When the weather cooperated, the racing was exciting in the Charbroil 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway but in the end, Mother Nature got the last laugh.
Ross Chastain won the event in the No. 9 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports after a combination of rain and fog prevented the race from restarting late in the second stage. NASCAR chose to run the remaining laps in the stage under caution and during the stage break, the cars were brought down pit road.
It didn’t take long for the sanctioning body to declare the race official. It’s Chastain’s third career O’Reilly Series win and his first since 2019.
“I did not think we would win one like this,” Chastain said to The CW on pit road. “That feels good to win because it was a long time coming.”
Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love and Austin Hill finished second and third, coming just short of an emotional victory. William Sawalich finished fourth and Corey Day completed the top five.
“I think it’s a complete joke, handling it how they handled it,” Love told The CW. “As much as I’m angry, confused, and upset, I also realize there’s a lot of hurt people right now, and this week’s taught us that there’s things so much bigger than racing.”
Stage one winner Connor Zilisch, Ryan Sieg, Cole Custer, Carson Kvapil, and Rajah Caruth finished in the sixth to 10th positions.
The race originally started at 5 p.m. ET, but after 25 laps, a lengthy red flag came out for rain that lasted over four hours.
After the race resumed, several Chase contenders were taken out in crashes. The first one included Brandon Jones, Brent Crews, and Harrison Burton, all Toyota drivers.
Then Sam Mayer crashed on the next restart after getting loose while battling for position inside the top 10.
The last incident of the race before the weather worsened was caused by the blown engine of the No. 35 entry driven by Dawson Cram. Cram’s car left oil on the track, and numerous cars slipped in it and smacked the wall, including Sheldon Creed and Taylor Gray, who had to retire from the race due to damage to their cars.
Justin Allgaier remains the points leader over Love by 156 points. Love and Day moved up to second and third in points, respectively, while Creed dropped down to fourth.
Mayer is only six points above the cutline and Gray is only two points ahead of Rajah Caruth, the first driver on the wrong side of the bubble.
NOAPS Charlotte Results
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will return to action for the 16th race of the season on Saturday, May 30, at Nashville Superspeedway at 7:30 p.m. ET. Coverage of this race will be broadcast on The CW.
Michael Bellifemini joined Frontstretch in February 2026 as a contributor. Bellifemini was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Seton Hall University. He called Seton Hall men's and women's basketball games for their college radio station, 89.5 FM WSOU, and continues to broadcast in the area. Outside of covering NASCAR, Bellifemini is also an avid baseball, football, basketball, and hockey fan and enjoys watching different sports leagues on a daily basis.