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Larson wins wild NASCAR Xfinity race at COTA after SVG and Hill clash

Larson had won the pole for the race but had to start from the rear when his No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports team had to replace a brake rotor.

He battled back through the field, overcame a penalty, and found himself running third and on the freshest tires on the final lap of the race’s second attempt at overtime.

Hill had grabbed the lead from van Gisbergen on the restart, but van Gisbergen patiently ran him back down and nudged him off the track on the final lap. Larson pounced and dove to van Gisbergen’s inside while the two tangled and came away with the lead.

Larson held on to win by 1.215 seconds over van Gisbergen, but the 34-year-old Kiwi was assessed a 30-second penalty after the race for short cutting the course on the final lap, relegating him to 27th.

The win is Larson’s first in the series in his first start this season and 15th of his career.

“I knew (Hill) shoved (van Gisbergen) and he was really good, so I knew (SVG) was going to get back to him and when he did, it opened the door,” Larson said. “It was wild, I don’t think I’ve ever won a race that way.

“It feels like I’m always the guy getting shoved out of the way and losing.”

Hill ended up credited with second place while John Hunter Nemechek was third, Cole Custer fourth and Parker Kligerman fifth.

Completing the top 10 were Jesse Love, Austin Green who was making his debut, Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer and A.J. Allmendinger.

Most of the race had been dominated by van Gisbergen, the three-time Supercars champion, and Allmendinger, who together led 40 of the 50 laps.

“Austin got me in Turn 1, I was trying to get him back,” van Gisbergen said. “Once I got into Austin, it just wouldn’t turn. I gave it a good shot, but it just didn’t crack.”

Stage 1

Kligerman elected not to pit before the break and cruised to a 3.318-second Stage 1 win over Sammy Smith. Sage Karam was third, Parker Retzlaff fourth and Riley Herbst rounded out the top five.

Stage 2

Herbt was awarded the Stage 2 win after Jones – who was leading – was penalized for short-cutting the course on the final lap of the stage. Custer ended up second, Allmendinger third, Larson fourth and van Gisbergen fifth.

Early in the stage, Allmendinger, Larson and van Gisbergen briefly engaged in a wild three-way battle for the lead before Allmendinger finally got clear.

Stage 3

During the break between Stages 2 and 3, several of the lead-lap cars pitted but Allmendinger was among those who stayed out and inherited the lead.

When the final stage got underway with 12 laps remaining, Allmendinger led Larson, van Gisbergen, Ty Gibbs and Chandler Smith.

Van Gisbergen quickly got around Larson after the restart to move into the runner-up position.

With nine laps remaining, van Gisbergen got around Allmendinger to reclaim the lead entering Turn 11. Allmendinger, however, remained close behind and in striking distance.

With five laps to go, van Gisbergen had opened up a more than 2-second lead over Allmendinger as Gibbs ran third, more 4 seconds behind the leader.

Ed Jones got spun around by Kyle Weatherman and Jones’ No. 24 stalled and dropped fluid on the track, which forced NASCAR to put the race under caution and send it into a two-lap overtime. Van Gisbergen led Allmendinger on the restart.

Shortly after van Gisbergen cleared to the lead, a multi-car wreck erupted in the back of the field and set up a second overtime. Van Gisbergen led Hill, Mayer, Kligerman and Karam on the final restart

CLA DRIVER # MANUFACTURER LAPS TIME INTERVAL PITS POINTS
1 K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 17 Chevrolet 50

2:21'20.793

  5  
2 A. HillRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 21 Chevrolet 50

+1.354

2:21'22.147

1.354 6 40
3 J. NemechekJOE GIBBS RACING 20 Toyota 50

+3.298

2:21'24.091

1.944 8  
4 C. CusterSTEWART-HAAS RACING 00 Ford 50

+5.632

2:21'26.425

2.334 5 42
5 P. KligermanBIG MACHINE RACING TEAM 48 Chevrolet 50

+5.640

2:21'26.433

0.008 5 42
6
J. LoveRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING
2 Chevrolet 50

