Reigning NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion Jesse Love returned to victory lane for the first time since his title-clinching at Phoenix Raceway last November on Saturday night (Sept. 12) at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Love won the Nu Way 225 after he made a pass on Carson Kvapil for the lead with 16 laps remaining.
After several close calls, Love broke his winless streak to remain at the top of the standings as he chases back-to-back titles before moving up to the Cup Series with the Wood Brothers next year.
Sheldon Creed finished runner-up, Sam Mayer finished third, Taylor Gray finished fourth, and Kvapil completed the top five.
Parker Retzlaff, Brent Crews, Sammy Smith, Kyle Sieg, and Jeb Burton finished in the sixth to 10th positions.
After the opening stage, a pileup occurred on the ensuing pit stop after William Sawalich checked up which led to Rajah Caruth getting spun around in front of several cars.
This ended the night for Nick Sanchez and Harrison Burton while it also damaged the cars of Jeremy Clements, Anthony Alfredo, Brandon Jones, Dean Thompson, and Brent Crews.
A couple of pit crew members on the No. 19 team just barely escaped the carnage around them while servicing Crews’s Toyota.
The other notable incident of the night involved Sawalich as well and it was another run-in with Corey Day.
After their contact at Darlington Raceway last weekend, Day and Sawalich came together once again during the final stage and it ended with Sawalich slamming into Day down the backstretch into Justin Allgaier.
The contact with the No. 7 car turned Day into the inside wall, ending his race while Sawalich pitted for damage and wound up finishing in 16th place.
NOAPS Gateway Results
The O’Reilly Series will return to action next week for its 27th race of the season and the third race of The Chase on Friday, Sept. 18 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Television coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET and 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.
A name and email address are required to post a comment. The email address is not publicly visible or shared. Please keep in mind that comments are moderated according to our comment policy.
Comments are listed in order from oldest to newest. Leave a comment