2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson started his first Xfinity Serie race of 2024 at COTA and he came out Victorious. The Focused Health 250 was thrown into a rumble due to caution in the late stages, causing overtime. He emerged triumphant by taking the lead taking advantage leaders who were busy battling, and Larson optimized his strategy to make it out in the front.
Kyle Larson had qualified on pole but lost it due to his team changing a cracked brake rotor of his No:17 Chevy ahead of the take. The HM driver battled his way to the front and had a shot at win in last laps of the race. He was seventh when the race was restarted under overtime, with Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill battling each other at the front. The two leaders ran each other off-road in the last sector of the track. This presented an opportunity to the Cup Series champion, who was on new rubber and grabbed it with open arms.
The 31-year-old made a double pass on the final lap at turn 15 and got both leaders in a single swoop. Following this, the Californian took the chequered flag a few seconds later and claimed his 15th win in the series. Subsequently, this has set the tone for the rest of the weekend. He is now ready for the challenge on Sunday to claim his second win of the season and dethrone Ryan Blaney from the top spot in the championship standings.
Austin Hill is frustrated with Shane van Gisbergen as their clash let Kyle Larson win
For most of the race, AJ Allmendinger and Hill were battling each other for the top spot. However, later in the race, Allmendinger flat-spotted his tires and fell back in the pack. This presented the 29-year-old with a chance of victory. However, this victory was snubbed off of him by Gisbergen on the last lap by pushing him off the track.
He didn’t even give us a chance to make the corner… so frustrating...Felt in my perspective he just ran over the back of us so hard that we missed the corner and he missed the corner and he allowed the 17 to win the race. I felt like for him to move us out of the way and take himself out of contention was kind of dumb on his part...Austin Hill said in an interview with Frontstretch
The eight-time winner explained his frustration after the race as the Kiwi driver blew his race apart. Hill was angry with the 34-year-old as he had received a 30-second penalty for track limits violation and still decided to push for the win.
This caused both of them to run wide and Larson to take home the victory. Despite this, the RCR driver seemed optimistic and focused on collecting important championship points. Moreover, the No.21 driver is ramping up for the next race at Richmond and claim another victory there.
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