2026 Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200
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| Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 6 of 33 in the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series | |||
 | |||
| Date | March 21, 2026 | ||
| Location | Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1.366 miles (2.198 km) | ||
| Distance | 147 laps, 200.802 mi (323.159 km) | ||
| Average speed | 112.442 miles per hour (180.958 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | JR Motorsports | ||
| Time | 29.994 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kyle Larson | JR Motorsports | |
| Laps | 107 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | |
| Time | 30.438 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | The CW | ||
| Announcers | Adam Alexander, Jamie McMurray, and Parker Kligerman | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | MRN | ||
| Booth announcers | Alex Hayden, Mike Bagley, and Todd Gordon | ||
| Turn announcers | Dave Moody (1 & 2) and Tim Catafalmo (3 & 4) | ||
The 2026 Sports Clips Haircuts VFW 200 was a NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race held on Saturday, March 21, 2026, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Contested over 147 laps on the 1.366-mile (2.198 km) egg-shaped oval, it was the sixth race of the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season, and the 44th running of the event.
Justin Allgaier, driving for JR Motorsports, took advantage of a late restart, leading the final 14 laps and held off Brandon Jones in the closing stages to earn his 30th career NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series win, and his second of the season.[10] Allgaier's teammate Kyle Larson was the most dominant driver of the race, winning both stages and led a race-high 107 laps, before a late pit stop cycled him back and was unable to retake the lead. Jones finished second, and Christopher Bell finished third. Larson and Carson Kvapil rounded out the top five, while Corey Day, Sheldon Creed, Parker Retzlaff, Sammy Smith, and Sam Mayer rounded out the top ten.
Background
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.
Surface issues
Darlington Raceway was last repaved following the May 2007 meeting (from 2005 to 2019, there was only one meeting; the second meeting was reinstated in 2020), and from 2008 to 2019, there was one night race. In 2020, a day race returned to the schedule, and instead of two races (one Xfinity and one Cup) during the entire year, the track hosted six races (three Cup, two Xfinity, and one Truck). The circuit kept repairing the circuit with patches during each summer before the annual Cup race in September. The circuit's narrow Turn 2 rapidly deteriorated with cracks in the tarmac allowing water to seep in the circuit. In July 2021, the circuit repaved a six hundred foot section at the entrance of Turn 2 and ending at the exit of the turn to repair the tarmac and resolve the issue for safety and to reduce the threat of weepers and surface issues in that section of the circuit.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Practice
The first and only practice session was held on Saturday, March 21, at 12:00 PM EST, and lasted for 50 minutes.[11]
Christopher Bell, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 30.149 seconds, and a speed of 163.110 miles per hour (262.500 km/h).[12]
Practice results
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | Christopher Bell (i) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 30.149 | 163.110 |
| 2 | 20 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 30.280 | 162.404 |
| 3 | 99 | Parker Retzlaff | Viking Motorsports | Chevrolet | 30.295 | 162.324 |
| Full practice results | ||||||
Qualifying
Qualifying was held on Saturday, March 21, at 1:05 PM EST.[11] Since Darlington Raceway is an intermediate racetrack, the qualifying procedure used was a single-car, one-lap system with one round. Drivers were on track by themselves and had one lap to post a qualifying time, and whoever set the fastest time won the pole.[13]
Kyle Larson, driving for JR Motorsports, qualified on pole position with a lap of 29.994 seconds, and a speed of 163.953 miles per hour (263.857 km/h).[14]
Matt DiBenedetto was the only driver who failed to qualify.
