Jesse Love Wins NASCAR O'Reilly Series Race at Phoenix, Takes Chase Lead
Welcome to the Happy Hour Racing race recap, where we break down what actually decided the race. This one covers the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Phoenix Raceway, not the Cup race.
The Short Version
Jesse Love won the Timberland PRO 200 at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday night and walked out of the desert with the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase lead. The reigning series champion started from the pole, won both stages, led a race-high 156 of 200 laps, and held off Sam Mayer by 0.128 seconds. It was his fifth career series win and his second of 2026. Points leader Sheldon Creed flipped a switch under caution, could not get the car refired, and finished 32nd.
How Jesse Love Won the Timberland PRO 200
Love did it the hard way, which is to say he did it the obvious way. He qualified first at 131.694 mph, led the first 31 laps, and was out front for 156 of the 200. Nobody else led more than 18. He won Stage 1, he won Stage 2, and he led the last 38 laps to the checkered flag.
Phoenix is a one-mile oval with a dogleg and almost no room to pass once a car is out front with clean air. Love had clean air most of the night. The part that was not comfortable was the end. Sam Mayer closed to within three tenths of a second with 24 laps to go, fell back, then came again in the final laps and was still there at the line. The margin was a tenth and change.
"Yeah, a lot. Hats off to them, man. The 41 team did a great job coming from the back."
Love said afterward that he was "having to just drive a lot over the tire" at the end. He also had a word for the team that keeps putting him in position.
"I'm grateful to the good Lord above for putting great people behind me and grateful to get another [win] for [Richard Childress Racing]."
THE DIAMOND OF THE DESERT!
— NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts (@NASCAROReillyAP) October 18, 2026
@jesselovejr1 takes his second win of the season and the championship lead in dominating fashion.
The Switch That Cost Sheldon Creed the Points Lead
Sheldon Creed came to Phoenix leading the Chase by two points over Love. He left it 59 behind. None of it happened on the racetrack.
Creed ran second in Stage 1 in the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet. During the stage break he shut the engine off under caution to save fuel, which is routine, and the car would not refire. His crew could not get it running. He spent three laps on pit road and came home 32nd, two laps down, in a race he had been running near the front of.
"Just normal shutting the car off under caution, and it just didn't refire."
That is the cruelest way to lose a championship lead. Creed had the speed, had the stage points, and had the lead. Then an ignition switch did something it does a hundred times a season without complaint, and his title math got a lot harder with three races left.
Sam Mayer Started 35th and Almost Won
The best drive of the night belonged to the runner-up. Mayer blew a motor in practice, which sent the No. 41 to the back of the field for the engine change. He started 35th in a 38-car field at a track where passing is genuinely difficult, and he was second with 24 laps to go.
Mayer is still chasing his first win in 40 races. He did not sound bitter about this one.
"It just came down to who made a mistake and who didn't. He executed really well."
Strategy, Cautions and the Rain Nobody Expected
Five cautions for 35 laps is a quiet night by short-oval standards, and two of those were just the stage breaks. The first yellow was the strange one: light rain in Arizona brought out the caution on lap 24 and froze the field for eight laps.
The two real wrecks both came on the backstretch. On lap 102, right after a final-stage restart, Taylor Gray got collected in a three-car incident with Brennan Poole and Lavar Scott. Gray had already lost track position to a pit penalty, and he finished 28th, a lap down. Poole spun again on lap 161 for the last caution of the night.
That lap-161 yellow is the one that mattered. It wiped out Parker Retzlaff's run at the front, put the whole field back on Love's bumper with 35 laps left, and gave Mayer a clean shot at a car he had been chasing all night. Love restarted first and never gave the lead back.
Stats and Fun Facts
A few things worth knowing. Justin Allgaier set the fastest lap of the race, a 28.314 at 127.146 mph on lap 56, and still finished third. There were 18 lead changes among seven drivers, which sounds busy until you notice that most of them were Love handing the lead over on a pit cycle and taking it straight back. The race ran the full 200 laps in 2 hours, 4 minutes and 31 seconds at an average speed of 96.373 mph.
Here is the one that frames Love's year. In the March race at Phoenix he led 114 laps and finished second to Allgaier. On Saturday he led 156 and won. Phoenix is also where he clinched the 2025 title, so this is now his second win at the track.
The Chase Picture After Phoenix
Love leads with 2,367 points. Allgaier is 36 back, Corey Day is 39 back, and Creed has fallen to fourth at 59 behind. Carson Kvapil is 79 out and Mayer is 86 out. With no elimination rounds in this format, nobody gets knocked out on a bad Saturday, but nobody gets bailed out either. Every point is worth the same from here to Homestead. You can see the full board on the NASCAR O'Reilly Series schedule and standings.
Three races left. Talladega on October 24, Martinsville on October 31, then the title race at Homestead-Miami on November 7. A 36-point lead is comfortable going to Martinsville and completely meaningless going to Talladega, which is next.
Who's Hot and Who's Not
Hot: Jesse Love, obviously, with a pole, two stage wins, 156 laps led and the points lead in one night. Sam Mayer, for turning a blown practice motor into a second-place finish. Sammy Smith quietly ran fifth, his first top five since the Chase opener at Darlington and a real turnaround after 15th at Las Vegas and 16th at Charlotte.
Not: Sheldon Creed, who lost 61 points of cushion to a switch. Taylor Gray, who turned a pit penalty into a wreck and a 28th-place finish. And Carson Kvapil, who came home 10th and is now 79 points out with three races left.
The Bottom Line
Love was the fastest car at Phoenix and he drove like it for two hours. That part was simple. The championship moved anyway because of 30 seconds in a stage break when a healthy race car would not start. Three races to go and the title picture changed on something nobody in the garage can practice for.
Your turn: does Creed still have a real shot from 59 back with Talladega on the schedule, or is this Love's championship now? Tell us where you land.
Shop the Story
Love is the defending series champion and he just put himself in front again. Here is the gear tied to this race:
- Jesse Love #2 Series Champion T-Shirt - the reigning champ, back in the points lead.
- Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill RCR Whelen Throwback Tee - the Whelen colors Love won in, and the driver who lost the points lead.
- Sam Mayer Win Tee - for the drive from 35th to second.
- Justin Allgaier #7 2026 Darlington Winner Tee - 36 points back with three to go.
- Justin Allgaier JR Motorsports Gold Leaf Snapback - for the JRM side of the title fight.
Whoever takes the checkered flag at Talladega, we print the win shirt. See every new release at the latest arrivals, or let the win shirt subscription fan club send your driver's victory tee without you having to think about it.
