Nu Way 225 Results: Jesse Love Wins Chase Race 2 at Gateway
The Happy Hour Racing race recap. Every NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race, broken down the day after, in plain English.
The Short Version
The Nu Way 225 results are in from World Wide Technology Raceway, and the defending champion finally got one. Jesse Love ran down Carson Kvapil, moved him out of the way on lap 165 of 180, and held on to win Saturday night at Gateway. It is Love's first win of 2026 and the fourth of his career. Sheldon Creed finished second and took over the Chase points lead. Kvapil led a race-high 105 laps and finished fifth with nothing to show for it.
How Jesse Love Won the Nu Way 225
The last restart came on lap 156. Kvapil took off and looked like he had it. Love did not panic. He ran Kvapil down over the next eight laps, got to his back bumper, and gave him a shot in the left rear going into turn one on lap 165. Kvapil slid up the track. Love drove by. That was the race.
It was not a wreck and nobody spun. It was the kind of bump a driver uses when the laps are running out and the guy in front is just fast enough to be a problem. Love led the final 16 laps and beat Creed to the line by a little over a second.
Love has been the best driver in this series without a trophy all year. He won the 2025 championship for Richard Childress Racing, then went 25 races into 2026 without a win. His last one before Saturday was the 2025 season finale at Phoenix, the race that clinched him the title.
Carson Kvapil Led the Most and Left With Nothing
Kvapil was the fastest car for most of the night. He put the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet on the pole with a lap of 33.626 seconds, won the first stage, and led 105 of the 180 laps. He finished fifth.
That is Gateway. The 1.25-mile oval has a flat, tight turn one and a wider, faster turn two, so the corners do not match and the car that is best on a long run is not always the car that is best on a short one. Kvapil had the long-run car. Love had the one that fired off.
Sheldon Creed Runs Second and Takes the Points Lead
Creed won the Chase opener at Darlington a week ago. He backed it up with a second at Gateway. Two races into a nine-race Chase, he is the points leader and he has not finished worse than second.
He was not happy about it, which is the right reaction when you run second. "Just need to keep showing up and doing a good job," Creed said. "This thing is far from over."
Haas Factory Team had a very good night. Creed was second and teammate Sam Mayer was third in the No. 41. Taylor Gray was fourth for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Sawalich and Corey Day, Round Two
The ugliest part of the night came on lap 134. William Sawalich got into the side of Corey Day on the backstretch. Day came back at him, got hit in the rear by Justin Allgaier in the middle of it, spun to the infield and hit the inside wall hard. Day's night was over in 33rd.
This is the second week in a row those two have gotten into each other. They had a run-in at Darlington in the Chase opener. Sawalich finished 16th on Saturday. Day is a Chase driver who now has two bad nights in two Chase races. There are seven races left to fix that.
Earlier, on pit road in the first stage, Nick Sanchez rear-ended Rajah Caruth and collected Harrison Burton. Sanchez finished 34th and Burton 35th. Austin Hill, who led four laps, had to pit with 10 to go for a right-side tire problem and finished 29th, one lap down.
By the Numbers
Seven cautions slowed the race for 37 laps. Four drivers led across eight lead changes. Twenty-seven of the 36 starters finished on the lead lap. Love also turned the fastest lap of the race at 34.045 seconds.
The Chase Standings, and Why This Win Locks In Nothing
This is the part a lot of fans are still getting used to. The O'Reilly Series Chase in 2026 is a straight points race. Twelve drivers, nine races, seeded starting points, and no eliminations and no rounds. NASCAR also dropped the win-and-you're-in rule and playoff points for this series. So Love's win is worth points and a trophy. It does not lock him into anything.
Creed leads. Justin Allgaier is three back. Kvapil is nine back. Love is 16 back. That is four drivers inside 16 points with seven races left, and a fifth, Sam Mayer, 61 out. A points format with no reset means a single bad night costs you real ground, which is exactly what happened to Corey Day on Saturday.
What's Next
Chase race three is the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 18. It is 300 laps on the half-mile concrete bullring and it airs on The CW. Bristol has a habit of wrecking half the field and rearranging a points chart, and with four drivers this close that matters more than usual. You can see the rest of the schedule and the updated points on the NASCAR O'Reilly Series schedule and standings page.
The Bottom Line
Jesse Love spent 25 races being fast and going home empty. He got one shot at Kvapil with 16 laps left and he took it. The champ is back in the fight, and the four drivers at the top of this Chase are close enough that Bristol could flip the whole thing.
What do you think, was the bump on lap 165 clean racing or a shove too far? Tell us where you land.
Rep the drivers who showed up at Gateway:
- Jesse Love #2 champion tee - the Gateway winner and the reigning series champion
- Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed RCR throwback tee - the new points leader, on a Whelen RCR throwback
- Sam Mayer win tee - third at Gateway for Haas Factory Team
- Sammy Smith #8 win tee - eighth on Saturday and still in the Chase
- Justin Allgaier #7 2026 Darlington win tee - three points out of the Chase lead
Race recaps go up the day after every race. Bookmark the blog and check the O'Reilly Series schedule and standings before Friday night at Bristol.
