O’Reilly: Corey Day Scores First Career OAPS Victory at Talladega

What’s Happening?

After a clean race that only saw one caution for cause on Lap 1, there were a number of drivers in plan for the race win as the laps wound down in Talladega. And though the JRM cars swept the opening two stages, they ultimately took themselves out of contention for the race win. Rajah Caruth was forced to serve a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road. Then, a few laps later, 2024 champ Justin Allgaier and the winner of the first stage today, Carson Kvapil, also had to serve pass-through penalties for merge line violations.

This left a number of underdog drivers to battle it out up front as Jesse Love kept getting shuffled back. In the closing laps of the race, we had a three-wide battle for the race lead as Sam Mayer led the bottom line, his teammate Sheldon Creed led the top, and Corey Day led the middle. On the backstretch on the final lap of the race, Day made a move for the race lead while Sam Mayer turned, triggering the first big one of the evening. This knocked out both of the Burtons, who were in contention late for the upset.

As they continued to crash coming out of Turn 3, NASCAR finally threw the caution with Corey Day leading Sheldon Creed and Brent Crews. Corey Day scores his first career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at Talladega Superspeedway.

WHAT A RACE!!!@corey_day_ is victorious in a WILD finish at Talladega! pic.twitter.com/DibthcpX7i

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) April 25, 2026

Post-Race Notes

• Carson Kvapil earned the Stage 1 victory after holding off his teammate Sammy Smith in a photo-finish at the line. This marked Kvapil’s third career stage victory as he hunts for his first career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win following a scary crash early last week in Kansas. The stage, by and large, was clean with only one caution for cause. But the action out front was tightly contested with a multitude of drivers trying to dethrone the RCR dominant cars.
• Stage 2 was a bit of a different story as it ran green from flag to flag. After the RCR duo of Jesse Love and Austin Hill had a brief flirtation with the race lead due to good pit stops and good pit selection, both were shuffled back, handing the lead back over to the JRM driver of Carson Kvapil. Kvapil led a single-file train on the outside lane until the final lap of the stage, which saw his teammate, Justin Allgaier, pass him with help from Ryan Sieg to steal the stage win.
• Earning stage points in this race were: Sheldon Creed (16), Carson Kvapil (15), Dean Thompson (13), Justin Allgaier (10), Sammy Smith (9), Ryan Sieg (9), Rajah Caruth (7), Harrison Burton (7), Parker Retzlaff (6), Blaine Perkins (5), Sam Mayer (4), Jeremy Clements (4), Jesse Love (2), Austin Green (2), and Austin Hill (1).
• It was a clean race with the only wreck until the finish being at the opening on Lap 1, taking out Patrick Staropoli. There were two massive big ones that unfolded on the last lap. They collected drivers such as Sam Mayer, Jeb Burton, Harrison Burton, Blaine Perkins, and Anthony Alfredo.
• Two of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers had issues. They were Justin Allgaier and Taylor Gray, who both received penalties late during a cycle of green-flag pit stops. Unless there was a caution, that left just Sheldon Creed and Jesse Love to decide the Dash 4 Cash prize amongst themselves. With Love’s tires shot late and nobody being willing to work with him, Sheldon Creed won the Dash 4 Cash prize, finishing 3rd.
• After a rough start to the season, things were looking up for day in coming weeks. He scored 8 top 10s in the first 10 races of the season, including three top 5s, and has led a number of laps lately. The question was starting to become not a matter of if but when he’d score that first win. That question was answered today as well as the question of where as Corey Day scored his first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at Talladega Superspeedway. Now, the only question is: Where and when will the next one be?

Caution Tracker

• Lap 1: Staropoli Wrecks
• Lap 25: End of Stage 1
• Lap 50: End of Stage 2

Wow what a save by @sam_mayer_! pic.twitter.com/OGlUX9LzNF

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) April 25, 2026

Official Race Results

COREY DAY GETS HIS FIRST CAREER VICTORY!!! pic.twitter.com/P9M4stkWnd

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) April 25, 2026

O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Points (11 of 24)

.@jesselovejr1 just weaving through traffic 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/lRW9jPejsh

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) April 25, 2026

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