Corey Day has a day as he wins Dover

DOVER, Del. — In his first start at the track, Corey Day wins his second career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race in the Bet Rivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway.

He passed veteran Justin Allgaier with four laps remaining for Hendrick Motorsports first O’Reilly win at the track since 2003.

This win felt like the one his first career victory should have been.

Day hunted down Allgaier on eight lap fresher tires by leaning on his dirt instincts and the lessons absorbed from mentor Kyle Larson to unlock speed along the outside lane.

Allgaier settled for second after leading a race-high 71 laps. He was caught up with the indecisive lap car of Blake Lothian. But the result would have looked the same. The lap car only aided the inevitable as Day was already on his bumper a few laps prior to the incident.

Sam Mayer looked like he was the one who would catch Allgaier before the final yellow flew. His car eventually faded more than the front two but he settled in for a strong third-place finish.

William Sawalich battled inside the top ten all day and won the battle of attrition against the others for fourth. Austin Hill finished fifth for his first top five since the third race of the season at COTA.

Brandon Jones continued to top ten the field to death in sixth for his fifth-straight top ten finish. Then, Carson Kvapil rejoined his primary JR Motorsports No. 1 entry to finish seventh.

Ryan Sieg captured a meaningful top ten in eighth as his hunt for a Chase spot continues to heat up.

The remaining top ten drivers of the day caught fire late. Sammy Smith ran around 15th for most of the event but came home ninth. Finally, Anthony Alfredo saved a set of tires for the end and snuck into the top ten in the final laps.

Notable Events

Before the final 35 lap run to the line, the Bet Rivers 200 was littered with cautions. Nine total cautions filled the event which was good for over a quarter of the race distance.

From backmarkers to contenders, no driver was safe from faults.

Only 12 laps into the race, Parker Retzlaff got into the back of Jeb Burton who tried avoiding contact ahead. Their collision resulted in the first retirements from the event.

Retzlaff has finished five of his previous six races inside the top ten before his 38th and last DNF today.

To start the final stage, Jesse Love gained three positions and won the race off pit road. He started alongside Rajah Caruth on the front row and both cars restarted evenly.

Unfortunately for Love, Caruth lost some aerodynamics underneath the No. 2 which resulted in both smacking the wall. Both were able to continue but fell out of winning contention.

Rajah finished 14th while Jesse came home 23rd.

On the following restart, the polesitter Ross Chastain and Taylor Gray met a similar fate after they both ran inside the top five prior to the contact.

Gray found himself aero-loose under Chastain which led to his day-ending wreck to finish 32nd.

Chastain, who won the second stage and led 68 total laps, was able to continue with minimal damage and finished 13th.

Below is the full results of the Bet Rivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway

Full Results