the seven cars now at the wheels underneath him. Caution out for the fifth time in the Andy's frozen custard three forty at Texas. It's the O'Reilly auto parts series live on CW. And the reason for the caution, all the debris. Where did it come from? Two thousand thirteen champ Austin Dillon, who was outside the top twenty had a tire issue is the left front that came apart on Austin Dillon's cars. You see him come down the backstretch here. You see the debris kind of go everywhere, because this tire basically just rips everything out of the car right there. Nineteen laps to go in stage to get a little bit loose on the initial launch right there. Brick Crews, given big shove to Zillit front to block a little bit down into one tried thinking about and he's driving right down the middle, Mary. Good position right there. They're gonna be in fourth as they exit. Turn two. Got a little race for second with Brick Crews inside of Allgaier Crews comes here looking for the dash for cash on a run of top five finishes. Never been to Texas, and he is showing out Mayor, making it three wide. They just got real. That was tight. It got really uncomfortable. There was sideways through the trial. Awesome racing here. Car control by these three. Racing super close. Mayor hanging on to it. Little loss of momentum. Allgaier trying to take advantage in that outside lane. Seven back to second. Well, there's a draft down the backstretch. Being in that outside lane, you have a little bit of advantage. All those cars lined up. See, Allgaier sent it down into turn three. Gonna wash up the racetrack. This a little bit was. Oh, Sam is looking good. the exit of turn four. That Govex on board camera replay him hanging on. The hands were working. These three are just throwing haymakers at each other. They're sliding all over the place, cutting each other off, trying to control the air for the car behind them. Just awesome. To watch. They finally all slot in single file in a tough day for our reigning champ. Sam Sarah on board camera. Jesse Love. Good pit stop. Got him in the top ten, but he's gonna lose 16 tears. Dean Thompson comes driving by in the 26 for Sam Hunt. I mean, he's almost getting run over by some of these guys off a turn for his rocket. You saw that with Dean Thompson, you know, for Dean's defense slightly. He caught him so fast. I didn't expect that to happen. The two is backing up so hard. Thompson having a pretty good day after finishing six last Saturday at Talladega, down to two laps to go in the stage. William Wallace doing a good job. He was involved in that early incident, has worked his way back to the top ten, trying to get a stage point from him. Now the battle for the lead. Two tenths of a second down the back straightaway, Zillich in front of Cruz as we come to the green and white checkered flag to end the second run of the day. Brent almost three tenths quicker that last lap. The one of Connor Zillich is hanging on right now. He's ready. He's ready for the checkered flag. He's there. He's not gonna get him, but message delivered. Zillich wins stage two. Cruz in his hip pocket, Allgaier third, Larson fourth, closing on the midway point as drivers make their way through the echo park restart zone. Connor Zillich in charge at Texas. 20 struggled a little bit to get going on that restart, wasn't able to help his teammate Brent Cruz. Look at that commitment on the outside through the middle of the 19, but Larson's still gonna hang with him right on the inside along with Allgaier behind him inside of Jones. I think Brent was almost overcommitted on the outside a little bit. You saw him give it up on the X's. They get close to each other, the entry to three a little bit, and Larson's able to get through right there. So it's something for Brent Cruz to learn about that extra two. It's enticing, but you don't want to overdo it. Well, Larson seems to be really good on the short run. You give him one or two laps, that car fires off really good, but un-Larson-like, it just doesn't look to me like he has the long run speed, and in practice yesterday, that seemed to be the strong suit of the 88. I think he wants to get to the outs. Oh, look at that through the middle, the speed, the 80. Oh, he got him loose right there. He's gonna get to the inside. They get side by side, should open the door for Cruz to gain some ground. Here he comes as Larson goes low on Zillich, looking for the race lead. Oh, he's gonna be loose. He's dancing. Here comes Cruz. Three wide in the corner for the race lead at Texas. Oh, no. Larson hangs on at the race lead. Unbeaten. Awesome move right there. I can't believe all those guys saved it. Thank you very much. I want to play. How did they all get away with that? And by the way, 95 to go. The checkered flag is not coming out anytime soon. Well, you knew that Kyle was going to ship it into turn three as we get another look at it. He's like, Look, I just need to clear Connor down in to three and four. You see, get him loose right here. And then as they go into three, he commits to it. And watch how loose he gets. We saw the same thing with Allgaier last year and Kyle Larson. Zillich knows he's committed. He chases it up the track right here. Cruz gets to the inside. I can't believe they all made it on the exit right there. That's unbelievable. That should be three wrecked race cars that just didn't happen to wreck problems for Connor Zillich here. Yeah, we saw him dropping like a rock, and Jamie and I were talking during commercial that we felt like most likely this could be a tire issue, and sure enough, he has a right front down. We saw this with the three car boss and Dylan, who had a corded left front. So Dylan, definitely tire issues here for the one of Connor Zillich. Larson comes off there, Cruz and Jones coming off right behind him. Allgaier came a lap earlier. Here's Allgaier through turns one and two. Larson getting up to speed, and it looks like Larson's going to stay in front of him. Allgaier able to leapfrog Cruz and maybe get Jones here down the back straightaway for what would be second in the running order after everybody else makes their scheduled green flag stop right now. The top seven yet to come. Larson leading now by 1.6 seconds. Next five laps are going to be critical. Can he get by Brennan