SVG Keeps 10-Race JRM Road-Course Streak Going with COTA Triumph

February 28, 2026

Race 3 of 33: Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas
Track Specs: 2.4-mile road course / 65 laps
Race Winner: Shane van Gisbergen
Smith’s finish: 3rd
Allgaier’s finish: 8th
Zilisch’s finish: 21st
Caruth’s finish: 31st

Shane van Gisbergen

Shane van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 9 SafetyCulture Chevrolet, brought home a dominating win on Saturday in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event at Circuit of the Americas. Starting on the front row, Van Gisbergen led the first six laps before dropping back to second behind JRM teammate Connor Zilisch. With four laps remaining in the stage, he regained the lead before making a scheduled green-flag pit stop. He finished Stage One in 10th. In Stage Two, Van Gisbergen started first but lost the lead in Turn 1. He fought to gain it back and three laps later, regained the position. He dominated the first half of the stage before a caution waved. The No. 9 team opted to com to pit road for fresh tires and fuel. He restarted the stage eighth with two laps remaining before taking the green-and-white checkered flag to end the stage in fifth. Van Gisbergen dominated the final stage, leading most of the laps and collecting the checkered flag. This victory is van Gisbergen’s first NOAPS win of the 2026 season.

“Good to finally execute! We had an awesome day. Thank you to SafetyCulture, JR Motorsports, Chevy, pit crew was awesome and the strategy worked out well. I wondered what was going to happen on that last restart, but it worked out perfectly. Good to finally get a win here and hopefully we have a great day tomorrow.”

Sammy Smith

Sammy Smith, driver of the No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet, finished third in Saturday’s first road-course race of the NACAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season at Circuit of the Americas. Smith ran a strong race up front for the majority of the afternoon and picked up valuable points to now sit seventh in the championship standings.

Smith turned in a solid qualifying run on Friday evening to line up 10th for the 65-lap event. The NOAPS field took the green and with four laps left in Stage One, Smith was running 12th when crew chief Cory Shea called an audible and brought Smith down pit road to flip the stage. After four fresh tires, fuel and an adjustment, the JR Motorsports driver ran the last few laps of the stage to finish 26th. Once the remainder of the field pitted and the field reset to start Stage Two, Smith lined up fifth. The 21-year-old driver had a strong restart to take the lead in Turn 1 before settling into second on the next right-hander. Smith was running third when a caution flew with five laps to go and the team decided to pit. This saw the JRM driver restart 12th, but he made a strong comeback to close out the stage in seventh.

The final 24-lap stage started with Smith in sixth, but he made quick work to get back into the top three within five laps. He held third place until the final caution of the day came out on lap 57. Shea called his driver back to pit road for fresh tires, fuel and a quick adjustment. The quick stop saw the Pilot crew in the race off pit road, keeping them in third place after two cars stayed out. The field took the green flag for the final time with just five laps remaining and Smith held position before driving away from the rest of the field to finish third.

“This No. 8 team put together a solid day, on top of the box and on pit road. Cory (Shea, crew chief) and the team brought a fast car and my pit crew executed perfectly. Today was a good day and I’m looking forward to keeping this going next week in Phoenix. I’m proud of this team and appreciate Pilot, TMC and Allstate Peterbilt’s support.”

Justin Allgaier

Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet, battled adversity throughout Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts event at Circuit of the Americas, overcoming two unscheduled pit stops under green to come home with a hard-fought eighth-place finish. Methodically navigating the twists and turns of the Austin circuit throughout the 65-lap matinee, Allgaier scored incredibly valuable stage points at the conclusions of both Stage One and Two, which earned him the second-most points overall o the day. In the final stage, Allgaier was forced to rally back from a flat right-front tire and a late-race restart to bring home his second top-10 finish of the young 2026 season. With today’s result, Allgaier moves up to third in the championship standings, just 39 markers out of the top spot.

“We had a great BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet today. We just had a lot of unfortunate circumstances set us back throughout the afternoon. But Andrew (Overstreet, crew chief) made some great calls that got us back up front on multiple occasions and put us in the position to come away with a really solid points day. I can’t thank all these guys enough. We fought hard and were resilient. We’ll take this and be ready for next week in Phoenix.”

Connor Zilisch:

Connor Zilisch’s chances for a top-five finish in his first start of 2026 for JR Motorsports ended with a bump two laps from the finish of Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event at Circuit of the Americas. The contact brought an abrupt end to an impressive come-from-behind effort by Zilisch and the No. 1 Roto-Rooter team. After starting from the pole position, the JRM group rebounded from brake issues that shuffled Zilisch back to 29th in the running order after Stage Two. From there the rally was on for Zilisch, who marched his way through traffic and into contention for a solid finish. He was inside the top 10 by lap 53 and then muscled his way into the top five on lap 62 before his day unraveled one lap later. In the end, Zilisch was scored with a 21st-place finish.

“I was going along and, all of a sudden, I was spinning. I’m not sure what happened. It was just unfortunate. Nothing takes away from the day we had had with our Roto-Rooter Chevrolet. We were really fast all day long, especially after starting from the pole. It wasn’t the day we wanted but the speed was there. I hate that it ended like that for us. We were going to finish in the top five. It was a lot of fun driving back through the field. All in all, I can’t thank JRM enough for the opportunity to come back and race one of their cars again.”

Rajah Caruth

Rajah Caruth, driver of the No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, steadily worked his way forward throughout Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event, earning a stage point and keeping himself in contention before a late-race incident cut short a promising run. After starting 19th, Caruth quickly advanced into the top 15 within the opening laps and continued methodically climbing through the field, finishing Stage One in ninth to collect a valuable stage point for the team.

Throughout the race, Caruth and crew chief Mardy Lindley made consistent adjustments to improve lateral drive and free up the No. 88 Chevrolet in the left-hand corners. Despite battling a tight condition, especially in the low-speed sections, Caruth maintained track position inside the top 15 for much of the final stage and line up 12th for a late restart with five laps remaining. Unfortunately, an incident sent the No. 88 into the tire barriers in an unavoidable situation, resulting in a 31st-place finish at the checkered flag.

“We had a solid day going with our No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, the team did a great job of making adjustments and I felt like we were putting ourselves in position there at the end. The car was just a little tight in the low-speed corners, but we were still fighting inside the top 15. On that last incident, there really wasn’t anything I could do to avoid it. I hate it for everyone at HendrickCars.com and all of our partners who put so much into the program. We’ll take what we learned and keep building from there.”