After capturing his first career win two weeks ago at Indianapolis, Kvapil wins again in Iowa. Despite leading only nine of the 250 laps, Kvapil found himself in the right place at the right time. However, it looked like his Junior Motorsports teammate Ross Chastain’s race to lose in the latter stages. Chastain led Kvapil by just under one second as the laps ticked down, but a Jeb Burton spin with five laps to go set up for an overtime finish.
In a race with ten cautions for incidents, it seemed as if chaos was inevitable at the end of this race. On the first overtime attempt, the field would crash going into turn one. Rookie Brent Crews attempted a three-wide move, but would wash up the track, taking out contenders like Justin Allgaier and Ryan Sieg. Allgaier had debatably the fastest car in the race, won the second stage, and led a race high 83 laps. Ryan Sieg was also having a career best day, capturing his first career pole in over 400 starts, and was the winner of the first stage. A frustrated Allgaier would approach the young Crews on pit road after the race to have a conversation about the altercation on track. When interviewed by the CW’s Chris Wilner, Allgaier said “You’re [Brent Crews] way too good of a racer to make mistakes like that”. The crash would force Sieg to retire from the race, while Allgaier finished 24th.
The late race crash also involved many drivers around the cutline such as Sam Mayer, Taylor Gray and Sammy Smith. Each of the three sustained damage in the crash, but it was not terminal, as they all finished inside the top 21. The crash would also involve 18 year old Carson Brown who was making his first NASCAR national Series start today. Brown who was driving the #32 Jordan Anderson Racing entry, was having a quiet productive day before the late crash. Brown didn’t suffer much damage, as he fight back to earn a 15th place finish for himself.
Not only did Kvapil get the points from winning his second straight race, but his peers closest to him in the points standings had poor days themselves. RCR’s Jesse Love was four points behind Kvapil coming into the race, but a transmission issue took him out of contention in stage one. On another hand, Hendrick Motorsports’ Corey Day would crash as a result from Kvapil’s teammate Sammy Smith. Day’s crash on lap 194, would end his day immediately. In his interview outside of the care center, Day was direct with his assessment saying “I got shipped”. Day spoke no further on the incident besides that he doesn’t know what he did to deserve the contact. These two poor finishes from Love and Day drop them to fourth and fifth in the standings, Love losing 57 points to second place Carson Kvapil.
JR Motorsports won the race, but they would also get second place as well with Rajah Caruth. Minnesota native William Sawalich finished third in the race. These finishes allowed the two drivers to position themselves for the upcoming Chase. Then despite being involved in the late crash, Sawalich’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Taylor Gray was able to finish seventh, saving what could have been a big points loss on the day.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series has one race remaining until “The Chase” begins. Sam Mayer holds the tenth points position, only 18 points ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates William Sawalich and Brent Crews who are tied for 11th, and hold the final two Chase positions. Taylor Gray holds 13th, only a singular point behind his teammates. Behind them is Rajah Caruth who is 15 points behind, and Ryan Sieg who with his poor finish today, is statistically eliminated from Chase contention.
It’s getting tight around the cutline, as the Series will head to Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 28th. Sparks will fly, tempers will flare, and seasons will be decided for many. It’s crunch time.