O'Reilly Auto Parts Series StatChat 2026 - Phoenix 1

By Adam Carabine

Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats Friday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Avondale, Arizona for the GOVX 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 start racing there until 1999.  Jeff Gordon won the first race there in this series.  Aric Almirola and Jesse Love won the races at this track last year.

Tomorrow’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. 

This year, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series has run 348 laps, for 704.16 miles so far.  Only 7 cars have completed 100% of all laps.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Phoenix:

Jesse Love	4.50 over 4 races (1 win)
Taylor Gray	6.50 over 2 races
Harrison Burton	9.00 over 6 races
Sammy Smith	9.14 over 7 races (1 win)
Justin Allgaier	9.42 over 31 races (2 wins)

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Phoenix:

Josh Bilicki	27.38 over 8 races
Dean Thompson	27.00 over 2 races
Anthony Alfredo	26.38 over 8 races
Kyle Sieg	25.56 over 9 races
Parker Retzlaff	24.38 over 8 races

For the purposes of this article, we are calling Phoenix a Short Track. (Any tracks 1 mile and less)

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:

Harrison Burton	11.16 over 33 races (1 win)
Taylor Gray	12.48 over 13 races (1 win)
Justin Allgaier	13.02 over 158 races (11 wins)
Sammy Smith	13.14 over 30 races (2 wins)
Brandon Jones	13.91 over 100 races (2 wins)

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks:

Austin Green	29.50 over 4 races
Josh Bilicki	28.09 over 29 races
Blaine Perkins	27.51 over 30 races
Dean Thompson	26.50 over 10 races
Ryan Ellis	26.34 over 47 races

Kyle Busch is the winningest driver in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Phoenix, with 11 wins, followed by Carl Edwards, who had 4.

Drivers who ran their first O’Reilly’s Series race at Phoenix:

Ryan Sieg	2013 – P21
Blaine Perkins	2021 – P24
Nick Sanchez	2022 – P26
Parker Retzlaff	2022 – P36

Drivers who WON their first O’Reilly’s Series race at Phoenix:

Sammy Smith

This was his 13th Career O’Reilly’s Start

Drivers whose most recent O’Reilly Series Victory was at Phoenix:

Jesse Love

2025

Notable drivers who have not won at Phoenix:

Austin Hill	(has won at 7 other tracks)
Sam Mayer	(has won at 6 other tracks)
Harrison Burton	(has won at 4 other tracks)
Jeremy Clements	(has won at 2 other tracks)

Based on average finish, Jesse Love lists Phoenix as his BEST track, but no driver lists it as their WORST.

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

Austin Hill	+604 pts
Sheldon Creed	+282 pts
Jesse Love	+273 pts
Blaine Perkins	+171 pts
Brennan Poole	+162 pts

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025

Harrison Burton	-606 pts
Nick Sanchez	-280 pts
Dean Thompson	-261 pts
Sam Mayer	-229 pts
Jeremy Clements	-204 pts

Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:

Best Career Year

Austin Hill	5.00
Jesse Love	6.00
Sammy Smith	12.67
Parker Retzlaff	15.33
William Sawalich	18.67
Blaine Perkins	20.33
Ryan Ellis	20.67
Dean Thompson	24.00

Rookie of the Year Battle

Patrick Staropoli	60
Lavar Scott	45

The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (55 for 1^st, 35 for 2^nd, 34 for 3^rd, etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.

Manufacturer Standings

Chevrolet	165
Toyota	70
Ford	60

Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:

Chartered Team Standings

RCR	122
JR Motorsports	119
Haas Factory	94
Jordan Anderson	92
Hendrick	75
Viking	72
Alpha Prime	70
Joe Gibbs	70
SS-Green Light	67
Big Machine	60
Young’s	59
RSS Racing	56
AM Racing	47
Sam Hunt	45
Peterson	35
DGM	32
Hettinger	31
Barrett-Cope	25
Jeremy Clements	18
Joey Gase	7

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

Justin Allgaier	47
Austin Hill	39
Jesse Love	33
#1 Car	29
#88 Car	29
Brandon Jones	19
Sam Mayer	19
Sammy Smith	13
#91 Car	13
Sheldon Creed	12

Milestone Watch

Justin Allgaier	Looking for his 170th Career Top 5
Taylor Gray	Looking for his 19th Career Top 5
Sheldon Creed	Looking for his 70th Career Top 10
Harrison Burton	Looking for his 60th Career Top 10
Taylor Gray	Looking for his 20th Career Top 10
Austin Hill	Looking for his 90th Career Top 10
Austin Hill	This will be his 150th Career O’Reilly’s Start

Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:

Winless Streaks

Jeremy Clements	112 races
Jeb Burton	93 races
Harrison Burton	70 races
Sammy Smith	26 races
Justin Allgaier	22 races
Nick Sanchez	19 races
Sam Mayer	14 races
Brandon Jones	8 races
Taylor Gray	4 races
Jesse Love	3 races

The race begins Saturday, March 7^th at 7:30 pm EST (4:30 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!

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