Corey Day wins Las Vegas thriller as Allgaier loses ground in title race

Corey Day won the Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 3, beating Carson Kvapil in a close finish in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. The result gave Hendrick Motorsports' No. 17 Chevrolet the victory, while an early crash cost championship contender Justin Allgaier ground in the points standings.

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According to the Nashville Tennessean's report, carried by Yahoo Sports, Day made the decisive pass on the final lap despite hitting the wall twice. He kept accelerating and moved ahead off Turn 4. The report also credited Day with 19 stage points and the bonus point for recording the fastest lap, adding to his championship total.

The Tennessean's unofficial classification placed Kvapil's JR Motorsports Chevrolet second and Jesse Love's Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet third. Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Brent Crews and Taylor Gray completed the top five. Sam Mayer took sixth, followed by Jeremy Clements, William Sawalich, Austin Hill and Anthony Alfredo, completing the first 10 finishers in the published results.

MotorBiscuit's John Breeden, also reporting through Yahoo Sports, said Allgaier and Brandon Jones were caught in a crash on the restart at the beginning of Stage 2. Jones lost control in Turn 1 and crashed directly in front of Allgaier. Allgaier was classified 34th, 145 laps behind, with Jones finishing immediately behind him in 35th.

The damage extended beyond the race result for Allgaier. He had arrived in Las Vegas second in the championship, 11 points behind Sheldon Creed, but left fourth and 31 points adrift, according to MotorBiscuit. Creed finished 13th yet retained the series lead. Kvapil moved away from the race 19 points behind Creed, with Love 22 back.

For Day, MotorBiscuit reported that the victory was both his third of the season and his third in the series. He stood fifth in the updated standings, 41 points behind Creed. Six championship Chase drivers finished in the top 10 at Las Vegas, but the points leader was not among them, while Allgaier's crash left him facing a larger deficit.