Kyle Larson led a race-high 93 laps in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 at Texas Motor Speedway, but in the closing laps of the race, the driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet figured he was a sitting duck for the incoming Justin Allgaier.
However, in a fierce duel over the closing laps of the race, Larson was able to somehow hold off Allgaier for the win.
Race Results: NOAPS Andy’s Frozen Custard 340 at Texas
The fact that he collected the checkered flag was surprising to Larson.
“Well, I really didn’t think I had a chance there with Justin behind me,” Larson admitted in his victory interview on The CW. “He was really good. And catching me there on that long run after the green flag stop, and just hoped in clean air, I could kind of stretch away like I did the run before to start Stage 3. Yeah, I don’t know, he was really good behind me.”
Larson was happy that Allgaier stayed clean in the hard-fought battle at the end of the race.
“Thanks to him for racing me clean, there. He could have easily gotten into the back of me,” Larson explained. “I could tell he was trying to pack some air to get me free.”
Earlier in the race, Larson and Allgaier had a situation under caution, where the two made contact jockeying for position behind the pace car. Larson, who was in the outside lane, said that he was pinching down into Allgaier, because he felt Allgaier wasn’t giving the drivers in the outside lane a proper lane to drive in on restarts.
“Nothing about Turn 1, it was just, I think he knew the top was dirty at that point. And was just running whoever was in the outside lane, he did it to me, and Connor [Zilisch], and just kind of left us out in the marbles, there. So, I was just trying to give myself a lane,” Larson said. “He was like three lanes up. It is what it is.”
Allgaier, who further strengthened his hold on the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series points lead with the runner-up finish, was just sad to not close out his fourth win of the season with what he felt was a race-winning car under him on Saturday.
“I’m just disappointed. Our Roto-Rooter Chevrolet was really good. Huge thank you to [Crew Chief] Andrew [Overstreet] and all the guys on the 7 team. To bring as fast a car as we had today, you know, it’s special,” Allgaier said.
However, even with how good his No. 7 Chevrolet was, Allgaier said, he simply couldn’t find a path around Larson, despite repeated efforts to try every possible lane.
“Without contact, I don’t know if there’s any way to get around him. And I tried every lane I could possibly try, and just unfortunately came up short,” Allgaier anguished.
Eventually, the pain of finishing second will subside, and Allgaier will take solace in the fact that he now holds a 121-point advantage over Sheldon Creed for the series points lead. He also has a nearly insurmountable 321-point advantage over Ryan Sieg, the first driver outside of the Chase cutline, with 12 races until the Chase begins.
Sam Mayer came home with a season-best third-place finish, which allowed him to leapfrog back inside the Chase cutline, while Brent Crews finished fourth and is now just 12 points outside the Chase Grid.
Parker Retzlaff continued his solid season with Viking Motorsports with a fifth-place finish Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Sheldon Creed, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, Jesse Love, and Jeremy Clements rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.
