Kyle Larson Holds Off Justin Allgaier by 0.293 Seconds for Second Straight O'Reilly Series Win at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas — After the final restart at Texas Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson spent the closing laps staring at the one car he could not shake. Justin Allgaier, his JR Motorsports teammate, closed to his bumper, tried the top, tried the bottom and tried everything else. It was not enough. Larson held on to win the Andy's Frozen Custard 340 on Saturday by 0.293 seconds, giving JR Motorsports a one-two finish.

It was Larson's second straight win in this race and his third overall at Texas. Driving the No. 88 Chevrolet, he collected his 19th career NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series win, according to Texas Motor Speedway, and his second of the season in just four starts. He led a race-high 93 laps of the 200-lap, 300-mile race.

Allgaier Owns Stage 1

Allgaier made it clear early that he had the car to end his Texas drought. He won the pole at 188.607 mph and led all 45 laps of Stage 1. Connor Zilisch, another JR Motorsports entry, won Stage 2 and led 48 laps before fading to 21st in the final segment.

The race opened with chaos. A multi-car wreck on the first lap brought out the opening caution, and Corey Day, who had won the previous race at Talladega, hit the Turn 2 wall hard and was done for the day in 37th. In all, the race had seven cautions for 36 laps and 13 lead changes among six drivers.

Larson Takes Control

Larson first took the lead on Lap 54, according to Texas Motor Speedway, and by the second half of the race he was the car to beat. He pitted during a green-flag stop on Lap 145, and when Rajah Caruth crashed off Turn 2 on Lap 179, Larson was first off pit road under the caution. That set up a short sprint to the finish after the restart on Lap 184.

Allgaier restarted third behind Brandon Jones, cleared him quickly and went hunting. Using the top lane, he reached Larson's rear bumper in the closing laps, but could never complete the pass. During the final caution, crew chief Andrew Overstreet radioed encouragement that played off Allgaier's "Little Gator" nickname: "Nothing stops a hungry gator," according to the NASCAR Wire Service. "Not even the so-called 'Greatest of All-Time.'"

Clean Racing to the Line

Larson admitted afterward that he expected to lose. "I really didn't think I had a chance with Justin behind me," he said, according to Texas Motor Speedway. "He was always closing on me." He also thanked his teammate for how he raced the final laps. "He could've easily got into the back of me."

Allgaier, a three-time winner this season who was making his 29th start at Texas, matched his best finish at the track but still left without the win. "Without contact there (at the end) there was no way around him, and I tried everything," he said, according to Texas Motor Speedway. "One of us had to win."

The result still strengthened his grip on the championship. Allgaier left Texas with 598 points, 121 ahead of Sheldon Creed, who finished sixth.

A $100,000 Day for Brent Crews

Sam Mayer finished third. Behind him, rookie Brent Crews of Joe Gibbs Racing took fourth and with it the $100,000 bonus in the final O'Reilly Dash 4 Cash event of the year. Crews finished ahead of the other eligible drivers, Creed, Day and Sammy Smith, and it was his first Dash 4 Cash payout.

"Thankful to bring the team home some money, they definitely deserve it," Crews said, according to Texas Motor Speedway. "Congrats to Kyle (Larson) and Justin (Allgaier). It was really fun getting to race some of the best guys in our sport."

Parker Retzlaff completed the top five, followed by Creed, Austin Hill, Jones, Jesse Love and Jeremy Clements.

What It Means

Larson's weekend at Texas was already a good one before Saturday. On Thursday night he won the Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing sprint car race on the Texas Motor Speedway dirt track, leading every lap, according to the speedway. Saturday's win made it two trophies in three days at the same facility.

For Allgaier, the takeaway is more complicated. He had the pole, the opening stage and the points lead, and he lost the race to a teammate by less than three-tenths of a second. "I will go back and watch this one a bunch of times and see if there's anything I could've done different," he said. On this day, the answer may simply be that the car in front of him was driven by Kyle Larson.

Photo Credit: Luis Revilla Mata/Undrafted