(Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
Kyle Larson takes the checkered flag at Darlington Raceway for the Shriners Children’s 200
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Kyle Larson outdueled John Hunter Nemechek in the closing laps to win Saturday’s Shriners Children’s 200 at Darlington Raceway. The win is Larson’s first in any series at Darlington.
On Friday, John Hunter Nemechek secured the pole position and led the field to the green flag for Saturday’s 147-lapper. It was Nemecheck’s first pole of the season and just the second of his career. Sam Mayer, however, passed Nemechek early in the race on Lap 7.
Mayer had not led laps in the NASCAR Xfinity Series since Phoenix Raceway back in March. However, he felt that his car was good on long runs and he dominated much of Stage 1 until he lost position on a pit stop.
This gave Cup Series regular and 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson the opportunity to pass Austin Hill for the stage win.
The champion continued to dominate Stage 2 in his No. 10 Hendrick Cars Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing. Notably, during the midpoint of Stage 2, there were an impressive 36 cars on the lead lap.
On Lap 67, the race took a dramatic turn for several cars towards the front of the field when a massive caution was brought out by Sam Mayer, Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed. The crash involved 15 cars.
A massive Turn 4 crash collects 15 cars on Lap 67. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
Cole Custer and John Hunter Nemechek battled for second place later in Stage 2 with Nemechek eventually edging out Custer for the position. Not long after, Nemechek continued to find speed and rallied even further, passing Larson on the final lap of Stage 2 by just a bumper.
But during pit stops, Larson’s domination ended as he got caught speeding on pit road and got sent to the rear of the field.
Consequently, Nemechek continued to lead every lap throughout Stage 3 until Larson worked his way back up to second with one lap to go in the race.
The two went down the backstretch side-by-side and Larson bombed into Turn 3 with a slide job on Nemechek. Both slapped the wall and Nemechek worked his way back even exiting Turn 4, but Larson ran too high and hit the wall again, shooting into Nemechek and sending him sliding.
Larson won while Nemechek slid back up the track to finish fifth in his battered race car.
Kyle Larson and John Hunter Nemechek battle for the lead on the last lap. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)In his post-race interview, Larson was pleased with the efforts that brought him his first win at Darlington.
“It feels good [to win at Darlington], and exciting fashion there, too, at the end. We had a really really good car the whole race,” Larson said.
The Elk Grove, California native was also confident in his ability to work his way back up through the field after his penalty from speeding on pit road with a very limited number of laps left in the race.
Larson was followed by JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier who had an impressive end to his day, working his way up from a 17th-place starting position.
RESULTS
STAGE 1: Kyle Larson, John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Hill, Cole Custer, Sam Mayer, Ryan Truex, Sheldon Creed, Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric, Brett Moffitt
STAGE 2: John Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Larson, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Cole Custer, Austin Hill, Ryan Sieg, Josh Berry, Parker Kligerman, Sammy Smith
FINAL: Kyle Larson, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Austin Hill, John Hunter Nemechek, Carson Hocevar, Josh Berry, Sam Mayer, Kaz Grala, Corey Heim
