Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brandon Jones held off JR Motorsports’ Chase Elliott in NASCAR Overtime to win a late-night thriller in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway.
The driver of the No. 20 Toyota claimed his first victory of the 2026 season on a long night at the 1.5-mile Joliet track after the start of the Cuervo 300 was delayed nearly five hours due to inclement weather. Jones, who started 29th, led 12 laps of the 201 laps and won by a margin of 0.171 seconds.
Elliott (78 laps led), Jesse Love (five laps), Brent Crews and Austin Hill rounded out the top five. Justin Allgaier, Taylor Gray (55 laps), Sam Mayer, Cole Custer and Connor Zilisch (48 laps) completed the top 10.
Zilisch rallied back for a top-10 finish in his No. 1 JRM Chevrolet after the Stage 1 winner experienced a loss of fuel pressure, a flat right-rear tire and a spin — all separate issues.
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action next Saturday night at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta for the Focused Health 250 at 7 p.m. ET (The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The Cuervo 300 was set to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET before thunderstorms arrived in the area. It’s the series’ first visit to Joliet since 2019.
Friday’s practice session was postponed until Saturday due to rain and was held in place of qualifying. Richard Childress Racing’s Love topped the leaderboard at 173.533 mph during the 50-minute session.
The starting lineup was set per the NASCAR Rule Book. When the race began, Zilisch was set to lead the field to the green flag, with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Crews joining him on the front row.
–NASCAR Wire Service
