Kyle Larson survived a 20 lap wrestle with Justin ‘Little Gator’ Allgaier for the win at Texas Motor Speedway after a late race restart.
The race was marred by a number of wrecks occurring in the early laps, including a three-car incident on the first lap and last week’s race winner Corey Day spinning ahead of it as well as a close-call with the pace car.
Throughout the incidents, the constant remained Justin Allgier’s No. 7 at the head of the field. The JR Motorsports driver survived multiple restarts against Kyle Larson’s No. 88 to take the first stage unscathed. The No. 7 was followed to the flag by Zilisch, Larson, Brandon Jones and Brent Crews.
JRM teammate Connor Zilisch shone bright in the second stage, driving away from the field without incident to the second stage victory. Allgaier slipped to third in the stage in a dogfight with Brent Crews and Sam Mayer. The line-up behind Zilisch at the stage end became Crews, Allgaier, Larson and Mayer.
Off the restart for the final stage it was Larson’s time to shine. The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion split a battling Zilisch and Crews three-wide coming out of turn 4 for the race lead.
Zilisch would suffer from a slow flat halfway through the stage, dropping the JRM driver through the order and forcing him to pit before the window opened. This put the No. 1 out of sync with the field and out of contention for the win.
A spin by Rajah Caruth’s No. 32 set up a 20 lap shootout between Larson and Allgaier for the win. Larson got away well on the restart but Allgaier tracked down the No. 88. Despite several attempts, Allgaier couldn’t generate a run to pass the multi-time Cup Champion.
The win marked Larson’s 19th in the second tier O’Reilly Auto Parts series and his second on the year, with the first coming in Las Vegas seven races ago.
Allgaier’s second place keeps the 2024 series champion as the points leader, with a 121-point lead over second place Sheldon Creed.
Connor Zilisch came home in 21st place after his tire issues.
Brent Crews came fourth and took home the $100,000 cash prize in the Dash4Cash program.
The O’Reilly series rolls into the beautiful Watkins Glen International next Saturday.
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