O’REILLY: Parker Retzlaff’s rally through Dover field cut short by chain-reaction on the backstretch
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
SCREENSHOT: TheCW, @TheCW_Sports
Parker Retzlaff picked up the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career in Saturday’s BetRivers 200 at the Dover Motor Speedway when his #99 Funkaway Chevrolet was involved in a mutli-car accident after 10 of 200 laps.
The finish, which came in Retzlaff’s 121st series start, was his first of the season and first in an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race since August 22, 2025 at Daytona, 23 races ago. In the O’Reilly last-place rankings, it was the 17th for the #99, the 421st from a crash, and the 691st for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 44th for the #99, the 1,457th from a crash, and the 2,042nd for Chevrolet.
Last year was one to forget for the up-and-coming Retzlaff, who after scoring a career-best runner-up finish at Rockingham endured a miserable summer with eight DNFs on the season. What made the string of bad luck that much more vexing was that it was just as much due to mechanical issues as crashes, culminating in the 2025 LASTCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Championship. He parted ways with Alpha Prime Racing to join upstart Viking Motorsports, which had a lot of questions surrounding it after expanding to two cars with Anthony Alfredo as his teammate. But just 13 races into 2026, it has already been a career year for Retzlaff. He matched his career-best 2nd-place finish in Atlanta and strung together several top-ten finishes in a row. His worst finish of the year in Kansas was the result of an accident that wasn’t his fault, colliding with a wrecking Carson Kvapil who then tumbled down the backstretch.
At Dover, Retzlaff was one of the 38 entrants for as many starting spots, the result of Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen and Mike Harmon Racing once again joining forces to field a single #35 Chevrolet with Harmon’s driver Dawson Cram, thus withdrawing Harmon’s #74 that would have been the 39th entry. In opening practice, Retzlaff ranked just 24th with a best lap of 24.332 seconds (147.953mph). He took to the track 31st for qualifying, where he earned the 14th starting spot with a lap of 23.720 seconds (151.771mph). He tied Justin Allgaier to the thousandth of a second for the 13th spot, but Allgaier won the tiebreaker as point leader with Retzlaff ranking ninth, 278 markers behind.
Securing the 38th and final starting spot was David Starr, whose #53 Alarm Tech Chevrolet ran a special paint scheme in conjunction with minor league baseball team the Reading Fighting Phils. Starr was well off the pace in practice with a best lap of 27.001 seconds (133.328mph), nearly 1.6 seconds off the next-slowest car of C.J. McLaughlin in Young’s Motorsports’ #42 Howell Engineering Chevrolet. Starr’s team ended up changing engines, making him the only driver to not turn a lap in qualifying, and he incurred a redundant tail end penalty. Also incurring a tail-end penalty was Retzlaff for unapproved adjustments, putting him at the back of the field. During the pace laps, NASCAR instructed Starr to line up behind Retzlaff. Behind Starr was Logan Bearden, who was tabbed to run an unsponsored third entry for RSS Racing. While RSS now fields Chevrolets, Bearden’s black #38 was a Ford.
When the green flag dropped, Bearden’s Ford was in the last spot based on intervals, showing 3.792 seconds back of the lead to the now 37th-place McLaughlin (3.277), 36th-place Starr (3.214), 35th-place Cram (3.048), and up to 34th now was Retzlaff (2.892). At the end of Lap 1, Starr had dropped two spots back to last place, 6.516 seconds back of the lead, with he and now 37th-place Bearden already 1.5 seconds back of 36th. Bearden then pulled away from Starr, and by Lap 4, Starr was 10.263 seconds back of the lead, nearly two seconds back of 37th-place Bearden at an 8.526, Cram another seven-tenths ahead in 36th at a 7.874. On Lap 5, Starr closed the gap on Bearden, now 11.272 back of the lead, but less than 1.2 seconds back of Bearden’s 10.046. On Lap 9, with Starr now 15.908 back of the lead, Cram climbed to 35th, dropping Bearden to 36th. Starr then made another gain on Bearden on Lap 10, 17.370 seconds behind the leader, but now just six-tenths back of Bearden’s 16.712 in 37th. On Lap 11, Bearden again opened up his advantage by about two-tenths, reaching the line 17.965 to Starr’s 18.733, when the caution fell for the first time.
Coming off Turn 2, Ryan Sieg’s #39 SciAps Chevrolet broke loose racing under Brent Crews’ #19 Flow Toyota for around the 17th spot. Sieg banged doors with Crews, who bounced off the Turn 2 wall and slowed. Closing fast on the scene was Retzlaff, who had gained at least 13 spots in the opening run and was now challenging 15th-place qualifier Jeb Burton in the #27 BG Products Chevrolet. Coming off the turn, Burton checked-up, blocking the middle of the track. This trapped Retzlaff between Burton and the closing Lavar Scott, whose #45 Urban Affairs Coalition Chevrolet bumped Retzlaff into Burton, sending both Chevrolets nose-first into the inside wall.
Scott made it to pit road with heavy nose damage as Burton fought to follow him, his right-front corner heavily damaged. Retzlaff only made it to the apron of Turn 3 before he dropped the window net and climbed out, done for the day. Burton pulled behind the wall without completing another lap, taking 36th. Scott returned to the track, but completed just 13 more laps before his engine overheated, forcing him out of the race. Bearden turned just seven more laps than Scott before brake issues, and he was declared out by NASCAR on Lap 76 followed by Scott on Lap 79.
At the time each was declared out of the race, Scott was classified 35th with Bearden in 34th. The 36th spot was held by Starr, who three laps after the first caution pulled behind the wall with a loss of fuel pressure. The Gase team performed extensive repairs, at one point removing the top of the fuel cell. Their persistence paid off with Starr returning to the track on Lap 104, showing 89 laps down in 36th. He completed his 14th lap with a time of 3,872.654 seconds, which works out to just under one hour and five minutes. Starr ultimately climbed to finish 33rd before a vibration ended his race, dropping Scott to 36th and Bearden to 35th. The last car Starr passed was that of Blaine Perkins, whose #31 Nuthin Fancy Co. Chevrolet backed hard into the Turn 3 wall on Lap 61.
Retzlaff’s accident dropped him to 11th in the point standings, now 316 points out of the lead. Anthony Alfredo, his teammate, came home in the 10th spot in his #96 Dude Wipes Chevrolet.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #99 in an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Dover since October 6, 2018, when Stephen Leiht’s #99 B.J. McLeod Motorsports Chevrolet had electrical issues after 13 laps.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #99-Parker Retzlaff / 10 laps / crash
37) #27-Jeb Burton / 10 laps / crash
36) #45-Lavar Scott / 23 laps / engine
35) #38-Logan Bearden / 30 laps / brakes
34) #31-Blaine Perkins / 59 laps / crash
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) DGM Racing x JIM, Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen, Young’s Motorsports (2)
2nd) AM Racing, Big Machine Racing, Haas Factory Team, Hettinger Racing, JR Motorsports, RSS Racing, SS-Green Light Racing, Viking Motorsports (1)
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (11)
2nd) Ford (3)
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
