Austin Hill Wins at Naval Base Coronado as Chaos Reigns Supreme

RPW EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY: Steven Brien / RPW – SAN DIEGO, CA – Austin Hill passed Taylor Gray on the final lap in turn three and went on to win the inaugural NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 Saturday night on Naval Base Coronado in San Diego. 

Hill led 13 laps, won Stage 1 and capitalized after Gray spun Carson Kvapil while battling for the lead with three laps remaining.

“I was just looking for something in those last few laps,” Hill said after climbing from his No. 21 Chevrolet. “I’m like, Kyle [Busch], if you’re here, give me something.”

The victory was Hill’s first on a road course after recording 16 previous road-course top-five finishes without a win.

“It’s extremely special to finally check that box,” he added. “We’ve been so close so many times.”

Gray, who won Stage 2 and led a race-high 16 laps, finished second after the late-race incident with Kvapil.

“Just had a bad wheel hop there at the end of the run,” Gray said. “Pretty disappointed in myself.”

Sheldon Creed finished third, while Kvapil came home fourth after leading 15 laps and dominating much of the final stage.

“That one really hurts,” Kvapil said. “When you’re racing for the win like that, you gotta kind of put everything out on the racetrack.”

Sammy Smith completed the top five. Jesse Love rebounded from an early drive-through penalty and involvement in a multi-car crash to finish sixth.

Parker Retzlaff led five laps before running out of fuel under caution in the final stage but rallied to finish seventh.

Austin Green, Harrison Burton and Corey Day completed the top 10.

Day’s difficult summer continued on the opening lap when he struck a loose manhole cover that became lodged in the radiator of his No. 17 Chevrolet. Day had already switched to a backup car after crashing in practice, and the damage destroyed both the radiator and oil cooler before the completion of the first lap for the second straight week.

After an 18-minute red flag for track repairs, NASCAR allowed Day’s team to repair the car and return to competition. Officials also restored him to the lead lap because the incident was deemed outside the team’s control.

Rookie Brent Crews led 11 laps from the pole and dominated the opening stage before pitting with three laps remaining to remove debris from his grille.

Hill inherited the lead and claimed his fifth stage victory of the season.

Retzlaff finished second in Stage 1, followed by Sam Mayer, Anthony Alfredo and Kvapil. Smith came across sixth, while Creed, Green, Gray, and William Sawalich also earned stage points.

Stage 2 featured several incidents that reshuffled the field.

Smith spun twice while running inside the top 10 and later made an unscheduled stop for flat-spotted tires before recovering to score stage points.

On Lap 23, Baltazar Leguizamon made contact with Allgaier, sending him spinning after an already difficult day. Allgaier spun again in Turn 6 from ninth place with five laps remaining in the stage.

Shortly afterward, Lavar Scott stopped in Turn 5 with a broken transaxle, ending his race and bringing out another caution.

Ryan Ellis suffered a driveshaft failure on Lap 27 and retired to the garage after running inside the top 10 on strategy.

Turn 6 claimed another victim with three laps left in the stage when Rajah Caruth spun from a top-10 position.

Gray held off Retzlaff in a fierce battle to win Stage 2, his second stage victory of the season.

Retzlaff finished second, Alfredo third, Day fourth and Mayer fifth. Crews was sixth, followed by Kvapil, Hill, Smith, and Sawalich to complete the top ten.

The chaos escalated on Lap 33 when Day was spun in Turn 4 by Dean Thompson after earlier contact between the two drivers in Stage 2.

Two laps later, a massive crash erupted in Turn 1 when Mayer clipped the inside wall and slammed hard into the outside barrier. Alfredo, running alongside Mayer, was also collected in the incident and hit the outside wall heavily.

Twenty-three additional cars sustained damage in the wreck, including Crews, Hill, Smith, Sawalich, Allgaier, Love, Jeb Burton, Leland Honeyman, Creed, Green, Preston Pardus, Brennan Poole, Alex Labbe, Brandon Jones, Burton, Thompson, Blaine Perkins, Andrew Patterson, Ryan Sieg, Brad Perez and Jeremy Clements.

Mayer’s impact shifted the wall several feet, forcing a 43-minute red flag while officials repaired the barrier.

During the stoppage, a fan jumped the barricade, approached Creed’s car briefly and then returned behind the fence.

After sustaining damage in the crash, both Allgaier and Crews later retired with engine failures.

The caution flag flew again on Lap 41 when Patterson spun Honeyman entering Turn 15, moving a tire barrier in the process.

With 11 laps remaining, the eighth caution of the race came out after Jesse Iwuji crashed heavily into the Turn 2 tire barrier

Burton, Caruth, Poole and Jones also spun during the closing laps.

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns next weekend in Sonoma. 

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race – United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 

Qualcomm Circuit

Naval Base Coronado, San Diego, CA

Saturday June 20, 2026

1. (4) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 60.
2. (11) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 60.
3. (7) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 60.
4. (5) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 60.
5. (10) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 60.
6. (37) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 60.
7. (2) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 60.
8. (8) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 60.
9. (15) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 60.
10.  (31) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 60.
11.  (24) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 60.
12.  (33) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 60.
13.  (20) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 60.
14.  (30) Andrew Patterson, Chevrolet, 60.
15.  (27) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 60.
16.  (17) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 60.
17.  (22) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 60.
18.  (13) Preston Pardus., Chevrolet, 60.
19.  (26) Brad Perez, Toyota, 60.
20.  (28) Patrick Staropoli (R), Chevrolet, 60.
21.  (34) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 60.
22.  (21) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 60.
23.  (36) Joey Gase. Chevrolet, 60.
24.  (18) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 60.
25.  (35) Jesse Iwuji, Chevrolet, 60.
26.  (25) Leland Honeyman Jr. (i), Chevrolet, 59.
27.  (12) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, Electrical, 52.
28.  (23) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 52.
29.  (14) Lavar Scott (R), Chevrolet, 48.
30.  (19) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 47.
31.  (1) Brent Crews (R), Toyota, Engine, 44.
32.  (16) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, Engine, 43.
33.  (32) Baltazar Leguizamon, Chevrolet, Engine, 41.
34.  (6) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, Accident, 34.
35.  (3) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, Accident, 34.
36.  (9) William Sawalich, Toyota, Accident, 34.
37.  (29) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, Engine, 28.