With 10 laps remaining in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kyle Larson possessed a 14.798-second lead.
The winner of Friday night’s Baptist Health 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race appeared headed for his second victory in one of NASCAR’s three national touring series in as many days. If he could win the Homestead weekend’s Cup, Xfinity and Truck series races, he would become just the second driver to win in all three series at the same track on the same weekend. Kyle Busch accomplished the feat at Bristol in 2010 and 2017.
Justin Allgaier celebrates his NASCAR Xfinity Series win on Saturday. Icon Sportswire – Getty Images
However, with seven laps remaining in Saturday’s Hard Rock Bet 300 Taylor Gray spun on the frontstretch, erasing Larson’s lead that had grown to 16.633 seconds. All five lead-lap cars pitted. When they chose their lanes for the restart, Larson went to the inside with Sam Mayer on his bumper. Austin Hill took the outside with Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier behind him. On the restart that took the race into overtime, Larson and Hill both spun their tires, and Allgaier grabbed the lead as they raced down the backstretch.
Allgaier held on to collect his second consecutive victory and become the first repeat winner this year. His 27th career victory also provided him with a $100,000 Dash-for-Cash bonus.
Larson, who dominated the event, leading five times for 132 laps, was angry immediately after the race that ended in overtime.
“I can’t go when my rear tires are off the ground,” Larson said after his fourth-place finish. “I know it looks like I choked another one away, but I did everything I thought I could.”
Larson said Mayer, who was directly behind him, “just lagged back and slammed the shit out of me.”
Mayer said he mistimed the restart.
“I got to his (Larson’s) bumper a little too early,” Mayer said. “He went really, really late in the box. Just playing games. That’s what you’ve got to do at this level to get the advantage. I wasn’t ready for him to wait that long as I was getting going.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series Hard Rock Bet 300
Homestead-Miami Speedway
1. (4) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 201.
2. (6) Sam Mayer, Ford, 201.
3. (21) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 201.
4. (17) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 201.
5. (9) Sheldon Creed, Ford, 201.
6. (20) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 201.
7. (38) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 201.
8. (3) Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, 201.
9. (30) Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 201.
10. (14) Carson Kvapil #, Chevrolet, 201.
11. (12) Harrison Burton, Ford, 201.
12. (2) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 200.
13. (24) Dean Thompson #, Toyota, 200.
14. (19) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 200.
15. (23) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 200.
16. (7) Justin Bonsignore, Toyota, 200.
17. (18) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 200.
18. (25) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 200.
19. (11) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 200.
20. (28) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 200.
21. (15) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 199.
22. (8) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 199.
23. (1) Taylor Gray #, Toyota, 199.
24. (13) William Sawalich #, Toyota, 199.
25. (16) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 199.
26. (22) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 199.
27. (27) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 198.
28. (26) Brad Perez, Chevrolet, 198.
29. (35) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 198.
30. (29) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 198.
31. (37) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 197.
32. (36) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 197.
33. (32) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, 197.
34. (33) Leland Honeyman, Chevrolet, 196.
35. (34) Mason Maggio, Ford, 196.
36. (10) Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, Electrical, 179.
37. (31) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, Electrical, 57.
38. (5) Christian Eckes #, Chevrolet, Engine, 16.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 118.287 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 32 Mins, 56 Secs. Margin of Victory:.348 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 31 laps.
Lead Changes: 19 among 11 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Gray # 1-6;J. Allgaier 7;T. Gray # 8;J. Allgaier 9-25;K. Larson(i) 26-33;J. Allgaier 34;K. Larson(i) 35-41;J. Allgaier 42;K. Larson(i) 43;K. Sieg 44;S. Smith 45-47;H. Burton 48-53;C. Kvapil # 54;J. Love 55-58;S. Mayer 59-80;K. Larson(i) 81-146;C. Zilisch # 147-148;K. Larson(i) 149-198;A. Hill 199-200;J. Allgaier 201.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Larson(i) 5 times for 132 laps; Sam Mayer 1 time for 22 laps; Justin Allgaier 5 times for 21 laps; Taylor Gray # 2 times for 7 laps; Harrison Burton 1 time for 6 laps; Jesse Love 1 time for 4 laps; Sammy Smith 1 time for 3 laps; Connor Zilisch # 1 time for 2 laps; Austin Hill 1 time for 2 laps; Kyle Sieg 1 time for 1 lap; Carson Kvapil # 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 8,28,39,17,41,7,70,00,2,21
Stage #2 Top Ten: 17,41,00,21,88,48,2,7,8,20
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