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Sheldon Creed won Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway after his crew chief’s late tire call gave him fresh tires for an overtime restart. Creed beat William Sawalich by 0.253 seconds in the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet, led the final three laps and earned his third victory of the season and third career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win. The race finished in 1 hour, 53 minutes and 7 seconds and averaged 86 mph.

The biggest late-race turning point came when Jesse Love made contact with Justin Allgaier on a restart, sending Allgaier into the outside wall. Allgaier had been leading before the incident and finished fourth, while Love dropped to 17th after a right-rear flat ended his chance to contend. Love called the move a terrible and dumb decision and accepted responsibility, and Allgaier said he was disappointed the crash was unnecessary but held no lasting grudge. The result moved Creed to the top of the postseason standings, 11 points ahead of Allgaier, with Love fourth and 41 points back. There are six races remaining, and both Love and Allgaier said they needed a strong run at Las Vegas.

Behind the top three, Brent Crews finished third, Corey Day was fifth, Taylor Gray sixth, Sam Mayer seventh, Parker Retzlaff eighth, Dean Thompson ninth and Sammy Smith 10th. Carson Kvapil won Stage 2 and had led a race-high 156 laps after Justin Allgaier won Stage 1, but smoke from Kvapil’s No. 1 Chevrolet led to a black flag and a pit stop that dropped him to 24th. Rain wiped out qualifying, Love started from the pole, Creed started alongside him on the front row, and Kvapil fell to 37 points behind Creed in the standings after the race.

Brad Keselowski used a postrace radio outburst at World Wide Technology Raceway to air a broader complaint that RFK Racing was being shortchanged on horsepower compared with Team Penske’s Ford program, turning a late-race loss of the lead into criticism of Ford’s equipment parity. After Joey Logano passed him on lap 220 in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300, Keselowski said he felt his car had a worse motor and later described RFK as Ford’s “s*** box” team. He said the remarks were driven by frustration, were “not one of his proudest moments,” and were meant to show fans that NASCAR cars are not truly equal even in the Next Gen era.

A week later at Bristol Motor Speedway, Keselowski said he still has a good relationship with engine builder Doug Yates and stood by the larger point that equipment differences matter. He pointed to RFK teammates Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher as drivers who often outperform the limitations of their cars. Keselowski also said, “I wanted to win,” after leading 55 laps at Gateway before fading to 12th. His last victory came at Darlington in May 2024, and his winless streak has reached 87 races.

RFK crew chief Jeremy Bullins pushed back on the claim, saying any horsepower differences were minimal and praising Ford and Roush Yates for their support. The episode fit into a season in which RFK has trailed Team Penske among Ford teams, and Ford has lagged Toyota in the manufacturer standings, with six wins to Toyota’s 15. The broader debate has also included criticism from other figures, including Kevin Harvick, who said in July that Ford was “a little bit dysfunctional.”

Justin Allgaier entered Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway trying to take back the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series playoff lead after late-race trouble at Darlington and Gateway cut into a 200-point cushion. Sheldon Creed moved into first after wins in Darlington and a second-place finish at Gateway, and one pre-race update had Creed leading Allgaier by three points. Allgaier, who has two wins and 13 top-five finishes in 27 Bristol starts, called Bristol one of his favorite tracks.

On the track, Allgaier opened the Bristol race by winning Stage 1 on Sept. 18, 2026. He closed on Jesse Love in the final laps and took control late in the stage. Love started on the pole with Creed alongside him on the front row, Carson Kvapil finished third in the stage, Brent Crews was fourth and Love finished fifth. Jeb Burton, Rajah Caruth and Austin Hill each had tire issues earlier in the stage, and the race was still underway when that update ended.

A later standings update after Bristol listed Creed on top of the Chase standings with 2,235 points, 11 ahead of Allgaier. Carson Kvapil stood third with 2,198 points, Jesse Love fourth with 2,194, Sam Mayer fifth with 2,157, and Corey Day and Sammy Smith tied for sixth with 2,143 apiece. With seven races left, the top 12 also included Taylor Gray, Austin Hill, Parker Retzlaff, Brandon Jones and Rajah Caruth.

Lightning and rain wiped out Friday’s Cup Series qualifying and practice at Bristol Motor Speedway, and NASCAR set the Bass Pro Shops Night Race lineup by its metric formula. Kyle Larson was awarded the pole for Saturday night’s 500-lap race, with Joey Logano joining him on the front row, followed by Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Carson Hocevar.

Alex Bowman was set to start sixth and Ross Chastain seventh, while Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top 10. Tyler Reddick was listed 20th in one set of lineup notes, and Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Daniel Suárez and Ryan Blaney were placed deeper in the field, with Suárez 28th and Blaney 29th.

Larson entered Bristol’s third postseason race nine points behind the Chase lead after finishing fifth at Darlington and winning last Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway, also called Gateway. He said he believed his team could have a good weekend after the weather hit. Daniel Suárez was scheduled to start 28th while he was on baby watch for his first child, and Jr Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier was on standby as a possible relief driver. NASCAR also canceled O’Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying, then salvaged a shortened Cup practice session after the lightning hold was lifted, ahead of the race scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Eastern on USA Network.

NASCAR will stage its 2026 postseason awards ceremony in Miami on Tuesday, Nov. 10, bringing all three of its national series awards together there for the first time. The event will be held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, two days after the Cup Series championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway crowns the 2026 champion. NASCAR also said the ceremony will move from a banquet-style format to an auditorium and theater presentation, with guests expected to dress in “Miami cocktail chic.”

The ceremony will honor the champions of the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, along with other drivers, teams and personalities from the 2026 season. All 16 Cup Series Chase drivers will have some on-stage role, and drivers from the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and Craftsman Truck Series who are still eligible for their titles at Homestead will be included. Each series’ Rookie of the Year winners will also be part of the program.

NASCAR said the awards show will stream exclusively at 6 p.m. ET on the NASCAR Channel, which is available on Xumo Play, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus and Prime Video. A separate celebration for NASCAR’s Regional, Touring, Weekly and International awards is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 20, at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.