BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Larson has made it clear that when he races in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, he expects to do one thing: dominate. Domination doesn’t guarantee victory though, as he was the bridesmaid on Saturday (April 11) at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2nd place.
Larson led 230 laps of the NASCAR O’Reilly Series’ Suburban Propane 300, but he did not visit victory lane. He swept the first two stages and seemed to be on cruise control, as the lap traffic was the only cars he had to pass for much of the race. For the majority of the night, the dominance the two-time Cup Series champion expects to have was on full display, going 100% according to plan.
The No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver led 276 in last year’s Spring race at Bristol, where he did win, and he was looking to lead 200-plus and take home the trophy for the second straight year. Two late-race cautions at laps 271 and 284 set up varying strategies for the front of the field, and Larson surrendered the lead for tires. He fell to fourth, and he restarted on the inside line alongside Connor Zilisch for the final restart with 11 laps to go.
Larson did not get going, as Brent Crews passed Larson and battled Zilisch for the lead after clearing both lanes from the top. Larson praised Crews for what he saw in the final laps, and he was impressed by the young Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
“You can tell he studies,” Larson said of Crews. “I wasn’t sure if he was going to pound the top in front of me or if I was going to get to his outside and do what he was doing. …
“He was really good; it changed the style of the last run.”
Larson eventually got the second spot back from Crews with a handful of laps to go., but by then it was too late for him to run down Zilisch with an ill-handling car.
“He [Zilisch] did a good job, so did Brent [Crews],” Larson said. “I figured the pace is going to pick up a lot there, you go for the short run speed with the top being rubbered in. Everyone is going to run really hard, and to run that hard, I was just too free.”
Larson’s car wasn’t the only one driving that way, but he wasn’t able to capitalize. And while hindsight is 20/20, the move to give up the lead and pit was too much to overcome.
“The pace just got picked up and got a little hectic,” Larson said. “It was a great race. It’s easy to say, ‘yeah stay out’, but you don’t really know how that plays into everybody else pitting or staying out as well.”
The last chance for Larson to live up to his expectations in O’Reilly this season, by not just dominating but closing it out with a win, is at Texas Motor Speedway on May 2.