Justin Allgaier was in a position all too familiar on Saturday afternoon in the closing laps of the BetRivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway. Allgaier held the lead of the race, and he was simply trying to close out a win like he’s done 31 other times in his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career.
There was just one problem. Allgaier had a young Hendrick Motorsports phenom, who is without a doubt a future NASCAR Cup Series racer, chasing him down in Corey Day.
Race Results: NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series BetRivers 200 at Dover
Day, using an ultra-high line, would gobble up the decent lead that Allgaier had built, and with four laps to go, Day used the lapped car of Blake Lothian as a pick.
As the pair of leaders approached Lothian, Allgaier thought about going high, then weaved low to make the move on Lothian. That was all Day needed, as it cleared the outside lane. He threw his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet to the high side of the track, and it was game over for Allgaier.
Day was able to keep Allgaier at bay behind him over the final four circuits around the 1-mile high-banked concrete oval, and he collected the checkered flag first by a margin of 0.461 seconds over Allgaier.
“Oh man, I was hoping that’s how it would play out there,” Day said of the closing laps of the race.
Day said his car came to life in the closing laps because he chose to take it easy on his tires early in the run, but as caution after caution came out, he felt he was never going to get a chance to showcase the long-run savings of his tire conservation.
“I saved so hard there early in that last run once we put on tires. Then, the yellow came out, and I was like, ah, this is going to be a caution-fest and it was all for nothing,” Day explained. “But, oh man, it all just worked out so good.”
This marks the second win of Day’s impressive first full-time season in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and who knows, with how he’s driving, it may be his only full-time season in the series.
That’s another story for another time, but for now, Day, who cut his racing teeth on dirt tracks, is quickly honing his racing craft behind the wheel of stock cars on paved surfaces in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
After the race, Allgaier took time to speak to Lothian, who served as the pick for Day, as Allgaier felt indecision by Lothian forced him to make two moves to try to figure out which lane Lothian was going to put his car in.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s a good teaching moment,” Allgaier said of the misunderstanding on track with Lothian. “Blake and I have spoken a couple of times. Obviously, he’s super talented. Just he kind of made a move to go inside, and then back outside. And I just didn’t know which lane he was going to go in. And unfortunately, I let [Day] get to my outside. Hats off to Corey, I mean, that whole 17 team. He was running me down at the end.”
Sam Mayer had one of the best cars on the track on the final run of the race, which allowed him to briefly move into the runner-up position. But when Day flipped the switch, Mayer had nothing for him, and would come home with a third-place finish.
Still, it was a much-needed good points day for Mayer, who climbed from the 12th position in the Chase Grid to ninth, and he now holds a 30-point advantage over Brent Crews, the first driver outside the cutline.
William Sawalich looked like he had the race won with roughly 90 laps to go, as he had the lead, and was pulling away from those behind him. But a caution with 88 laps to go, allowed Allgaier the opportunity to flip his strategy by pitting for fuel and tires.
A rash of cautions in the final Stage of the race allowed Allgaier’s gamble to pay off, and when Sawalich pitted a caution later, Allgaier gained the lead from him. Sawalich was never able to get it back, and faded on the final run of the race on two fresh tires to finish fourth.
Austin Hill had a solid, yet quiet, fifth-place run, driving the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Brandon Jones, Carson Kvapil, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith, and Anthony Alfredo rounded out the top-10 finishers of the BetRivers 200.
A would-be career-best day for Rajah Caruth was wiped out due to back-to-back incidents in Stage 3. Battling for the lead on Lap 101, Caruth lost control of his car and spun into Jesse Love, which sent both drivers into the outside wall.
“I mean, I’m just really reflecting on what I need to do better. I had a really good car there, and I just didn’t take what I had there,” Caruth said of the incident with Love. “Obviously, I need to do better.”
On Lap 112, Caruth was again going for a spin, this time after his JR Motorsports teammate Sammy Smith put him in a three-wide situation with Harrison Burton going into Turn 4.
Despite the rough situations, Caruth was still able to nab a 14th-place result on Saturday afternoon.
Love, the third-place driver in the championship standings who has now had three run-ins with Caruth this year, wasn’t as fortunate. Love would finish 23rd on the day.
