Jesse Love, Carson Kvapil lead Phoenix majority, wind up short in O’Reilly Series dash

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Jesse Love and Carson Kvapil ranked 1-2 in laps led Saturday at Phoenix Raceway. They also ran 1-2 for significant portions of the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series tilt, battling fiercely in -- appropriately -- cars No. 1 (Kvapil) and No. 2 (Love). Neither brought home a hard-fought victory in the desert, losing out to a lucky – but also quite good -- No. 7. Love and Kvapil showed the way for most of Saturday's Govx 200, falling short to a resurgent Justin Allgaier at the 1-mile Phoenix oval. Love led a race-best 114 laps and Kvapil set the pace for 22, but it was the veteran Allgaier who led the 11 laps that mattered most to seal his 29th series win and his first at Phoenix since 2019. RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Phoenix Love placed second with Kvapil third, but both entered Saturday's 200-miler with encouraging hopes for landing on the top step of Phoenix's podium. For Love, he arrived as the series' most recent Phoenix winner, and he's celebrated clinching three championships here -- two in the ARCA Menards Series West (2020-21) and last year's O'Reilly Series title in winning fashion. Saturday looked like more of the same as Love won the second stage, stamping his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet as the in-race favorite. When a pair of  caution periods sprouted after the final pit-stop cycle, Love said he regretted not saving his tires for the possibility of late restarts. With his Goodyears well-worn as he vied for position with Kvapil and Haas Factory Team drivers Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer through the final stage, it provided an opening for Allgaier to work his way by. "The last restart, I thought it went exactly how I thought it was going to go," Love said after a shell-shocked moment of reflection on pit road. "I chose the bottom (lane) because I thought they would wash up and open the door, and it did, and it was probably the best two restarts in my life. And then, yeah, just the 7 (Allgaier) just had my number there the last few laps, and I should have figured out a way to make it harder on him, and he timed it out right. Yeah, just a little bit blown away." Kvapil nearly hit paydirt in Saturday's bid for his first O'Reilly Auto Parts Series victory, and he might have had a secret weapon atop the JR Motorsports No. 1 Chevrolet pit box. Crew chief Rodney Childers, who joined JRM's O'Reilly operation in the offseason, has a history with this place, helping guide Kevin Harvick to five of his nine Phoenix wins. Kvapil called Childers' expertise "a huge confidence booster," and he said the two studied on-board footage from Harvick's efforts here in 2014 and '15 as a primer. Any words of wisdom, though? "He doesn't talk a whole lot, but we prepare quite a bit for all the races," Kvapil said with a grin. "Obviously, I'm kind of at a point where every race really matters, and going and running good in one of these races and winning one is huge for me. So we're just really trying to prepare as much as we can, maximize our sim time and just do all the right things, and I kind of feel like this is a preview for what we're going to have with the 1 car this year -- at least I hope so." Kvapil moved up a position to fourth in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series standings as his patchwork 2026 season gained momentum. Kvapil is competing for three teams this year -- JRM's No. 1 outfit for 24 races, JRM's No. 9 group for five more, plus four for DGM Racing, which fielded his entry for Circuit of The Americas last weekend. He'll make it three teams in three weeks next Saturday at Las Vegas (5:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where he'll suit up to drive the No. 9 Chevy. MORE: Weekend schedule | O'Reilly Series race recap Love stayed in place in the standings, sitting second in the order behind new points leader Allgaier. Though winless, he leaves Phoenix as the series' only driver with top-10 results in all four races so far -- at least some consolation for finishing one spot shy of Victory Lane. "Well, I'm really proud of our group. I'm proud of Danny (Stockman, crew chief) and the whole team," Love said. "I'm proud of everybody back in Welcome, (North Carolina, RCR headquarters) for having a really productive offseason. It's really easy to win a championship and get complacent, and I think that we knew that going into the offseason, and we refused to let that happen. So yeah, we've got the best cars right now, and I just ... I have got to do a better job and close it out."