Kvapil Wins at Martinsville as Allgaier Seizes O'Reilly Points Lead

Carson Kvapil kept his championship hopes alive in style at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday night, winning the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series National Debt Relief 250 from pole position. The JR Motorsports driver led a race-high 121 of 250 laps on the 0.526-mile short track and held off teammate Justin Allgaier by 0.434 seconds for his third win of the season and of his 74-race series career. The bigger story, though, was the points swing behind him. Allgaier arrived trailing Jesse Love by 19 points and left with a 22-point lead after Love's night unravelled — a tyre rub in Stage 2 cost him stage points, and brake trouble sent him hard into the outside wall with 30 laps to go, leaving him 30th and nine laps down. Hendrick Motorsports rookie Corey Day finished third and sits 23 points behind Allgaier, with Kvapil 31 back and Sheldon Creed, sixth on the night, 42 back. Five drivers remain alive heading into next Saturday's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where Allgaier will try to defend his crown at a track where he won last year.