The 2026 Focused Health 250 was a NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race held on Saturday, February 28, 2026, at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Contested over 65 laps on the 2.400-mile-long asphalt road course, it was the third race of the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season, and the fifth running of the event.
Shane van Gisbergen, driving for JR Motorsports, continued to show road course dominance with a blistering performance, leading a race-high 31 laps and surviving a chaotic late restart to earn his fifth career NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series win, and his first of the season. Austin Hill finished second, and Sammy Smith finished third. Jesse Love and Corey Day rounded out the top five, while Brent Crews (in his series debut), William Sawalich, Justin Allgaier, Ross Chastain, and Brennan Poole rounded out the top ten.
Report Background
Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a grade 1 FIA-specification motorsports facility located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas. It features a road racing circuit. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Prix, and the Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas, a round of the FIM Road Racing World Championship. It previously hosted the Supercars Championship, the FIA World Endurance Championship, the IMSA SportsCar Championship, and IndyCar Series.
On November 20, 2024, it was announced that the race would move to the layout.
Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver. (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Driver Team Make 00 Sheldon Creed Haas Factory Team Chevrolet 0 Alex Labbé SS-Green Light Racing Chevrolet 1 Connor Zilisch (i) JR Motorsports Chevrolet 02 Ryan Ellis Young's Motorsports Chevrolet 2 Jesse Love Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 5 Tyler Gonzalez Hettinger Racing Ford 07 Josh Bilicki SS-Green Light Racing Chevrolet 7 Justin Allgaier JR Motorsports Chevrolet 8 Sammy Smith JR Motorsports Chevrolet9Shane van Gisbergen (i)JR MotorsportsChevrolet 17 Corey Day Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 18 William Sawalich Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Brent Crews (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Brandon Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Austin Hill Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 24 Harrison Burton Sam Hunt Racing Toyota 25 Nick Sanchez AM Racing Ford 26 Dean Thompson Sam Hunt Racing Toyota 27 Jeb Burton Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet 28 Kyle Sieg RSS Racing Chevrolet 30 Baltazar Leguizamón Barrett–Cope Racing Chevrolet 31 Blaine Perkins Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet 32 Ross Chastain (i) Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet 35 Austin J. Hill Joey Gase Motorsports Chevrolet 39 Ryan Sieg RSS Racing Chevrolet 41 Sam Mayer Haas Factory Team Chevrolet 42 J. J. Yeley Young's Motorsports Chevrolet 44 Brennan Poole Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet 45 Lavar Scott (R) Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet 48 Patrick Staropoli (R) Big Machine Racing Chevrolet 50 Preston Pardus Pardus Racing Chevrolet 51 Jeremy Clements Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet 54 Taylor Gray Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 55 Sage Karam Joey Gase Motorsports Toyota 87 Austin Green Peterson Racing Chevrolet 88 Rajah Caruth JR Motorsports Chevrolet 91 Carson Kvapil DGM Racing Chevrolet 92 Josh Williams DGM Racing Chevrolet 96 Anthony Alfredo Viking Motorsports Chevrolet 99 Parker Retzlaff Viking Motorsports Chevrolet Official entry list
Practice The first and only practice session was held on Friday, February 27, at 4:00 PM CST, and lasted for 50 minutes.
Sam Mayer, driving for Haas Factory Team, set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 1:38.706 seconds, and a speed of .
Practice results Pos.DriverTeamMakeTime141Sam MayerHaas Factory TeamChevrolet1:38.70687.533200Sheldon CreedHaas Factory TeamChevrolet1:38.80987.441387Austin GreenPeterson RacingChevrolet1:38.83487.419Full practice results
Qualifying Qualifying was held on Friday, February 27, at 5:05 PM CST. Since Circuit of the Americas is a road course, the qualifying procedure used was a two-group system with one round. Drivers were separated into two groups, A and B. Each driver had multiple laps to set a time. Whoever set the fastest time between both groups won the pole.
Under a 2021 rule change, the timing line in road course qualifying is "not" the start-finish line. Instead, the timing line for qualifying was set at the exit of Istanbul 8. Connor Zilisch, driving for JR Motorsports, qualified on pole position with a lap of 1:37.740 seconds, and a speed of .
