2026 The LiUNA Recap — Larson Wins at Las Vegas as Allgaier Sweeps Stages and Finishes Fourth
Sunday, March 15, 2026
The Short Version
Kyle Larson won The LiUNA at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading 47 of 200 laps as an invitational driver not eligible for series points. Justin Allgaier swept both stage wins and finished fourth — the strongest performance of any points-eligible driver. Chase Briscoe ran as a second invitational entry and finished second, with Sheldon Creed third. The race had 8 cautions for 42 laps and 16 lead changes.
What Happened
Sam Mayer started from the pole and led the opening laps. Taylor Gray ran second early and showed strong intermediate track pace — Gray would go on to lead 21 laps from starting 6th before a lap 148 incident ended his day. Justin Allgaier cycled through the field over the first stage and won Stage 1 at lap 45, following with the Stage 2 win at lap 90. His stage sweep was the most complete stretch of racing by a series regular all afternoon.
The race’s biggest incident came at lap 148: Sheldon Creed bumped Taylor Gray entering turn 3, causing Gray to get sideways and bounce off the outside wall. Gray’s No. 54 Toyota was done. The caution reshuffled the field and brought invitational driver Larson to the front of the strategic picture.
At lap 124, the restart had featured Gray leading from the inside with Creed outside. Connor Zilisch fell to sixth after bouncing off the turn 2 wall, and Larson slotted fourth. The second half of the race was an invitational driver race — Larson and Briscoe both had cars that the points-eligible field couldn’t match on intermediate tracks.
Allgaier swept both stages but couldn’t maintain the same relative pace in the final stint. He finished fourth — the best result among regular-season points drivers. Creed finished third from the pole. The podium was Larson, Briscoe, Creed — invitational, invitational, series regular.
The Defining Moment
The lap 148 Creed-Gray contact. Gray had been one of the fastest cars in the second stage and was leading at the lap 124 restart. Creed’s bump sent him into the wall and ended his afternoon with 52 laps remaining. The incident cleared the field of one of the two legitimate threats to the invitational entries in clean air.
The One That Got Away
Taylor Gray. He started sixth, led 21 laps, was strong enough to run at the front with the invitational entries through the middle stages, and was on pace for the best finish of any points-eligible driver before Creed’s contact at lap 148 ended it. The No. 54 had speed at Las Vegas. He didn’t get to show the final third.
Numbers That Matter
- Winner: Kyle Larson — No. 88 Chevrolet (invitational — not eligible for points)
- Margin of Victory: 2.557 seconds
- Cautions: 8 for 42 laps
- Lead Changes: 16 among 9 leaders
- Stage 1 winner: Justin Allgaier | Stage 2 winner: Justin Allgaier
- Allgaier stage sweep laps led: 48 combined
- Best points-eligible finish: Allgaier, 4th
Take
Invitational entries at intermediate tracks are a genuine competitive issue for the O’Reilly series regulars. Larson and Briscoe both run on Cup programs full-time with equipment and resources that exceed what most O’Reilly teams carry. When both are in the same race at a track where intermediate pace translates directly to finishing position, the series regulars are competing for third.
Allgaier’s stage sweep is the real story for the championship. He swept both stages and finished fourth — 104 stage points in the bank, consistent runs at every stop on the schedule, and a car that keeps being fast regardless of track type. The Las Vegas invitational entries won the trophy. Allgaier won the day that matters for the points table.
The Creed-Gray lap 148 contact created a wrinkle. Gray had the pace to stay in the invitational entry conversation. Whether the contact was racing or something more is a short question with a long answer — but the result for Gray was the same either way. Fifty-two laps left, an afternoon that was going somewhere, and a wall.
Notes
- Allgaier’s stage sweep extended his streak of finishing in the top-5 of every stage in 2026
- Briscoe ran invitational in the No. 19 Toyota; his second-place finish was the best result for an invitational entry not named Larson
- Connor Zilisch ran as an invitational entry (No. 1), finished 7th after bouncing off the turn 2 wall at lap 126
- Sam Mayer started from the pole and led the early laps before falling to a 35th-place finish after a lap 51 crash