It took a while to get to the front, but Kyle Larson once again showed his skill behind the wheel of a race car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by taking the win on March 14’s The LiUNA!, making the winning pass on Brandon Jones with 47 laps to go on the final restart to claim his 18th NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win in his career in his 121st start.
Larson won by 2.557 seconds over fellow Cup regular Chase Briscoe. Sheldon Creed was the best O’Reilly regular in third, followed by Justin Allgaier and Sammy Smith.
Larson spent much of the afternoon buried in traffic but was able to get in front when it mattered most. The win gives JR Motorsports a three-race winning streak in the 2026 season, with Allgaier splitting Larson and Shane van Gisbergen as the only series regular winner in the team’s stable.
However, the race may be best remembered for a wreck on lap 148 when contender Taylor Gray slid into the outside wall in turns 3 and 4 after contact from Creed. Gray was not happy with Creed afterward and showed his displeasure under caution.
Taylor Gray Critical of Sheldon Creed After Late-Race Contact: ‘He Knew What He Was Doing, Right?’
The Winners
Outside of Larson and Briscoe stinking up the show as Cup regulars, the first winner of the weekend has to be Corey Day.
Now granted, he did lead laps today and was running inside the top 10 for most of the day, but the big takeaway for him this weekend is that he is leaving Las Vegas not trending on social media. This is a good step in the right direction for a driver who has been mired in controversies during most race weekends this year.
Jesse Love had one of the fastest cars and rebounded from a mid-race pit road penalty to finish sixth. He is the only driver to finish top 10 in all five races this season and leads all drivers with 208 laps led. He is second in points to Allgaier, who extended his lead by winning both stages, leading the most laps and finishing fourth.
The Losers
When you start from pole position and finish 35th, you can’t say there is no one who wanted to leave Las Vegas more than Sam Mayer.
Mayer’s chance for a win was lost early as a fuel pickup issue forced him behind the wall at the end of stage one. He lost six laps getting repairs and ultimately finished 35th, four laps down. There was nothing Mayer could have done differently; issues happen, but that doesn’t make it any less brutal for a driver who had the speed to compete for a win.
Taylor Gray was battling for the lead with Day with 52 laps to go when contact from Creed sent him into the wall and ended his day. He finished 37th.
The silver lining is that despite the crash, he moved inside the Chase cutoff by taking sole possession of 12th in points. He is just six points ahead of Jeb Burton, 13 ahead of Brennan Poole and 15 ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate William Sawalich.
Rounding out this section is Burton, who lost the final spot in the Chase Saturday with a 27th-place finish. Historically, Las Vegas has not been kind to the Jordan Anderson Racing driver, as he has finished 22nd or worse in his last six O’Reilly starts in Sin City. However, he is still in a decent position in the standings heading into a visit with the Lady in Black.
Fuel for Thought
Looking back on a year ago, Justin Allgaier left Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a 19-point cushion over Love. This year, Allgaier’s top-five finish gives him a 13-point buffer over Love.
It’s amazing to think that in one year, so much can change, yet still remain the same.
With the introduction of The Chase into the O’Reilly Series and no one locked into the postseason at this point of the season, the Allgaier-Love points battle for the next 19 races has to be the storyline to follow for the rest of the season.
In 2025, Love prevailed at season’s end as the series’ champion. Can 2026 be the year Allgaier rules the series once again? Only time will tell.
Paint Scheme of the Week
JR Motorsports not only picked up the win on the track, it also had the best car of the week as Connor Zilisch’s No. 1 Chevrolet was hard to miss on Saturday. JR Motorsports has the best paint schemes on a week-to-week basis, and this week was just keeping to the status quo.
What’s next?
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series heads to Darlington Raceway as drivers attempt to tame the track that is “Too Tough To Tame” for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 on Saturday, March 21. Coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. ET on The CW.