Two drivers failed to qualify: Josh Williams and Tyler Gonzalez.
Qualifying results Pos.DriverTeamMakeTime11Connor Zilisch (i)JR MotorsportsChevrolet1:37.74088.39829Shane van Gisbergen (i)JR MotorsportsChevrolet1:37.94988.209321Austin HillRichard Childress RacingChevrolet1:38.35987.841420Brandon JonesJoe Gibbs RacingToyota1:38.44887.76257Justin AllgaierJR MotorsportsChevrolet1:38.56287.661691Carson KvapilDGM RacingChevrolet1:38.57287.652719Brent Crews (R)Joe Gibbs RacingToyota1:38.67087.565841Sam MayerHaas Factory TeamChevrolet1:38.71787.523900Sheldon CreedHaas Factory TeamChevrolet1:38.78687.462108Sammy SmithJR MotorsportsChevrolet1:38.86387.394112Jesse LoveRichard Childress RacingChevrolet1:38.88787.3721217Corey DayHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet1:38.90087.3611387Austin GreenPeterson RacingChevrolet1:38.90387.3581454Taylor GrayJoe Gibbs RacingToyota1:39.02187.2541518William SawalichJoe Gibbs RacingToyota1:39.39386.9281696Anthony AlfredoViking MotorsportsChevrolet1:39.42986.8961750Preston PardusPardus RacingChevrolet1:39.48386.8491839Ryan SiegRSS RacingChevrolet1:39.54286.7981988Rajah CaruthJR MotorsportsChevrolet1:39.54486.7962025Nick SanchezAM RacingFord1:39.54686.7942132Ross Chastain (i)Jordan Anderson RacingChevrolet1:39.58686.7592255Sage KaramJoey Gase MotorsportsToyota1:39.94786.4462324Harrison BurtonSam Hunt RacingToyota1:40.02486.3792431Blaine PerkinsJordan Anderson RacingChevrolet1:40.14086.2792507Josh BilickiSS-Green Light RacingChevrolet1:40.14586.2752644Brennan PooleAlpha Prime RacingChevrolet1:40.19086.2362726Dean ThompsonSam Hunt RacingToyota1:40.24186.192280Alex LabbéSS-Green Light RacingChevrolet1:40.24386.1912999Parker RetzlaffViking MotorsportsChevrolet1:40.43186.0293051Jeremy ClementsJeremy Clements RacingChevrolet1:40.46286.0033145Lavar Scott (R)Alpha Prime RacingChevrolet1:40.48485.9843248Patrick Staropoli (R)Big Machine RacingChevrolet1:40.70285.798Qualified by owner's points3302Ryan EllisYoung's MotorsportsChevrolet1:40.75585.7533427Jeb BurtonJordan Anderson RacingChevrolet1:41.01085.5363528Kyle SiegRSS RacingChevrolet1:41.17685.3963642J. J. YeleyYoung's MotorsportsChevrolet1:41.82184.8553730Baltazar LeguizamónBarrett–Cope RacingChevrolet1:42.53684.2633835Austin J. HillJoey Gase MotorsportsChevrolet——Failed to qualify3992Josh WilliamsDGM RacingChevrolet1:40.78785.725405Tyler GonzalezHettinger RacingFord1:42.02084.689Official qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup
Race
Race results
Stage results Stage One Laps: 20 Pos.DriverTeamMakePts121Austin HillRichard Childress RacingChevrolet10241Sam MayerHaas Factory TeamChevrolet937Justin AllgaierJR MotorsportsChevrolet8420Brandon JonesJoe Gibbs RacingToyota752Jesse LoveRichard Childress RacingChevrolet6691Carson KvapilDGM RacingChevrolet5717Corey DayHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet4887Austin GreenPeterson RacingChevrolet3988Rajah Caruth (R)JR MotorsportsChevrolet2109Shane van Gisbergen (i)JR MotorsportsChevrolet0 Stage Two Laps: 20 Pos.DriverTeamMakePts141Sam MayerHaas Factory TeamChevrolet1027Justin AllgaierJR MotorsportsChevrolet9391Carson KvapilDGM RacingChevrolet842Jesse LoveRichard Childress RacingChevrolet759Shane van Gisbergen (i)JR MotorsportsChevrolet0621Austin HillRichard Childress RacingChevrolet578Sammy SmithJR MotorsportsChevrolet4820Brandon JonesJoe Gibbs RacingToyota3932Ross Chastain (i)Jordan Anderson RacingChevrolet01039Ryan SiegRSS RacingChevrolet1
