Ross Chastain wins rain-shortened NASCAR O'Reilly Series race at Charlotte

Ross Chastain won a bizarre NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday in an event that was composed of only 91 of the 200 scheduled laps. 

The Charbroil 300 went green at its scheduled time of 5 p.m. ET Saturday, but was under a red flag for over four hours due to a rain delay. When the race resumed, it did so despite foggy conditions and plenty of moisture in the air. 

A caution for Taylor Gray and Sheldon Creed ended up being the nail in the coffin for the race, which ran until the end of Stage 2 — which, if it comes before a race's halfway mark, can also make a race official. 

That led to Chastain, who won the stage under yellow after a prolonged caution period for moist conditions, earning his third career O'Reilly Series victory and his first of 2026. 

Chastain, a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver with Spire Motorsports, is looking for a second consecutive win in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on Sunday. He'll also race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Charlotte, which was originally scheduled for Friday evening, then postponed to Saturday morning before being pushed to Saturday evening. With the O'Reilly Series race running late, the Truck Series race has now been pushed back further, with an announcement to come in regard to its date and time. 

Saturday's race was the first NASCAR race since the passing of NASCAR legend Kyle Busch on Thursday. 

What drivers said

"I first watched a JRM car drive by me here at Charlotte in 2014," Chastain told CW Sports. "I decided right then I wanted to be in one. I did not think we would win one like this."

"Just incredible to try to grasp losing Kyle. I just don't understand how he's not here racing. Obviously, racing is the best thing we can do to celebrate him and what he did in this sport and in his life."

The aforementioned caution for Gray and Creed was caused by oil on the track, which caused Chastain, along with fellow frontrunners Justin Allgaier and Corey Day, to get into the outside wall. 

Jesse Love finished runner-up and was not at all happy with how NASCAR officiated the race's end.

"I think it's a complete joke, handling it how [NASCAR] handled it. Was really mad when I got out of the car for obvious reasons."

But Love, who drives for Richard Childress Racing just as Busch did in the Cup Series, made note of the bigger picture.

"There's a lot of hurt people right now, and this week's just taught us that there are things so much bigger than racing," Love said. 

Love, his RCR teammate in Austin Hill, William Sawalich and Corey Day rounded out the top five, with Connor Zilisch, Ryan Sieg, Cole Custer, Carson Kvapil and Rajah Caruth completing the top 10. 

Other notable finishers include Sammy Smith in 11th, Parker Retzlaff in 12th, Jeb Burton in 23rd, series points leader Justin Allgaier in 29th and Sam Mayer in 36th.