NASCAR
Seas Part in Overtime for Kyle Larson at Texas in JRM No. 88
FORT WORTH, Texas – Driving in relief of the injured Connor Zilisch, Kyle Larson did exactly what was expected in this relief role. After pitting under a late yellow for fresh tires, the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet lined up eighth with seven laps left. Thanks to two quick successive yellows, the leader never got too far away from the 88, allowing Larson to pounce and take the top spot away on a second two-lap dash. Larson is now two-for-three in Xfinity wins this season, not even having Texas on his schedule until this week.
Larson may have been the ultimate victor, but he was far from the dominant driver of the day. That distinction went to Justin Allgaier, who started second, was first and second across the stages, and led 99 laps.
Allgaier’s day would only come to an unceremonious end after the final green flag pit cycle. Running 12th on lap 153, Allgaier quickly caught the lapped traffic of Kris Wright. The No. 5 was unable to maintain on the bottom lane, and went wide into Allgaier’s path. The No. 7 Chevrolet was sent into the outside wall and out of the race after such a strong performance.
Larson meanwhile had seen a much more blue collar day to this point. The No. 88 started 20th, and suffered a pit road penalty after Stage 1. Larson only ever took the lead after Allgaier’s issues, the No. 7 had the field covered with a rocket-fast Jarrett Chevrolet. Larson agreed after taking his 17th career Xfinity Series checkered flag.
“It was a lot of survival, I felt like in that race,” Larson said. “I got in some wrecks, the balance we had to work on quite a bit. So, it was fun. I felt like if I could ever get the lead, I could stretch it out, but I couldn’t get by Justin (Allgaier). He was running where I needed to be.”
“Thanks to JRM for letting me come run this thing here today. Obviously, I wish Connor was in the car, but it means a lot that they thought of me to call up to run this thing. Had a lot of fun today and cool to get another win here.”
Rallying to second behind Larson was rookie Taylor Gray, setting a new career-best Xfinity Series result. He just beat out Riley Herbst, Stage 2 winner Austin Hill, and defending Texas winner Sam Mayer. The rest of the top-10 were: Harrison Burton, Jesse Love, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones, and Jeb Burton.
Xfinity Series competitors now have a few weeks off, returning at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 24. The BetMGM 300 goes green at 4:30 p.m. ET on The CW, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Chris Graythen/Getty Images