Final Stage results Stage Three Laps: 25 FinStDriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPts129Shane van Gisbergen (i)JR MotorsportsChevrolet6531Running02321Austin HillRichard Childress RacingChevrolet654Running503108Sammy SmithJR MotorsportsChevrolet650Running384112Jesse LoveRichard Childress RacingChevrolet650Running4651217Corey DayHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet650Running366719Brent Crews (R)Joe Gibbs RacingToyota655Running3171518William SawalichJoe Gibbs RacingToyota650Running30857Justin AllgaierJR MotorsportsChevrolet651Running4692132Ross Chastain (i)Jordan Anderson RacingChevrolet650Running0102644Brennan PooleAlpha Prime RacingChevrolet650Running2711900Sheldon CreedHaas Factory TeamChevrolet650Running26121454Taylor GrayJoe Gibbs RacingToyota650Running2513280Alex LabbéSS-Green Light RacingChevrolet650Running2414841Sam MayerHaas Factory TeamChevrolet658Running4215420Brandon JonesJoe Gibbs RacingToyota650Running32161839Ryan SiegRSS RacingChevrolet650Running22172431Blaine PerkinsJordan Anderson RacingChevrolet650Running20183427Jeb BurtonJordan Anderson RacingChevrolet650Running1919691Carson KvapilDGM RacingChevrolet652Running31203248Patrick Staropoli (R)Big Machine RacingChevrolet650Running172111Connor Zilisch (i)JR MotorsportsChevrolet6513Running0223145Lavar Scott (R)Alpha Prime RacingChevrolet650Running15231696Anthony AlfredoViking MotorsportsChevrolet650Running14243528Kyle SiegRSS RacingChevrolet650Running13252025Nick SanchezAM RacingFord651Running12262726Dean ThompsonSam Hunt RacingToyota650Running11271750Preston PardusPardus RacingChevrolet650Running10283642J. J. YeleyYoung's MotorsportsChevrolet650Running9292324Harrison BurtonSam Hunt RacingToyota650Running8302999Parker RetzlaffViking MotorsportsChevrolet650Running7311988Rajah CaruthJR MotorsportsChevrolet650Running8323051Jeremy ClementsJeremy Clements RacingChevrolet650Running5331387Austin GreenPeterson RacingChevrolet650Running7343302Ryan EllisYoung's MotorsportsChevrolet640Running3352255Sage KaramJoey Gase MotorsportsToyota530Suspension2362507Josh BilickiSS-Green Light RacingChevrolet350Suspension1373730Baltazar LeguizamónBarrett–Cope RacingChevrolet330Accident1383835Austin J. HillJoey Gase MotorsportsChevrolet70Suspension1Official race results
Notes
Race statistics
Lead changes: 16 among 8 different drivers Cautions/Laps: 4 for 12 laps Red flags: 0 Time of race: 2 hours, 12 minutes and 56 seconds Average speed:
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Austin Hill 154 2 2 Jesse Love 126 (–28) 3 3 Justin Allgaier 115 (–39) 1 4 Sheldon Creed 106 (–48) 2 5 Carson Kvapil 95 (–59) 4 6 Rajah Caruth 90 (–64) 2 7 Sammy Smith 86 (–68) 8 Corey Day 86 (–68) 4 9 Parker Retzlaff 81 (–73) 9 10 Sam Mayer 78 (–76) 5 11 Brandon Jones 73 (–81) 12 Brennan Poole 70 (–84)Official driver's standings
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 165 1 2 Toyota 70 (–95) 1 3 Ford 62 (–103) Note: Only the first 12 positions are included for the driver standings.
References