Kyle Larson rewarded with Go Rewards 200 win

Kyle Larson is one of the NASCAR Cup Series‘ top road course racers today with three wins on such tracks. He finally added an Xfinity Series version on Saturday at Watkins Glen International, even if he had basically been gifted the victory after Cup team-mate William Byron spun while battling Ty Gibbs for the lead with five laps remaining.

Larson was doing a one-off with JR Motorsports as part of a road course-only slate in the Xfinity Series, his first starts in NASCAR’s second tier since 2018; he won the pole and finished runner-up to Gibbs with his Cup employer Hendrick Motorsports at Road America in July. He started third behind Byron and Gibbs, and those two were the class of the field as they combined to lead sixty of eighty-two laps with Byron also winning Stage #2.

However, the Byron/Gibbs Show got physical on lap 75 as they ran next to each other through the Bus Stop chicane. Gibbs, who was on Byron’s left, collided with him and sent the two into a spin across the racing surface. Larson and A.J. Allmendinger slipped across as the caution came out.

“We had a good start and [Byron] kind of washed up a little bit, but we had a good start,” explained Gibbs. “I stayed side-by-side with him and I felt like I had a good side draft going with him heading into the Bus Stop to where it helped me get position, and I remember coming to however many laps to go, so I felt like if I just let him by, it was game over. I had good position, I just didn’t put myself in a good spot on the kerbs and and it just got me loose, I washed up into him and wrecked us both.

“It was my fault, but I was going for the win. I didn’t just want to pull over and let him go. Sorry to the #17 guys and to William. We put on a great show and I feel like he raced me well and I raced him well until I wrecked him. It was a good battle.”

The race resumed with five laps remaining and Larson held off Allmendinger for his thirteenth career Xfinity win, first on a road course, and first since Bristol in 2018. He also notched JRM’s first road course triumph since Road America in 2018 with Justin Allgaier, first at The Glen, and fifth overall; the team also won with Ron Fellows at Montreal 2008 and twice at Mid-Ohio with Regan Smith in 2015 and Allgaier in 2018. Larson further secured Chevrolet’s first Xfinity victory at WGI since Kevin Harvick in 2007.

Sammy Smith won the first stage and finished a career-best third.

“I learned a lot. It was a good day overall,” said Smith. “We had a good day as a team and I was able to capitalise. The last few races, I didn’t feel like I was able to capitalise and I feel like I did a better job today. Looking forward to Daytona next week.

“I felt like it was a good opportunity and I felt like I did a good job pushing Ty and then I’m not sure what happened between him and Byron, but they got pushed wide and then I got pushed wide. Then I got put three-wide in the esses and killed my momentum. Was in a bad spot going into the bus stop, but did a good job coming out of there and it was a good day.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	3	88	Kyle Larson*	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	82	Running
2	4	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	82	Running
3	19	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	82	Running
4	16	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	82	Running
5	14	48	Kaz Grala*	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	82	Running
6	7	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	82	Running
7	6	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	82	Running
8	11	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	82	Running
9	17	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	82	Running
10	22	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	82	Running
11	5	07	Cole Custer*	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	82	Running
12	23	44	Stefan Parsons*	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	82	Running
13	34	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	82	Running
14	35	66	Timmy Hill*	MBM Motorsports	Chevrolet	82	Running
15	13	26	Connor Mosack*	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	82	Running
16	20	10	Landon Cassill	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	82	Running
17	21	45	Josh Bilicki*	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	82	Running
18	26	23	Anthony Alfredo	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	82	Running
19	33	08	Andy Lally	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	82	Running
20	27	35	Brad Pérez*	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Toyota	82	Running
21	31	91	Preston Pardus	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	82	Running
22	25	34	Kyle Weatherman	Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	Chevrolet	82	Running
23	32	78	Scott Heckert	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	82	Running
24	12	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	82	Running
25	1	17	William Byron*	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	82	Running
26	37	4	Bayley Currey	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	82	Running
27	2	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	82	Running
28	15	92	Ross Chastain*	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	81	Running
29	38	02	Blaine Perkins*	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	80	Running
30	8	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	73	Running
31	9	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	58	Accident
32	30	5	Brandon Brown	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	51	Axle
33	29	31	Myatt Snider	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	50	Accident
34	36	68	Kris Wright*	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	30	Driveshaft
35	18	36	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	26	Accident
36	24	38	Patrick Gallagher	RSS Racing	Ford	14	Rear Gear
37	28	27	Jeb Burton	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	8	Accident
38	10	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	4	Accident
DNQ		32	Austin Wayne Self	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet
DNQ		6	Spencer Pumpelly	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet
DNQ		47	Stanton Barrett	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points