(Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — In a one-off for JR Motorsports, Kyle Larson survived a hectic five-lap shootout to win the Sunoco Go Rewards 200 at Watkins Glen International.
Larson recorded his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory since 2018 and his first stock car victory since the Auto Club Cup Series race.
“It was fun,” Larson said in a press conference. “We had to start in the back because we had to adjust on our carburetor. Just starting in the back was a lot of fun, passing slower cars.”
Larson wasted no time navigating his way through the field, breaking into the top 10 early in Stage 2. He along with Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron helped class the field, leading laps alongside other road course stars like Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger.
Byron led Gibbs in Stage 3 up until Lap 51 when both peeled off to pit road. Gibbs won the race off pit road by a hair and the two battled closely for the eventual lead as the pit cycle continued.
With 18 laps to go, Daniel Hemric blew a tire coming through the bus stop and drove into the tire barriers entering the carousel. The race took nearly 26 minutes to go green after resetting the barrier and cleaning oil on the racing surface.
In the closing laps, Ross Chastain got off course in the No. 92 DGM car and got stuck in the sand pit, causing a caution. This set up a restart with four laps to go.
Byron and Gibbs exited Turn 1 side by side and Larson caught up to them through the esses. He gave Byron a push down the backstretch and Byron inched ahead entering the bus stop. Gibbs drove in too deep on the inside and both drivers spun.
Larson drove past both and away from Allmendinger to cross the finish line first.
“I was going to try and help William as much as I could,” Larson said. “Tried to lag back on the start and get a good run to push him and hopefully get him enough momentum to maybe clear in [Turn] 1.
“They ended up being side by side, and that was kind of best case scenario for me.
Gibbs instead finished 27th while Allmendinger wound up second. Byron finished 25th.
“I felt like I had a good side draft going with him heading into the bus stop to where it helped me get position,” Gibbs said. “I had good position, I just didn’t put myself in a good spot on the curbs and it just got me loose, I washed up into him and wrecked us both. It was my fault, but I was going for the win.”
In just his fourth Xfinity start, Sammy Smith finished in third.
Smith, 17, is learning and adapting to the Xfinity cars. He finished fifth in Friday’s ARCA race after leading nearly every lap and said Saturday’s result makes up for that race.
“I think I’ve adapted fairly well,” Smith said. “There [are] multiple areas I’ve put ourselves in a bad spot… it’s really good to put a full race together.
Results
STAGE 1: Sammy Smith, AJ Allmendinger, Kaz Grala, Jeremy Clements, Kyle Weatherman, Josh Bilicki, William Byron, Sheldon Creed, Kyle Larson, Andy Lally
STAGE 2: William Byron, Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Noah Gragson, Kyle Larson, Sheldon Creed, Josh Berry, Kaz Grala, Ross Chastain, Connor Mosack
FINAL: Kyle Larson, AJ Allmendinger, Sammy Smith, Noah Gragson, Kaz Grala, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Sheldon Creed, Josh Berry, Jeremy Clements
Next
The Xfinity Series returns Friday, August 26 for the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway. The race is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. Justin Haley is the defending winner while Austin Hill won the spring race.
