Written by Robert Henry
Fontana, CA – Week five of the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Auto Club Speedway in the Service King 300 came to an end with Kyle Larson stealing the win after leading just 21 of the 150 laps in the race.
Larson started the race in the seventh position and throughout the first stage of the race he was able to maintain third place position for most of the stage. Joey Logano in the number 22 car were able to keep a commanding lead during the first stage but was penalized for speeding while entering pit road. This penalty happened on the 31st lap and pushed him to the back of the pack. Matt Tifft and his number 19 car spun out but thankfully no accident occurred and he was able to re-enter the race with no penalty. Unfortunately he was not able to fully recover and ended the race in 17th place. By the end of the first stage Kyle Busch was the leader, followed by Elliot Sadler, then by Larson, Erik Jones, and rounding out the top five was William Byron.
As the start of the second stage began Larson decided to turn it up a bit and over takes Busch and Sadler to take the first place position. Logano started in the 34th position and sneakily over takes the majority of cars in his way to get to the seventh position with 104 laps to go. Then just three laps later Busch over takes Larson and is able to swing past him around the second turn. Busch was able to take first place in stage two. Logano, not giving up, was able to pass the competition and take the second place position. Then with 89 laps to go, Jones is able to pass Larson and push Larson to the third place position at the end of the second stage.
The final stage of the race saw some intense driving as well as some accidents that took cars out of the race. The start of the stage we saw Larson creep into the number one position until he was penalized for speeding through the exit of pit road. This placed Larson in the tail end of the pack. Just after he was penalized the caution flag was waved due to Paul Menard being accidentally bumped by Jones. Jones’ bump send Menard flying into the wall, causing a fire to erupt from his car. He was able to safely exit his car and get to safety. With 72 laps to go Logano passes Busch and reclaims first place. At this moment Larson was in 24th place and over taking his competition in an impressively quick manner. Larson was able to cut down his competition and enter the 12th place spot with 65 laps to go. On lap 108 Cole Custer hits the wall causing another caution flag to be waved. The caution caused some of the drivers to go to pit road and that is where it went wrong for Logano. Logano’s car had issues as the car fell off of the jack and slowed the driver down and possible cost him the race. Coming out of the caution Larson was able to push himself into the top three and soon after that he was battling for the top spot with Logano and Busch. Larson was able to over take Logano and Busch, which sent him in to first place and gave him the checkered flag.
Here is the Unofficial Top 5 of the race:
1.) Kyle Larson
2.) Joey Logano
3.) Kyle Busch
4.) Erik Jones
5.) William Byron
Larson started the race in the seventh position and throughout the first stage of the race he was able to maintain third place position for most of the stage. Joey Logano in the number 22 car were able to keep a commanding lead during the first stage but was penalized for speeding while entering pit road. This penalty happened on the 31st lap and pushed him to the back of the pack. Matt Tifft and his number 19 car spun out but thankfully no accident occurred and he was able to re-enter the race with no penalty. Unfortunately he was not able to fully recover and ended the race in 17th place. By the end of the first stage Kyle Busch was the leader, followed by Elliot Sadler, then by Larson, Erik Jones, and rounding out the top five was William Byron.
As the start of the second stage began Larson decided to turn it up a bit and over takes Busch and Sadler to take the first place position. Logano started in the 34th position and sneakily over takes the majority of cars in his way to get to the seventh position with 104 laps to go. Then just three laps later Busch over takes Larson and is able to swing past him around the second turn. Busch was able to take first place in stage two. Logano, not giving up, was able to pass the competition and take the second place position. Then with 89 laps to go, Jones is able to pass Larson and push Larson to the third place position at the end of the second stage.
The final stage of the race saw some intense driving as well as some accidents that took cars out of the race. The start of the stage we saw Larson creep into the number one position until he was penalized for speeding through the exit of pit road. This placed Larson in the tail end of the pack. Just after he was penalized the caution flag was waved due to Paul Menard being accidentally bumped by Jones. Jones’ bump send Menard flying into the wall, causing a fire to erupt from his car. He was able to safely exit his car and get to safety. With 72 laps to go Logano passes Busch and reclaims first place. At this moment Larson was in 24th place and over taking his competition in an impressively quick manner. Larson was able to cut down his competition and enter the 12th place spot with 65 laps to go. On lap 108 Cole Custer hits the wall causing another caution flag to be waved. The caution caused some of the drivers to go to pit road and that is where it went wrong for Logano. Logano’s car had issues as the car fell off of the jack and slowed the driver down and possible cost him the race. Coming out of the caution Larson was able to push himself into the top three and soon after that he was battling for the top spot with Logano and Busch. Larson was able to over take Logano and Busch, which sent him in to first place and gave him the checkered flag.
Here is the Unofficial Top 5 of the race:
1.) Kyle Larson
2.) Joey Logano
3.) Kyle Busch
4.) Erik Jones
5.) William Byron