+7.319

2:21'28.112

1.679 7 31
7
A. GreenJORDAN ANDERSON RACING
32 Chevrolet 50

+8.668

2:21'29.461

1.349 6 30
8
C. SmithJOE GIBBS RACING
81 Toyota 50

+8.896

2:21'29.689

0.228 6 30
9
S. MayerJR MOTORSPORTS
1 Chevrolet 50

+9.635

2:21'30.428

0.739 6 28
10 A. AllmendingerKAULIG RACING 16 Chevrolet 50

+9.739

2:21'30.532

0.104 6 38
11
P. RetzlaffJORDAN ANDERSON RACING
31 Chevrolet 50

+9.937

2:21'30.730

0.198 6 33
12
A. AlfredoOUR MOTORSPORTS
5 Chevrolet 50

+10.712

2:21'31.505

0.775 6 25
13 J. AllgaierJR MOTORSPORTS 7 Chevrolet 50

+11.601

2:21'32.394

0.889 7 24
14 R. SiegRSS RACING 39 Ford 50

+13.687

2:21'34.480

2.086 7 27
15 B. PooleALPHA PRIME RACING 44 Chevrolet 50

+13.706

2:21'34.499

0.019 5 22
16 B. JonesJR MOTORSPORTS 9 Chevrolet 50

+13.917

2:21'34.710

0.211 5 21
17 S. KaramSAM HUNT RACING 26 Toyota 50

+14.431

2:21'35.224

0.514 5 28
18
B. PerezALPHA PRIME RACING
45 Chevrolet 50

+15.822

2:21'36.615

1.391 5 19
19 J. ClementsJEREMY CLEMENTS RACING 51 Chevrolet 50

+16.628

2:21'37.421

0.806 7 18
20
L. HoneymanYOUNG'S MOTORSPORTS
42 Chevrolet 50

+16.826

2:21'37.619

0.198 8 17
21 D. KvyatSS-GREEN LIGHT RACING 07 Chevrolet 50

+17.247

2:21'38.040

0.421 6 16
22
B. PerkinsRSS RACING
29 Ford 50

+17.721

2:21'38.514

0.474 7 15
23 H. DeeganAM RACING 15 Ford 50

+17.724

2:21'38.517

0.003 6 14
24
T. GibbsJOE GIBBS RACING
19 Toyota 50

+18.992

2:21'39.785

1.268 7  
25 P. GallagherJD MOTORSPORTS 4 Chevrolet 50

+19.013

2:21'39.806

0.021 6 12
26 A. LabbéJOEY GASE MOTORSPORTS 35 Toyota 50

+20.000

2:21'40.793

0.987 5 20
27 S. van GisbergenKAULIG RACING 97 Chevrolet 50

+31.215

2:21'52.008

11.215 5 17
28 R. EnersonSS-GREEN LIGHT RACING 14 Chevrolet 50

+45.843

2:22'06.636

14.628 6 9
29 K. WeathermanDGM RACING 91 Chevrolet 50

+55.892

2:22'16.685

10.049 9 8
30 J. BurtonJORDAN ANDERSON RACING 27 Chevrolet 49

+1 Lap

2:21'45.296

1 Lap 8 7
31 J. BilickiDGM RACING 92 Chevrolet 48

+2 Laps

2:17'01.688

1 Lap 5 11
32 S. CreedJOE GIBBS RACING 18 Toyota 47

+3 Laps

2:21'35.884

1 Lap 7 5
33 R. EllisALPHA PRIME RACING 43 Chevrolet 45

+5 Laps

2:04'16.701

2 Laps 4 4
34 R. HerbstSTEWART-HAAS RACING 98 Ford 45

+5 Laps

2:04'16.941

0.240 5 19
35 E. JonesSAM HUNT RACING 24 Toyota 42

+8 Laps

1:52'06.743

3 Laps 7 2
36
S. SmithJR MOTORSPORTS
8 Chevrolet 36

+14 Laps

1:40'00.063

6 Laps 5 10
37 T. DillonJD MOTORSPORTS 6 Chevrolet 33

+17 Laps

1:29'32.750

3 Laps 6  
38 J. WilliamsKAULIG RACING 11 Chevrolet 24

+26 Laps

1:11'20.540

9 Laps 5 1
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