LAS VEGAS — In one of the most thrilling finishes of the season, 20-year-old Hendrick Motorsports rookie driver Corey Day prevailed in a final laps back-and-forth with 23-year-old JR Motorsports’ racer Carson Kvapil to claim his third career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory in Saturday’s Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Day and Kvapil exchanged the lead four times in the last 12 laps before Day made a daring pass — after brushing the wall multiple times — with two laps remaining to solidify a trophy hoist ultimately decided by a slight .287-seconds.
“Oh man, I just was so tight there and so scared I was going to go down and plow on the bottom let him get by me.” said a grinning Day, who started his No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from pole position, won the opening stage and led a career high 136 of the 201 laps.
“Just a great car. We struggled over the summer, to tell you the truth. Won Talladega (in April) and then Dover pretty close and then just went dry. This feels really good. A dominant day for us for sure, great car.
“I knew we’d be a title contender from the start of the year,” added Day, whose win puts him fifth in the 12-driver championship rankings with five races remaining on the season.
“Just had a dry summer there but we’re getting things rolling back in the right direction. We’ll just keep working.
Kvapil, who like Day also earned his first career series wins this season (at Indianapolis and Iowa) — was understandably disappointed to lose out on Saturday’s victory, but also encouraged with the showing. It moved him into second place in the championship standings, now 19 points behind Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed, who finished 13th.
“I feel like our stuff was really good around the bottom,” Kvapil said. “Had a really good car today. Props to those guys for making us a top-three car.”
Reigning series champion, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love finished just behind the duel up front, in third place, followed by JGR teammates ‘s William Sawalich — one of four drivers among the top-10 not Chase eligible — and Taylor Gray.
Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer — another Chase-eligible driver — finished sixth having turned in an impressive comeback. He won Stage 2 and led 40 laps (second to Day) but had to rally from the rear of the field after a pit stop penalty during the Stage 2 break.
Non-Chase eligible drivers Jeremy Clements, William Sawalich, and Anthony Alfredo finished seventh, eighth and 10th respectively with Chase driver Austin Hill taking ninth place.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action next Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the Blue Cross NC 250 (4 p.m. ET on the CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). This marks the first Fall race on the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval since 2017 when Alex Bowman hoisted the trophy driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race — Focused Health 302
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nevada
Saturday, October 3, 2026
1. (1) Corey Day (C), Chevrolet, 201.
2. (9) Carson Kvapil (C), Chevrolet, 201.
3. (10) Jesse Love (C), Chevrolet, 201.
4. (4) Brent Crews # (C), Toyota, 201.
5. (5) Taylor Gray (C), Toyota, 201.
6. (8) Sam Mayer (C), Chevrolet, 201.
7. (21) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 201.
8. (36) William Sawalich, Toyota, 201.
9. (12) Austin Hill (C), Chevrolet, 201.
10. (18) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 201.
11. (6) Rajah Caruth (C), Chevrolet, 201.
12. (20) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 201.
13. (2) Sheldon Creed (C), Chevrolet, 201.
14. (11) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 200.
15. (23) Sammy Smith (C), Chevrolet, 200.
16. (22) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 200.
17. (16) Brennan Poole, Ford, 200.
18. (26) Lee Pulliam, Chevrolet, 199.
19. (17) Parker Retzlaff (C), Chevrolet, 199.
20. (19) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 199.
21. (14) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 199.
22. (15) Andrew Patterson, Chevrolet, 199.
23. (25) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 199.
24. (13) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, 198.
25. (31) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 198.
26. (30) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, 198.
27. (33) Joey Gase, Ford, 198.
28. (28) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 197.
29. (29) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 197.
30. (34) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 195.
31. (24) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 193.
32. (32) Blake Lothian, Chevrolet, 192.
33. (27) Mason Maggio, Chevrolet, 175.
34. (7) Justin Allgaier (C), Chevrolet, DVP, 56.
35. (3) Brandon Jones (C), Toyota, Accident, 54.
36. (35) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, Transmission, 13.
— By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
