And with that, Kyle Larson wins the NASCAR O’Reilly race at the Texas Motor Speedway. A back-to-back win for Hendrick Motorsports and his third win at the Texas Motor Speedway. And the way he did it was more than impressive.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Kyle Larson was racing hard while trying to defend against Justin Allgaier. For the final laps, Allgaier left no stone unturned as he tried to draft his way ahead of Larson. Allgaier’s car was faster than Kyle Larson’s all day, but Larson kept his cool and used the clean air to his advantage, pushing Allgaier back on every lane. In doing so, he destroyed Allgaier’s aerodynamic advantage and kept him behind him even though Allgaier was touching his rear bumper multiple times.
And during his post-race interview, Larson had no shame in admitting that Justin Allgaier’s moves were making him sweat behind the wheel of his car.
“Well, I really didn’t think I had a chance there with Justin behind me. He was really good at catching me there in the long run after the green flag dropped. I was just hoping in the clean air I could kind of stretch away and like I did in the run before, to start stage three, but, yeah, I don’t know. He was just really good behind me.
And he could run a lot of different lanes back there. I was trying to do all that I could and trying to take his airway while maintaining a good corner for myself. Man, he was always closing in on me so, thanks to him for racing me clean there. He could easily gotten into the back of me; I could tell he was trying to pack some air, to get me free but yeah, that was a great run in the end… ”
BACK TO BACK! @KyleLarsonRacin holds off a charge from Justin Allgaier to win at Texas for the second straight season.
The restarts were full of mind games as the drivers were trying to avoid the top lane. It was dirty enough to take the grip out of the cars, and both Larson and Allgaier knew that they had to keep the perfect lines while battling each other.
Yung Money had made a daring pass with 96 laps to go, passing Connor Zilisch and Brent Crews while nearly wrecking himself and the others in the process. Justin Allgaier tried his best, but that was all he could do today in the O’Reilly race for JR Motorsports.
So, Larson may not have a lot of luck in the Cup Series as of late with a year-long winless drought, even though he is the defending champion, but his O’Reilly results have been doing the job and building up his confidence.
And in typical Yung Money fashion, Kyle Larson isn’t done with himself yet. He is already preparing himself for his next dirt event. Now, Larson will be hoping that after such positive results this weekend, he will be able to finally come out of his Cup Slump.
NASCAR O’Reilly Series race results from Texas
Only a day ago, Joey Logano claimed that he had seen the best of Texas Motor Speedway during the Truck Race. But today’s race and Larson’s antics throughout the same managed to trump it all.
The O’Reilly series race at the Texas Motor Speedway was complete chaos for every driver involved. Right at the start of the race, there was a pileup that brought out caution flags. Even by the end of stage three, Rajah Caruth spun himself out and brought out the caution flags with only two laps to go. At one point, it felt like he had ruined Kyle Larson’s lead in the race.
.@rajahcaruth_ goes around and we have a caution with 22 laps to go. Get to The CW for the finish!
Meanwhile, there was a heartbreak for Connor Zilisch in the top 5. While he was trying to get back to the front, he lost a front tire and had to pit for fresh ones, eventually dropping him to P21 in the race. It was the worst outcome he could have thought of after winning stage 2 in his very first race at the Texas Motor Speedway.
But there was also good news for multiple underdog performers by the end of the race. Parker Retzlaff from Viking Motorsports brought forward yet another top 5 finish. He now has six top 5 finishes from the first twelve races of the season and is looking forward to a career best in the O’Reilly championship.
Similarly, Sam Mayer got his best finish of the season in P3 after staying in the midpack for the past few weekends. But when it comes to the young rookies and rising talents, all eyes will be on Brent Crews. Crews was able to rake in his fourth consecutive top 5 finish at Texas this weekend, giving him an incredible reputation as JGR’s upcoming prospect.
Here are the top 10 finishers from the O’Reilly race today:
| Standings | Driver | Car No. |
| 1. | Kyle Larson | 88 |
| 2. | Justin Allgaier | 7 |
| 3. | Sam Mayer | 41 |
| 4. | Brent Crews | 19 |
| 5. | Parker Retzlaff | 99 |
| 6. | Sheldon Creed | 00 |
| 7. | Austin Hill | 21 |
| 8. | Brandon Jones | 20 |
| 9. | Jesse Love | 2 |
| 10. | Jeremy Clements | 51 |
