Kyle Larson celebrates in victory lane after winning Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Dover International Speedway. Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images
Saturday’s One Main Financial 200 ended as it started – as a two-man show with polesitter Kyle Larson on top.
Larson and Ryan Blaney were in a class by themselves at Dover International Speedway in the 11th NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the season. In winning for the third time in six starts this season, Larson led 137 of the 200 laps to Blaney’s 28.
In fact, Larson now has three wins, a second and a third this season for an average finish of 2.5 – numbers that could rival those of another Kyle, Xfinity Series all-time victory leader Kyle Busch.
“Our cars have been really good on both sides, (Monster Energy NASCAR) Cup and Xfinity,” Larson said. “Especially Xfinity, we’ve been extremely good. We’ve done a really good job adjusting to this new (lower-downforce) aero package.
“This is the best car I’ve had here. At a lot of the tracks we’ve gone to, it seems like this is the best Xfinity car I’ve had this time around. Just a lot of fun. Hats off to (crew chief Mike) Shiplett and the rest of the mechanics at the shop and the engineers – the real reason I’m getting to run up front more often.”
A first-time winner at Dover, Larson collected the eighth victory of his career, finishing 1.173 seconds ahead of Blaney. Third-place Daniel Suarez crossed the stripe 14.078 seconds behind the race winner.
Cole Custer ran fourth, followed by Ryan Reed and William Byron, but Byron got the biggest consolation prize. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate collected a $100,000 bonus as the highest-finishing series regular among four drivers eligible for the prize in the last of four Dash 4 Cash events this season.
But the day belonged to Larson, who led the first 63 laps and had to win a drag race with Blaney to secure victory in the first 60-lap stage. After the second stage, won by Darrell Wallace, Jr., divergent pit strategies shuffled Larson and Blaney to 13th and 14th, respectively, for a restart on lap 128.
To Blaney, that was the key moment in the race, as his No. 22 Ford lost positions in a near-wreck with Wallace and couldn’t close on Larson despite a subsequent restart on lap 141, after Blake Koch tangled with Daniel Hemric and Brennan Poole and nosed into the inside wall.
“We almost got wrecked when the 6 (Wallace) got loose below whoever that was, the white car (the No. 90 of Brandon Brown), and that actually cost us the race,” Blaney said. “That allowed Larson to get by us, and he set sail from there, even though there was another restart.
“He was about three rows ahead of us, and I couldn’t run him down by the time I got to second.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Dover International Speedway – Dover, DE
OneMain Financial 200 – June 3, 2017
1. (1) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 200.
2. (2) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 200.
3. (3) Daniel Suarez(i), Toyota, 200.
4. (14) Cole Custer #, Ford, 200.
5. (17) Ryan Reed, Ford, 200.
6. (8) William Byron #, Chevrolet, 200.
7. (9) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 200.
8. (18) Darrell Wallace Jr., Ford, 200.
9. (6) Matt Tifft #, Toyota, 200.
10. (11) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 200.
11. (12) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.
12. (5) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 199.
13. (10) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 199.
14. (23) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 199.
15. (26) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 199.
16. (19) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 199.
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18. (25) Ben Kennedy #, Chevrolet, 199.
19. (22) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 198.
20. (15) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 198.
21. (20) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 198.
22. (28) B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet, 197.
23. (29) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 197.
24. (34) Ray Black II, Chevrolet, 191.
25. (40) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 191.
26. (27) Jordan Anderson(i), Chevrolet, Suspension, 188.
27. (33) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, Track Bar, 176.
28. (7) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, Power Steering, 175.
29. (13) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, Parked, 174.
30. (21) Dylan Lupton, Toyota, 170.
31. (24) Spencer Gallagher #, Chevrolet, 166.
32. (16) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, Steering, 135.
33. (36) David Starr, Chevrolet, 107.
34. (31) Chad Finchum, Chevrolet, Engine, 105.
35. (4) Erik Jones(i), Toyota, Engine, 100.
36. (39) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, Overheating, 99.
37. (30) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, Engine, 91.
38. (35) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Handling, 50.
39. (37) Timmy Hill, Toyota, Accident, 39.
40. (38) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, Electrical, 13.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 96.709 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 04 Mins, 05 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.173 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 10 for 45 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Larson(i) 1-63; A. Dillon(i) 64-67; K. Larson(i) 68-87; R. Blaney(i) 88-115; D. Wallace Jr. 116-122; R. Reed 123-127; D. Suarez(i) 128-146; K. Larson(i) 147-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Larson(i) 3 times for 137 laps; R. Blaney(i) 1 time for 28 laps; D. Suarez(i) 1 time for 19 laps; D. Wallace Jr. 1 time for 7 laps; R. Reed 1 time for 5 laps; A. Dillon(i) 1 time for 4 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 42,22,20,9,48,1,7,6,21,16
Stage #2 Top Ten: 6,22,1,7,42,9,21,48,11,14
Top 10 in Points: 1. Elliott Sadler – 375; 2. Justin Allgaier – 363; 3. William Byron # – 318; 4. Darrell Wallace Jr. – 291; 5. Daniel Hemric # – 283; 6. Ryan Reed – 270; 7. Brennan Poole – 263; 8. Matt Tifft # – 255; 9. Michael Annett – 248; 10. Cole Custer # – 242.
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