Larson Holds Off Keselowski to Win Texas XFINITY race

Credit: LAT Photographc

FORT WORTH, TX – RIS – Sprint Cup driver Kyle Larson passed Brad Keselowski with 29 laps to go and held Keselowski off to win the O’Reily Auto Parts Challenge NASCAR XFINITY race at Texas Motor Speedway -- a race that saw Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez open some breathing room in the inaugural NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase with respective fourth- and fifth-place finishes, Larson got a push from sixth-place finisher Elliott Sadler on the decisive restart and kept Keselowski behind him for the final 30 laps.

Despite brushing the outside wall in Turn 1 with eight laps left, Larson’s No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet got to the finish line .385 seconds ahead of Keselowski’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford, as the winner worked traffic over the closing five laps.

“I love seeing Elliott Sadler behind me on the restarts,” said Larson, who won for the first time at Texas, the second time this season and the fifth time in his career. “He’s really good at taking off and pushing. He helped me win Pocono earlier this year, and he helped me win this one.

“I was just really tight on the short runs in traffic there, but once I got to clean air, I was like, ‘Oh, man, I’m loose,’ and I got nervous and got to the top just in time to get rolling. I actually got loose over the bumps and hit the wall in (Turn) 1. But I had a big enough gap when I hit the wall that he wasn’t able to get to me.”

In fact, the brush with the wall helped to tighten the handling condition of Larson’s car and made it easier to drive.

Seeking his first XFINITY Series victory of the season, Keselowski led 145 laps and was delighted with the speed in his car. But that emotion was tempered by the disappointment of losing a race with perhaps the fastest car.

 “Whatever car got out in front, with the way the aerodynamics are, was going to control the pace,” Keselowski said. “It’s so hard to pass because the aero is so important and the cars are so equal that way. I thought maybe we were just a touch faster, but without the track position, you lose too much grip behind the guy to do anything.”

NASCAR Sprint Cup regular Kevin Harvick finished third, more than five seconds behind the two frontrunners.

Suarez took over the Chase lead by one point over Sadler and 17 clear of fifth-place Justin Allgaier, with a cut to the top four drivers looming next Saturday at Phoenix. Jones gained two positions to third place, seven points ahead of Allgaier.

One point separates fourth-place Blake Koch (14th Saturday) from Allgaier, who came home 10th at the 1.5-mile track.

“It was one of the first good points days we’ve had in this Chase,” Jones said. “It was a good, solid day—what we needed to do. We want to go, obviously, and try to win these races, but we just didn’t have the car to do it today.”

Ryan Reed, Darrell Wallace Jr., and Brendan Gaughan are sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, in the Chase standings. Reed trails Koch by five points entering the Phoenix race, with Wallace behind by 20 and Gaughan 23 back of the current cut line.

They head to Phoenix next just one week from today.

nofficial Race Results: 12th Annual O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge, Texas Motor Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Lap, TLd, LLd, Pts, BPts, Status
1) 5, Kyle Larson(i), No. 42 ENEOS Chevrolet, 200, 1, 30, 0, , Running
2) 1, Brad Keselowski(i), No. 22 Discount Tire Ford, 200, 2, 145, 0, , Running
3) 9, Kevin Harvick(i), No. 88 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet, 200, , , 0, , Running
4) 2, Erik Jones # (C), No. 20 GameStop/Call of Duty Toyota, 200, 1, 23, 38, 1, Running
5) 4, Daniel Suarez (C), No. 19 ARRIS Toyota, 200, , , 36, , Running
6) 8, Elliott Sadler (C), No. 1 OneMain Chevrolet, 200, , , 35, , Running
7) 7, Austin Dillon(i), No. 2 Rheem/Emerson Chevrolet, 200, , , 0, , Running
8) 10, Brennan Poole #, No. 48 DC Solar Chevrolet, 200, 1, 2, 34, 1, Running
9) 3, Matt Tifft(i), No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota, 200, , , 0, , Running
10) 6, Justin Allgaier (C), No. 7 Dirty Mo Radio/Axalta Chevrolet, 200, , , 31, , Running
11) 18, Darrell Wallace Jr (C), No. 6 Leidos Ford, 200, , , 30, , Running
12) 13, Ryan Reed (C), No. 16 Lilly Diabetes/American Diabetes Association Ford, 200, , , 29, , Running
13) 14, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 Aries Well Service Chevrolet, 200, , , 28, , Running
14) 12, Blake Koch (C), No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 200, , , 27, , Running
15) 16, Brendan Gaughan (C), No. 62 South Point Chevrolet, 200, , , 26, , Running
16) 17, Ty Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, 200, , , 25, , Running
17) 20, JJ Yeley, No. 44 Zachry Toyota, 200, , , 24, , Running
18) 21, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet, 199, , , 23, , Running
19) 11, Brandon Jones #, No. 33 South Point Chevrolet, 199, , , 22, , Running
20) 19, Dakoda Armstrong, No. 28 Winfield Be Greater Toyota, 199, , , 21, , Running
21) 15, Ross Chastain, No. 4 Flex Seal Chevrolet, 198, , , 20, , Running
22) 25, Ryan Preece #, No. 01 Turnkey Construction/Turnkey Charities Chevrolet, 197, , , 19, , Running
23) 23, Corey LaJoie, No. 24 Youtheory Toyota, 196, , , 18, , Running
24) 26, David Starr, No. 93 Massimo Motors Chevrolet, 196, , , 17, , Running
25) 27, Garrett Smithley #, No. 0 ETC Custom Truck Accessories Chevrolet, 196, , , 16, , Running
26) 30, Clint King, No. 15 Warehouse Design Inc Ford, 196, , , 15, , Running
27) 24, Ray Black Jr #, No. 07 Scuba Life Chevrolet, 194, , , 14, , Running
28) 28, BJ McLeod #, No. 78 Ford, 193, , , 13, , Running
29) 29, Austin Theriault(i), No. 25 Advanced Communications Group Chevrolet, 192, , , 0, , Running
30) 35, Martin Roy, No. 90 Gamache Truck Center Chevrolet, 190, , , 11, , Running
31) 34, Joey Gase, No. 52 Donate Life Texas Chevrolet, 190, , , 10, , Running
32) 36, Mike Harmon, No. 74 Fallen Soldiers March Dodge, 185, , , 9, , Running
33) 38, Ryan Ellis, No. 97 VroomBrands Chevrolet, 185, , , 8, , Running
34) 40, Matt Waltz, No. 77 VroomBrands Chevrolet, 184, , , 7, , Running
35) 37, Brandon Hightower, No. 13 Timmons Truck Center Dodge, 130, , , 6, , Engine
36) 22, Matt DiBenedetto(i), No. 14 Superior Essex Toyota, 129, , , 0, , Accident
37) 32, Dexter Stacey, No. 70 Abdito Vodka/E-hydrate Chevrolet, 80, , , 4, , Handling
38) 39, Timmy Hill(i), No. 40 OCR Gaz Bar/TLC Vacations Toyota, 24, , , 0, , Suspension
39) 33, Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Chevrolet, 19, , , 2, , Handling
40) 31, Jeff Green, No. 10 Toyota, 1, , , 1, , Brakes

# = Rookie, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (C) = Chase driver
Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. 
Average Speed: 140.992 MPH
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 07 Mins, 40 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.385 Seconds
Lead Changes: 5 among 4 drivers
Cautions: 5 for 22 la

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2016, Issue 8, Posted 1:38 AM, 11.06.2016