Poole? See LaVar Scott right there, another car in front of them. See what his lap time is here. How much these guys? Caution number seven. I had just said how clean this final stage has been. Now we get a yellow, and this changes the entire complexity of the race because everybody's got a set of tires in the pit area. This is what I was referencing a second ago when we got this long green flag run is let's start talking about what would we need if we have a short run to the finish? What do we have to have to have good short run speed? Marty Lindley. It seems like the 88 has had that today, but we're getting ready to find out who has it. Well, and you start thinking, too, about the execution on pit road. Caution comes out here. We said we just over 20 laps to go, showing 1312 cars on the lead lap. It'll be 13. Jesse Love in position to get the free pass. When the 32 of Raja Karud crashed, he was scored in the 18th position, and this is off a turn to we talk about the groove getting so high. Well, eventually, just overstep the cushion basically there. He does that. Right rear gets away from into the outside wall, and then he's just hanging on from there after hitting that wall. Look at that drift. I was hoping to catch it, but it just doesn't quite have enough room. Once that right rear contacts the wall, then you get behind the steering. You're alone for the ride. Let's get some 17 radio here. Remember what we talked about? Nothing stops a hungry gator, not even the so-called greatest of all time. Eight cars took the wave around 20 on the lead lap. Restart coming with 17 to go. Front row, Larson in Jones. They're coming to the Echo Park automotive restart zone. Yeah, the inside's got a good launch all day long. Kyle in perfect position right here. Mayer getting really low and forcing the action inside of hill. Three wide, one and two. Larson gets away with a lead, but here comes all guy or all guy with a great exit to turn two. We'll see what he chooses to do down the backstretch into turn three. Inside Lane. The way to go. Larson gets away with the top spot. Brings all guy or with him one to junior motor sports with 16 laps remaining. One thing we saw in practice yesterday is that seven car in second place seemed to have the best short run car. We thought Larson looked a little better on the long run. You see all guys already working around the racetrack, trying to find grip. You cannot follow Larson through the line. Just the dirty air. You will not make the speed you need. Got three wide back here. Jesse Love, Sammy Smith and Carson Kwopel. Get sorted out. Smith gets the rear bumper of his teammate, Carson Kwopel. Jesse Love getting the free pass, trying to get back in the top ten. Chevy's going at it here for a spot. 15 to go. That would be a great recovery for the 2 car. We haven't seen him in the top ten much at all today. Saving the best for last. Great recovery by he and Stockman. They have been top ten every mile and a half race this year. It was in jeopardy today. How about this for third? Cruz, Mayer, Jones, Retzlaff right there as well. Cruz commits to the entry of turn three. Slides up in front of his teammate. See Retzlaff having to wheel it on the exit. Austin Hill taking advantage. In a few minutes, double zero. Shelton Creed coming through, his best position of the day. What a restart by Sam Mayer. He put Austin Hill three wide by getting to the bottom like he talked about. Was able to grab those spots and now finds himself in third from restarting outside the top five. That's pretty impressive. Oh, no. Sideways. Sammy Smith going in the wrong direction. Anthony Alfredo takes advantage. The one of Connor Zillich trying to do the same but Zillich still one lap down. The angle of that 8 car, I just assumed he was going towards the inside wall, how sideways he was. Gathered up and held on to it. Check this out. Look how sideways he is. Four laps to go. This time by. Remember, these two traded paint under caution when they shared the front row. All bets are off as we hit three and a half laps to go. Down the back straightaway. Allgaier looking to the inside for the race lead. Can he make it happen? I would give him the inside. There's no chance I'm giving him the outside. If I'm Kyle, even if he can pack air on the left rear, get me tight, get me loose, slide me up the track, I don't care. You can race him if they're on your inside. You're done if he gets to your outside. I think that's the decision here for Justin Allgaier. If he can get to the left rear and pack that air, can you do it in a place where you feel like it gives you enough momentum to then have the positive momentum down to the next corner? If you get stuck side by side in the 3 and 4, the outside car will prevail. Look how high the 7 is again. You've got to think Kyle can see that in his mirror. Look at the run down the back stretch. Just kind of fizzles out in terms of momentum, but he's going to have to come up with something here with these runs. If Kyle gives him just enough room up top, he's got the momentum, but he's going to have to do something with it to get by Kyle. Kyle almost into the wall on the exit of 4 right here. Big decision to make. Going to have to run a little bit higher than you've been running. Just protect as much as you can. Kyle doesn't do it right here, though. We'll see Allgaier build that run that we saw the lap before. It's going to be about just timing out that run and when he can get there. Larson playing defense, heading to turn 3, going to come back and see the white flag. It's going to get interesting here. He just has just a bit more momentum, but he can't quite get to the outside. One lap to go. Sponsored by credit one bank for what's ahead. Who gets it? Larson or Allgaier? Did he just get to the rear bumper here? He's just mirror driving right now, just trying to get in that lane a little higher than he's been the last few laps. He's just going to have to pack the air and hope to get him out of the groove, get him unsettled and get a run to the checker. Here we are. Turn 3, final time. Allgaier looking high. Larson playing defense. Back to the finish line. Kyle Larson back to back. He gets his third win at Texas. That was fun. What a battle. Yeah. That's cool. Thank you, buddy. Thank you. That's awesome.