TRACK – Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
NOAPS RACE – NOAPS Championship Race (200 laps / 300 miles)
TUNE IN – CW, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90, ESPN Mobile App at 5:00 p.m. (ET)
- Carson Kvapil heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the second time in his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career this weekend with a chance at a Championship.
- Kvapil cut the points gap to 31 markers entering the final race of The Chase after winning last weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
- In 38 career starts on tracks 1-2 miles in length, Kvapil has recorded 10 top-fives and 17 top-tens.
- Accompanying Kvapil, crew chief Rodney Childers has made 17 NASCAR Cup Series starts atop the box at Homestead. In those starts, Childers has one win, six top-fives and eight top-10s.
- Following a strong runner-up finish last weekend at Martinsville, Justin Allgaier heads into the final race of The Chase at Homestead as the point leader, 22 markers above second.
- Allgaier is the defending race winner in the NOAPS at South Beach, taking the checkered flag in the spring of 2025 following a strong move to go from fourth to first on the final restart.
- Overall, Allgaier has scored five top-10s to accompany the 2025 win at the 1.5-mile oval.
- Entering Saturday’s season finale, Allgaier leads the NOAPS in wins (six), top-fives (19), top-10s (23), laps led (803) and average finish (9.6) among all full-time competitors.
- Sammy Smith will make his fourth NOAPS start at Homestead this Saturday for the final race of the season.
- In 65 starts on tracks measuring 1-2 miles in length, Smith has two wins, coming at Phoenix Raceway in 2023 and Rockingham Speedway in 2025, along with 11 top-five and 31 top-10 finishes.
- According to NASCAR Loop Details Statistics, Smith is ranked first for most quality passes amongst the NOAPS field with 1,528 passes.
- Heading into the Championship race, Smith sits as the seventh seed, only 10 points out of sixth.
- Rajah Caruth and the No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team head to Homestead this weekend for the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Series season finale. Caruth will make his first career O’Reilly Series start at the 1.5-mile oval.
- Caruth has previous experience at Homestead in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, recording two eighth-place finishes at the South Florida track in three starts.
- On traditional 1.5-mile tracks this season, Caruth has recorded a season-best 10th-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. He also finished 11th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October after qualifying sixth.
- Caruth enters the season finale with two top-five and nine top-10 finishes during his first full NASCAR O’Reilly Series season, highlighted by a runner-up finish at Iowa Speedway.
Carson Kvapil: “This entire No. 1 Bass Pro Shops team has worked extremely hard all season long and put ourselves in position to race for a Championship on Saturday evening. We have a lot of momentum right now coming off our win at Martinsville last weekend. I know that Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and everyone on this Bass Pro Shops team is ready to go this weekend. I am confident we will unload another rocket ship on Friday. We just need to go out and execute like I know this No. 1 team is capable of, earn as many stage points as possible, and put ourselves in position to win the race and championship come Saturday evening.”
Justin Allgaier: “We’ve been putting a ton of effort into our Homestead program and I feel like Andrew (Overstreet, crew chief) has a great gameplan ahead of this weekend. It’s definitely a confidence boost knowing that we won there last year. If we can just go out and execute just like we have throughout the last month, I feel like we will be in a great position to do what Rick Brandt always says and ‘cause a party’. I can’t wait to get there with this BRANDT Professional Agriculture team and have some fun.”
Sammy Smith: “Heading into the final race of the season is bittersweet as it’s my last race with this No. 8 JR Motorsports team. I would love nothing more than to pull off another win with them so we’ve been really focusing on that and also having a good points day as we’re only 10 points out of sixth in the standings. I’m grateful to everyone at JRM, Pilot, TMC and Allstate Peterbilt Group for all their support over the years and hope to close out this season on a high note.”
Rajah Caruth: “I’m looking forward to getting to Homestead this weekend with our HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. It’s a really fun racetrack where you can move around and search for different lanes, and having some experience there in the Truck Series should help. We’ve had speed on the mile-and-a-half tracks this year, so hopefully we can put together a complete race and finish the season strong. I’m thankful for everyone at HendrickCars.com, Mr. H and Ms. Linda, Kelley, Dale, LW and everyone at JR Motorsports for their support all year.”
JRM Team Updates
- JR Motorsports at Homestead-Miami Speedway: JR Motorsports has competed at Homestead-Miami Speedway a combined 68 times in the NOAPS since 2005. In those starts at the 1.5-mile oval, the organization has recorded five wins, 14 top-fives, and 33 top-10s. The average finish is 13.9.
- Souvenir Rig: JRM drivers Carson Kvapil, Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Rajah Caruth will be signing autographs at the JR Motorsports / HMS WB + AB souvenir rig on Friday, November 6th, from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET.