Kyle Larson Wins NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Subbing for JR Motorsports

The NASCAR Xfinity Series had plenty of hype coming into Texas Motor Speedway. Especially with Connor Zilisch having to miss the race because of a lower back injury. That put Kyle Larson into his No. 88 Chevy for the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300. So, was it shocking that Larson, paired with JR Motorsports, wouldn’t be inclined to win? Larson did exactly that on Saturday.

Was it an easy win for Larson? Certainly not after his recent comments about wanting to come down to the series whenever and dominate the races. He had plenty of challengers, including fellow JRM driver Justin Allgaier, along with the likes of Austin Hill and Sam Mayer, trying to score the victory. Not to mention multiple overtime attempts.

Kyle Larson Wins NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Subbing for JR Motorsports

Austin Hill and Allgaier led the field to the green flag. Meanwhile, Larson had to climb from a 20th-place starting spot.

The 2024 Texas Xfinity Series race had a very memorable finish, and this one was gearing up to be a good one as well. Early trouble for the No. 71 of Ryan Ellis started a trend of multiple yellow flags throughout the race. Ellis got sideways while racing alongside the likes of Christian Eckes and Sammy Smith. To drivers who ended up having not-so-great days.

Following another incident involving Josh Bilicki in the No. 91, the rest of the opening stage played out well for Justin Allgaier. His No. 7 started to flex its power once again. Allgaier was able to lead the final 24 laps of the stage.

Austin Hill Outclasses the field in Stage Two

While Allgaier and Hill continued to trade the lead back and forth. Kyle Larson quietly made his way into the hunt during the closing laps of the first stage. In doing so, he started to claim that he had a car that could compete for the victory. Austin Hill put everyone else to shame in the second stage. The No. 5 car of Kris Wright once again ran out of talent during the closing laps.

Wright went spinning on the backstretch, bringing out a yellow, which all but gave Hill the stage win.

Drivers Start to Go Crazy

A massive pile-up occurred as the final stage got underway. The incident saw plenty of frontrunners have issues as several cars ended up in the grass, which at Texas notoriously destroys race cars. That’s exactly what happened. It ended up involving at least 12 cars. Josh Williams’ No. 11 car was destroyed. The incident also involved top names like Corey Day, Taylor Gray, and Sam Mayer, among others.

Larson was very lucky to get through the incident. It started a rough trend for the final stage of the race. As Allgaier and Hill continued to battle for the race lead once they got things going again, Larson was once again quietly stalking both drivers.

Sheldon Creed’s good run once again came to a haunting end as he lost control while fighting with Jesse Love and Corey Day inside the top five. It all but made Day’s best run thus far in the series, ten times tougher.

After that incident, things looked to be getting back into a groove, as the drivers were able to get to their final green flag pit stops. During those stops, Larson was able to jump Allgaier and Hill for the race lead. Allgaier’s impressive performance of leading over 90 laps of the race came to a screeching halt to everybody’s favorite driver, Kris Wright.

Allgaier’s Wreck Opens Door for Larson

As Allgaier got back on track following his green flag pitstop. He ended up catching a much slower car. That happened to be the No. 5 of Wright. That’s bad news for a lot of drivers lately. As Allgaier got taken out by the slower car. Allgaier’s day ended after he hit the wall nose-first.

Wright’s making a name for himself in the Xfinity Series, but not for good reasons. It’s getting a little ridiculous at this point. That issue for Allgaier paved an opening for Larson to take full advantage.

As Larson checked out to the race lead, way ahead of a nice battle between Hill and rookie Nick Sanchez. With less than 10 laps to go, Corey Day brought out a caution. That moment changed everything. As several drivers had decisions to make with seven or so laps to go. Larson came in for four tires, while Hill and others stayed out. So it all set up plenty of action-packed restart opportunities. Larson had to make a climb from the fourth or fifth row. He was able to make quick work on the next restart as he put himself up to third or fourth, when Sammy Smith lost control off the nose of Hill. It sent the race into overtime.

The very next restart saw one more incident as Jeremy Clements smacked the wall, sending this race to a second overtime. The drivers dirtied the end of this race up, much like the Truck Series race from Friday night. Like Corey Heim on Friday, Kyle Larson was not going to be denied.

Larson filled in nicely for Zilisch as he was able to capture the checkered flag at Texas, with Taylor Gray and Riley Herbst coming home in second and third.

Enjoy that nice ice cream-shaped trophy, Kyle. It was fun to see a backup driver step in and win. Even if it is the sport’s best driver, Kyle Larson.

Featured Image Credit: Chris Graythen, Getty Images. 5/3/2025