The NASCAR O’Reilly Series raced under the lights at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night, and the winner was no surprise.
Last week’s winner, William Sawalich, topped the leaderboard in qualifying and earned the pole. Behind him was the 00 of Sheldon Creed, 88 of two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, 20 of Brandon Jones, and 4 of Sam Mayer. Prior to the start of the race, Carson Kvapil and Rajah Caruth were sent to the rear for an engine change and unapproved adjustments, respectively.
It wasn’t even one lap into the race when the first caution was flown as Mason Maggio took a spin from the 31st position. The front row did not change for the restart. Larson found success early, passing Taylor Gray for fourth and eventually Sheldon Creed for second. By lap 28, he was challenging Sawalich for the lead. One lap later, he found himself at the front of the field.
By lap 61, Larson had lapped up to 21st position and gained a 5.691 second lead on second place Sheldon Creed. Another caution came out on lap 63 as Austin Green slowed from 25th position with a flat tire. Most lead lap cars pitted at this caution which led to Ryan Sieg and Jeremy Clements leading the field to green.
By lap 74, Larson had already made it back up to second place and was challenging Sieg for the lead. Six laps later, he claimed the position. Larson was able to hold off second place Creed for the remainder of the stage, and he claimed his 20th O’Reilly Series stage win. Harrison Burton earned the free pass at the stage break.
At the restart, Creed chose to start behind Larson which put Justin Allgaier in second position. The race remained green until lap 102 when Logan Bearden and Garrett Smithley each took a spin from the back of the pack. Ryan Ellis earned the free pass at the caution. This time, it was Larson and Brandon Jones at the front with Creed quickly taking second position.
Creed was sticking to Larson’s tail until the leaders approached lapped traffic. By lap 155, Larson had cleared Creed by 3.405 seconds. He held on to that lead for the remainder of the stage and earned his second stage victory of the night. At the stage break, Logan Bearden went to pit road to be replaced by Brad Perez who had to serve Bearden’s speeding penalty. Jeb Burton was also penalized, though his was for equipment interference.
Kyle Larson led the field to green once again, though this time it was Connor Zilisch by his side. On lap 195, another caution was flown for Mason Maggio whose car caught on fire from 35th position. The race was then red-flagged for cleanup, and Brennan Poole received the free pass.
Larson and Sawalich made up the front row, and Larson cleared him easily. By lap 224, Zilisch had worked his way back up to second and began closing in on Larson. That was until lap 270 when the caution was flown for a spinning Gary Gaulding. All lead lap cars except Zilisch, Brent Crews, and Corey Day pitted, and Jeremy Clements earned the free pass.
Zilisch led the field to green for three laps before the yellow came back out for Anthony Alfredo. Austin Hill earned this free pass, and Zilisch and Larson made up the front row at the restart. The two fought it out for the final ten laps of the race, but Zilisch was able to pull off the win by 0.703 seconds over Larson.
The O’Reilly Series returns to action on Saturday, April 18th at Kansas Speedway.
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