Kyle Larson Capitalizes On Late Restart To Win At Las Vegas Motor Speedway

by March 3, 2018 0 comments

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Kyle Larson dominated to win the Boyd Gaming 300 on Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Larson led 142 laps throughout the 200-lap race en route to the victory. On the final restart of the afternoon with just seven laps to go, Larson, with a push by Justin Allgaier in third, took advantage of Christopher Bell spinning his tires to solidify the top spot as the field headed into Turn 1. Larson and Bell had battled each other all afternoon, but at the end of the day, it was Larson in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet earning his ninth career NASCAR XFINITY Series victory.

“Yea, I wasn’t sure if he (Christopher Bell) had a bunch of wheel spin or if I just got a really good push,” Larson said. “Justin (Allgaier) did a great job pushing me on that last start. I actually had Bell push me really good the start before to get in front of (Tyler) Reddick and (Ryan) Blaney, and then I had a good push from Justin as well. Awesome day for DC Solar. I think that this is their first win, so I’m glad that I could get them their first win here in the XFINITY Series.”

Bell, driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Rheem-Smurfit Kappa Toyota was able to hold on for a second-place finish. The rookie driver has now finished inside the top-three for the past two weekends.

“I had a really, really good Rheem Camry today and it was a lot of fun to race,” Bell said. “We fell off a little bit on that center part of the race, but I guess if you’re going to struggle, that’s the time to struggle, but they got this thing tuned up and we got up in the right lines and got a couple good restarts to get back up front. I think if I could have cleared Larson and had clean air, I’m not sure he would have been able to get back by me. He was out front and I couldn’t get by him. Second-place today so we’re inching closer to that win.”

Allgaier finished third, while Ryan Blaney and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-five. Daniel Hemric finished sixth, followed by Brandon Jones, Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer and Spencer Gallagher.

There were six cautions for 29 laps on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The first caution of the night came out on lap seven, and it occurred when Dylan Lupton and Ryan Sieg made contact while racing through the tri-oval. Lupton spun and nailed the inside wall on the frotnstretch, ending his day.

On lap 135, the fourth caution of the afternoon came out when Austin Cindric lost control while attempting to pass the lapped car of Tommy Jo Martins. Cindric lost the front end of his Roush Fenway Racing No. 60 Pirtek Ford while exiting Turn 2 on the low side of Martins. Cindric spun and made heavy contact with the inside wall on the backstretch.

The sixth and final caution of the Boyd Gaming 300 came out on lap 191. The field had just gotten the green flag following a caution that involved Ryan Reed, when Ross Chastain spun down the backstretch after contact with Kaz Grala. Chastain kept his No 4 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet off the wall; however, the caution was still thrown.

Reddick is the leader in the standings, but he is tied with Sadler in points.

On Saturday, March 10, the NASCAR XFINITY Series will visit ISM Raceway (formerly known as Phoenix Raceway) for the DC Solar 200. Live coverage of the race will broadcast on FOX and the Motor Racing Network (MRN) at 4 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Sarah Crabill/Getty Images

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