Chastain Beats Love When Rain Ends the Charbroil 300 After 90 Laps
Saturday, May 23, 2026
Ross Chastain won the Charbroil 300 at Charlotte Jesse Love when a red flag for weather made the race official after 90 laps — one lap short of the scheduled distance.
The Short Version
Chastain wins Stage 2, is declared the winner when rain ends it at lap 91. Love second. Hill third. Sawalich fourth. Zilisch wins Stage 1 — his third stage win of the season — and finishes sixth. Allgaier leads 37 laps and finishes 29th. Mayer crashes lap 61. Brandon Jones and Brent Crews both exit before halfway.
What Happened
Allgaier — starting from the pole — led from the jump, cleared immediately, and ran Stage 1 from the front. He led 37 laps through the stage. On lap 42, he got loose between turns 3 and 4 and Zilisch closed to battle for the lead. Zilisch cleared on the backstretch and held on to win Stage 1 at lap 45 — his third stage win in 2026, winning a stage in his last three starts.
The pit cycle off Stage 1 reshuffled the order. Allgaier took fuel only and got off pit road first, Hill took two tires, Zilisch took four. Allgaier and Hill ran side-by-side off the restart, Hill clearing on the backstretch of lap 59. Behind them a multi-car crash on lap 52 — triggered by Creed tapping Jones off the backstretch — collected Crews, Jones, Burton, Perkins, and Clements and ended several runs before halfway.
Mayer crashed hard against the outside wall on lap 61 after getting loose battling for the position inside of Day in turn 2. He finished 36th.
Chastain ran in the top five through Stage 2, moved up on the pit cycle, and led the final laps. The red flag for rain came out as the field finished lap 90 — one lap short. The race was declared official with Chastain in front. Love crossed the line in second. Hill third.
The Defining Moment
The lap 47 pit cycle off Stage 1. Allgaier took fuel only — track position — and led off pit road. Hill took two tires — stayed close enough to challenge. Zilisch took four — gave up track position for tire advantage. Chastain took four. The tire strategies played out in the order of the final running: Chastain’s four-tire fresher rubber was the difference in the final stage. When rain came, he was in front.
The One That Got Away
Jesse Love. Finished second behind Chastain when the rain came. At the flag, he was in the right place. The result went to whoever was ahead when weather ended it. He was ahead of Hill, Sawalich, Day, Zilisch, and the rest of the field.
Also worth noting: Justin Allgaier. Led 37 laps — more than any other driver — and finished 29th. He was running well into Stage 3 before multiple pit stops dropped him back. That pattern — leading laps, finishing far back — keeps appearing in his 2026 results.
Numbers That Matter
- Winner: Ross Chastain — No. 9 · Chevrolet
- Margin of Victory: Race ended due to weather
- Cautions: 6 for 54 laps
- Lead Changes: 14 among 7 leaders
- Stage 1: Connor Zilisch | Stage 2: Ross Chastain
- Laps Led: Allgaier — 37 | Chastain — 28 | Zilisch — 7 | Mayer — 12 | Hill — 1 | Love — 4 | Perkins — 3
- Fastest Lap: Ross Chastain — 179.283 mph (Lap 60)
Take
Chastain wins at Charlotte with the fastest lap of the race and leads the final laps when weather ends it. The result is official. That’s the race.
The more interesting thread is Zilisch’s Stage 1 win — his third stage win in as many starts. He’s won a stage at Watkins Glen (Stage 2), Dover (Stage 2 per data), and now Charlotte. The pace is showing up across track types — road course, short track, intermediate. He starts sixth in this race and finishes sixth. Stage wins are converting to consistent finishes but not yet to race wins in the Xfinity Series.
Allgaier led 37 laps and finished 29th. That’s the third time this season he’s led the most or near-most laps in a race and finished outside the top 20. Dover was the most recent — 71 laps led, second place. Charlotte flips it entirely. The pace is clearly there. The conversion is the ongoing problem.
Corey Day finishes fifth — a clean result after the lap 47 Trucks crash earlier in the day. He leads the Xfinity Series in wins with two. The points picture in this series is starting to develop with Day leading, Allgaier close behind in laps and results, and a group of drivers who keep showing up in the top five without converting wins.
Notes
- Zilisch’s Stage 1 win is his third stage win in three consecutive starts (Watkins Glen, Dover, Charlotte). His season in the Xfinity cameo appearances is becoming a story.
- Allgaier has led 37+ laps in races at Dover and Charlotte — the two most recent events — and finished 29th in both. The laps-led total this season without a win is climbing to Larson-esque territory relative to the Xfinity field.
- The lap 52 multi-car crash eliminated Jones, Crews, Burton, Perkins, and Clements before halfway. Five of them started in the top 20. The caution bunching from that sequence shaped the entire second half of the race.
- Mayer crashed on lap 61 — three laps after the restart following the Jones/Crews incident. He was battling near sixth when he made contact with Day in turn 2. A promising run ended before Stage 2 was settled.
- Chastain’s pit stop at lap 90 lasted 161 seconds — a late splash-and-go as the rain was falling. He pitted from the lead, stayed on track long enough for the red flag, and was declared the winner. The 161-second stop didn’t matter because the race ended before he returned to position.
- In five of the last seven Xfinity races at Charlotte, there has been a caution within the first three laps. Lap 2 saw the Burton spin on this card as well.