Much of the talk in the NASCAR world is the fight for the 2026 Cup Series champion. Can Kyle Larson keep up his historic Chase run? Can Denny Hamlin rebound and capture an elusive first Cup title? Or will someone else find a spark in the last four Chase races to win the title?
All are valid questions but there is one series that is seeing its championship battle come down to the wire.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, the second-most prestigious stock car racing series in the country, is seeing an intense championship battle that is far from being settled with four races remaining.
The top five in the O’Reilly Series points standings, led by Sheldon Creed, is separated by only 40 points. With such a tight points battle, intensity is bound to ramp up in the O’Reilly Series the next four races.
And it is a fight for the championship no NASCAR fan will want to miss.
Corey Day won Sunday night’s NOAPS race at Charlotte
Like Chase Briscoe did in the NASCAR Cup Series, Corey Day secured back-to-back victories in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. In Sunday night’s Blue Cross NC 300, which was postponed from Saturday afternoon due to rain, Day fended off Jesse Love to secure his fourth win of his rookie season.
Here is a look at where every Chase driver in the NOAPS finished in Sunday night’s race:
1. Corey Day
2. Jesse Love
3. Sheldon Creed
4. Justin Allgaier
6. Brandon Jones
7. Austin Hill
9. Taylor Gray
12. Parker Retzlaff
16. Sammy Smith
24. Sam Mayer
32. Carson Kvapil
36. Rajah Caruth
Championship Battle Heats Up With Four Races To Go
With four races remaining in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase, it is anyone’s championship to win.
Here is a look at the points standings heading into next Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts race at Phoenix Raceway.
- Sheldon Creed — LEADER
- Jesse Love — (-2)
- Corey Day — (-7)
- Justin Allgaier — (-15)
- Carson Kvapil — (-40)
- Sam Mayer — (-59)
- Taylor Gray — (-87)
- Austin Hill — (-94)
- Sammy Smith — (-106)
- Parker Retzlaff — (-126)
- Brandon Jones — (-141)
- Rajah Caruth — (-180)
With back-to-back wins at Kansas and Charlotte, Day has put himself right in the mix for the championship, only seven points behind Creed for the top spot.
Creed started off the Chase hot with two wins in the first three races (Darlington, Bristol) to overtake Justin Allgaier for the championship lead. Allgaier, who dominated the regular season and a series-high six wins in 2026, has struggled to have the same fire in the Chase.
However, only 15 points out of the lead, the JR Motorsports veteran is well within contention.
Love, meanwhile, is two points behind Creed and threw his name in the title conversation after a win at World Wide Technology Raceway, the second race of the Chase.
Then, there is Carson Kvapil. The driver of the No. 1 scored back-to-back wins at Indianapolis and Iowa just prior to the end of the regular season, which was enough to make him the second seed to begin the Chase.
While Kvapil has shown strength in the Chase for the most part, a difficult 32nd-place finish has mired him back to fifth in the standings, 40 points out of the lead.
Still, every driver in the top five in the standings has shown flashes of championship potential throughout the season. With only four races to go (Phoenix, Talladega, Martinsville, Homestead), this championship battle is far from finished.