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Leaders spin and Kyle Larson wins Xfinity race at The Glen

Leaders spin and Kyle Larson wins Xfinity race at The Glen


Ty Gibbs led on a restart with five of 82 laps remaining, but William Byron got alongside him coming out of Turn 1 with Larson in third.

As Gibbs and Byron raced side-by-side through the inner loop, they both spun off course, which allowed Larson to pass them and inherit the lead. He then spent the final four laps deftly holding off talented road racer A.J. Allmendinger, clearing him by 0.273 seconds for the win.

 

The victory is the first in the series for Larson since the 2018 season and he was making just his second start of the year. Larson, the reigning Cup Series champion, now has 13 career Xfinity wins.

“I got lucky,” Larson said. “My only shot really was if (Gibbs) and (Byron) got racing. I just wanted to help Willy down the frontstretch as much as I could and they got battling in the esses.

I tried to help him to get clear in the bus stop and they raced side-by-side into there, got together, the seas parted and I was able to get through.

“Then I had A.J. behind me and I just tried to hit my marks as beast I could. He definitely had me nervous out front of him. It’s cool to get a win here.”

Sammy Smith finished third, Noah Gragson was fourth and Kaz Grala rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 were Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Sheldon Creed, Josh Berry and Jeremy Clements.

Byron ended up 25th while Gibbs finished 27th.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, several lead-lap cars pit but Byron stayed on the track and remained in the lead.

On the restart on Lap 45, Byron was followed by Gibbs and Allmendinger.

Creed was the first of the lead-lap cars to make its final pit stop on Lap 52 to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the finish of the race. Byron and Gibbs followed on Lap 53.

On Lap 59, Daniel Hemric locked up his brakes plowed nose-first into the tire barrier in the carousel to bring out the seventh caution of the race.

 

Those cars that had yet to pit elected to do so. Gibbs was among those who remained on the track and moved back into the lead.

The caution was extended by several laps after Myatt Snider brought his car from the garage after repairs but it began dropping fluid on the track.

On the restart on Lap 68, Gibbs was followed by Byron, Gragson, Larson and Allmendinger.

Larson quickly bolted to second on the restart only to see Byron reclaim it.

With 10 laps remaining, Gibbs maintained a lead over Byron of just under a second. Larson ran third and Allmendinger…

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