Like a fine wine, Justin Allgaier seemingly just keeps getting better with age.
At Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday night, the 39-year-old racer came to life in the closing laps and was able to outduel 18-year-old prodigy Brent Crews to score his fourth win in the opening 16 races of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season.
Race Results: 2026 Sports Illustrated Resorts 250 at Nashville
“To win at Nashville, you fans, this place is electric. I love coming to Nashville,” Allgaier said after his latest triumph.
As Jesse Love, who looked destined to be headed to victory lane, suffered from a loose wheel and had to make an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 119, Crews cruised by for the race lead.
Crews would lead 27 laps before relinquishing the lead for a few circuits as he made his final pit stop of the evening. Once the green flag pit sequence cycled out, Crews remained in possession of the race lead, and as the race was drawing to a close, it looked like the 18-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver was heading to his first career win.
That is, until Allgaier’s No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet came to life, and the veteran was able to work his way around Crews for the race lead in a thrilling on-track battle, with 20 laps to go. Allgaier, as he has done so many times in his career, wouldn’t look back, and he scooted away to score the win by a margin of 1.403 seconds over Crews.
“I saw Brent struggling after that green flag pit stop, and I knew we had a car that was capable of getting there. We struggled on that one run, and [Crew Chief] Andrew [Overstreet] made some great calls, and we got ourselves back in the game, and I was able to track him down and get the win,” Allgaier explained with a smile.
After climbing through the escape hatch in the roof of his race car, Allgaier would perform a patented Kyle Busch bow to the crowd in honor of the 41-year-old legendary driver, who passed away last week.
“First of all, it’s been a rough couple of weeks,” Allgaier said. “Thoughts and prayers to Samantha, Kyle, Brexton, and Lennix. It’s been an emotional couple of weeks. I wish my wife, my kids, and my mom and dad were here to celebrate.”
Allgaier is now up to a total of 32 victories in his illustrious NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career, a far cry from Busch’s all-time series record 102, but still an impressive mark in its own right.
With more than half a season to go, Allgaier is within one victory of his all-time high for most wins in a single season. Allgaier ripped off five victories during his 2018 campaign. While it’s not a certainty, it looks like a pretty safe bet that Allgaier will match or exceed that number this season.
Crews, who rallied from the 33rd-place starting position to finish runner-up, was able to take a positive from his race on Saturday night.
“Well, man, the positive is that I thought we were going to win that race,” Crews quipped.
Crews continued, “Got to start 33rd, worked our way up to the lead, got to lead a lot of laps, and got to race one of the best guys in our series of all-time for the win there in the last few laps. Couldn’t ask for much more than to beat him.”
With the runner-up finish, Crews, who missed the opening four races of the season due to age restrictions, now sits 14th in the championship standings, and is just 15 points outside the Chase cutline.
William Sawalich, who picked up his first career win at Rockingham Speedway earlier this year, came home with a solid third-place result, and he was followed across the finish line by Sam Mayer, and Brandon Jones, who finished fourth and fifth.
Corey Day, Carson Kvapil, Kyle Larson, Taylor Gray, and Sammy Smith rounded out the top-10 finishers in Saturday night’s Sports Illustrated Resorts 250 at Nashville.
Love, who was the dominant driver of the race and led 87 of the 188 laps, came home a disappointing 16th after the loose wheel, which caused him to pit early during the final green flag pit stop cycle. It was the latest heartbreaking defeat for the defending series champion, who is still seeking his first win of the year.
“Yeah, it’s definitely really frustrating,” Love stated. “A lot to be proud of today. Our Whelen Camaro was really fast. I know we had a misstep on pit road, but we have the best pit crew on pit road right now, and it’s really not even close. I’ve got a lot of faith in everyone, and we’re going to figure out what is making these wheels come loose, because my pit crew is getting them tight. It’s not on those guys, or at least that’s how I understand it.”
