O'Reilly Auto Parts Series StatChat 2026 - Phoenix
By Adam Carabine
Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats. Here we break down the upcoming race and let you know who to watch for. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Avondale, Arizona for the Timberland Pro 200 at Phoenix Raceway.
Phoenix is a 1-mile oval with a signature dogleg just past the start/finish line. It served as the Championship Race for the past six years, though that has changed in 2026. The track opened in 1964, but the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series didn’t race there until 1999. Jeff Gordon won the first race there in this series that year. Justin Allgaier won the race here earlier this year.
Saturday’s race will be 200 laps long (for a total of 200 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 45 – 90 – 200. Pit road speed is 45 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 50 mph. The fuel window is 88-95 laps, but tires will likely wear before that.
This year, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series has run 4,879 laps, for 6,727.73 miles so far. No driver has completed 100% of all laps, but Brennan Poole is 4 laps down.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Phoenix:
Jesse Love | 4.00 over 5 races (1 win) |
Sammy Smith | 8.75 over 8 races (1 win) |
Justin Allgaier | 9.16 over 32 races (3 wins) |
Sheldon Creed | 9.30 over 10 races |
Taylor Gray | 9.33 over 3 races |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Phoenix:
Lavar Scott | 33.00 over 1 race |
Josh Bilicki | 27.67 over 9 races |
Dean Thompson | 26.33 over 3 races |
Kyle Sieg | 25.40 over 10 races |
Ryan Ellis | 24.88 over 8 races |
Phoenix is a 1-mile track, and for the purposes of this article it is looked as a short track.
Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Taylor Gray | 11.43 over 21 races (1 win) |
Justin Allgaier | 12.04 over 166 races (13 wins) |
Sammy Smith | 12.08 over 38 races (2 wins) |
Sheldon Creed | 12.73 over 44 races (1 win) |
Harrison Burton | 13.24 over 41 races (1 win) |
Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:
Josh Bilicki | 29.37 over 37 races |
Lavar Scott | 26.93 over 10 races |
Blaine Perkins | 26.43 over 38 races |
Ryan Ellis | 26.37 over 55 races |
Kyle Sieg | 24.51 over 40 races |
Kyle Busch is the winningest driver in this series at Phoenix. He won 11 times here. Carl Edwards had four wins. As far as current drivers go, Justin Allgaier has three.
Drivers who ran their first O’Reilly’s Series race at Phoenix:
Ryan Sieg | 2013 – P21 |
Blaine Perkins | 2021 – P24 |
Parker Retzlaff | 2022 – P36 |
Drivers who earned their first O’Reilly’s Series win at Phoenix:
Sammy Smith | 13th Start |
Drivers whose most recent O’Reilly Series Victory was at Phoenix:
No One | -- |
Notable drivers who have not won at Phoenix:
Austin Hill | (has won at 8 other tracks) |
Sam Mayer | (has won at 6 other tracks) |
Harrison Burton | (has won at 4 other tracks) |
Corey Day | (has won at 4 other tracks) |
Sheldon Creed | (has won at 3 other tracks) |
Based on average finish, no driver lists Phoenix as their BEST or WORST track.
Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:
Drivers Faring Better than in 2025
Sheldon Creed | +303 pts |
Justin Allgaier | +180 pts |
William Sawalich | +171 pts |
Jeremy Clements | +71 pts |
Sammy Smith | +68 pts |
Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025
Harrison Burton | -245 pts |
Jeb Burton | -200 pts |
Sam Mayer | -133 pts |
Ryan Ellis | -89 pts |
Dean Thompson | -63 pts |
Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:
Best Career Year
Sheldon Creed | 9.41 |
Sammy Smith | 12.28 |
Parker Retzlaff | 12.93 |
William Sawalich | 16.28 |
Anthony Alfredo | 17.86 |
Dean Thompson | 18.69 |
Blaine Perkins | 23.14 |
Worst Career Year
Ryan Ellis | 27.10 |
Kyle Sieg | 24.38 |
Jeb Burton | 22.07 |
Harrison Burton | 20.76 |
Rookie of the Year Battle
Patrick Staropoli | 385 |
Lavar Scott | 309 |
The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position. (55 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.) No stage points or playoff points count.
Manufacturer Standings
Chevrolet | 1,534 |
Toyota | 995 |
Ford | 202 |
Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:
Chartered Team Standings
JR Motorsports | 1,269 |
Joe Gibbs | 992 |
RCR | 936 |
Haas Factory | 920 |
Viking | 791 |
Hendrick | 776 |
RSS | 677 |
Sam Hunt | 653 |
Jordan Anderson | 646 |
Alpha Prime | 576 |
SS-Green Light | 501 |
DGM | 475 |
Peterson | 460 |
Jeremy Clements | 448 |
Big Machine | 385 |
Young’s | 385 |
Joey Gase | 175 |
At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions. Here are the leaders this year:
Stage Point Leaders
Milestone Watch
Sammy Smith | Looking for his 30th Career Top 5 |
Sam Mayer | Looking for his 90th Career Top 10 |
Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:
Winless Streaks
Jeremy Clements | 138 races |
Jeb Burton | 119 races |
Harrison Burton | 96 races |
Sammy Smith | 52 races |
Sam Mayer | 40 races |
William Sawalich | 21 races |
Taylor Gray | 19 races |
Austin Hill | 11 races |
Brandon Jones | 9 races |
Justin Allgaier | 8 races |
The race begins Saturday, October 17th at 7:30 pm EST (4:30 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @RacingRefresh
Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!
Comments