Race 5 of 33: The LiUna! 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Track Specs: 1.5-mile oval / 200 laps
Race Winner: Kyle Larson
Allgaier’s finish: 4th
Smith’s finish: 5th
Zilisch’s finish: 7th
Kvapil’s finish: 11th
Kyle Larson:
Kyle Larson and the No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, overcame early handling issues to bring home the win in the the LiUna! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After starting second, Larson slipped back through the opening laps, dropping as far as 11th before regrouping. The team made adjustments during their pit stops that helped alleviate the handling, allowing Larson to recover to seventh at the end of Stage One and fifth at the conclusion of Stage Two while remaining within reach of the leaders. He spent much of the final stage running inside the top 10 while continuing to battle a tight-handling car, but several late-race cautions created an opportunity. On a restart with just over 50 laps remaining. Larson charged from seventh to the lead in a single lap and used the clean air out front to take control of the race. From there, he maintained his position through the closing laps to secure the win at Las Vegas.
“Overall, it was a solid effort from this whole No. 88 group today. Mardy (Lindley, crew chief) and everyone at JR Motorsports did a great job working on the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet all race and giving me something I could really work with. The Hendrick Engine Shop brought us another strong piece this weekend and that definitely showed. I really appreciate all the effort from this team and hopefully we can keep winning with these guys.”
Justin Allgaier
Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 7 Jarrett Chevrolet, earned a strong fourth-place finish in Saturday afternoon in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Taking the green from ninth, the JR Motorsports driver surged forward, powering into the race lead for the first time on lap 34 and maintaining the top spot through both Stages One and Twi to capture both stage wins and incredibly valuable stage points in the process. During the third and final stage, Allgaier fought hard for position inside the top five, trading positions with teammates Kyle Larson, Sammy Smith and Carson Kvapil before ultimately taking the checkered flag in fourth. With today’s top-five result, Allgaier extends his lead in the championship standings to 13 ahead of second place.
“We had a really fast Jarrett Chevrolet today. Andrew (Overstreet, crew chief) gave me a great car that let us get out there and have a really strong points day. Although it wasn’t the win in the end, I can’t thank everyone enough at JR Motorsports for the speed we had not only today but all year. To have three wins in a row like this for the company and be consistently running up front is just a testament to all the hard work by everyone both here and at the shop.”
Sammy Smith
Sammy Smith, driver of the No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet, earned his third top-five finish of the season on Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Smith qualified fourth and battled a free-handling car before fighting his way to a fifth-place at the checkered flag. Tonight’s result keeps the JR Motorsports driver solidly in sixth in the championship standings through the opening five events of the season.
Smith took the green flag with the field in fourth and stayed within the top 10 through the first 25 laps until his No. 8 Chevrolet started trending a bit too free on handling. Crew chief Cory Shea brought his driver down pit road following the opening stage for fresh tires and an adjustment to help tighten up the handling. Smith took the green for Stage Two in 21st and ultimately deal with a free car again as the track was changing. He was able to work his way to 16th at stage end and asked to fire off tighter for the closing laps.
Heading into the final stage, the No. 8 pit crew had a great stop and moved Smith to 12th for the restart. A caution flew on lap 118 and the young driver commented that he was still too free, which saw him pit with the rest of the field for an additional adjustment. Through several more caution flags and pit stops, Smith restarted ninth on lap 153 and jumped to third within two laps. He eventually overtook second and held there for nearly 20 laps until he began to trend free again. Smith continued to fight and ultimately came home with a strong fifth-place finish.
“This No. 8 Pilot team fought all day. We did a great job on changes and pit stops and we had good restarts. Bringing home a fifth-place finish is pretty good from where we were in the stages. I appreciate everyone’s hard work to get us back in the game. Thanks to Pilot, TMC and Allstate Peterbilt, we’ll carry this on to Darlington next week.”
Connor Zilisch:
Connor Zilisch brushed off an early-race and a wrinkled right front fender to score a hard-earned seventh-place finish Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The driver of the Carolina Carports Chevrolet scored his best finish in two NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races this season and his first in the top-10. Zilisch made contact with another car on lap 3, forcing him to pit road for repairs and during the second yellow on lap 15. From there, he steadily worked his way though the field to finish 20th when the first stage ended on lap 45. Zilisch pitted for tires and adjustments during the stage caution on lap 49. He restarted 13th when the race went green on lap 53. Once again, he worked his way through traffic, climbing into the top 10 by lap 57 and scored an eighth-place finish when Stage Two ended on lap 90. He used a speedy pit stop by the Carolina Carports crew on lap 118 to move inside the top five and was racing for third when he brushed the wall in Turn 2 on lap 126. From there, Zilisch rallied back to run among the top 10 for the remainder of the 200-lap race and was credited with an eighth-place finish at the checkered flag.
“I definitely didn’t make it easy for our team. We had a pretty solid car even with the damage we had from my incident in Stage One. We were limited. Our Carolina Carports Chevrolet was really fast but just didn’t quite have the speed we needed and the damage certainly wasn’t helping that. I thought our balance was good. The team did a really good job all day whether it was on pit road for adjustments and that gave us the opportunity to get a solid finish with the damage we had.”
Carson Kvapil
Carson Kvapil, driver of the No. 9 WILDE Chevrolet, earned a solid 11th-place finish on Saturday afternoon in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kvapil took the green from the 18th position and quickly climbed into the top 15. Stage One ended and Kvapil was scored in the 12th position. The JR Motorsports driver battled a loose condition when the second stage began, but when the checkered flag waved at the of the stage, Kvapil had made his way back to the top 10.
As the final stage went green, Kvapil surged into the top five before the handling shifted back to the free side over the closing laps. In the end, Kvapil crossed the finish line for the final time in 11th position.
“Today was a strong showing for the No. 9 WILDE team. Phillip (Bell, crew chief) and the entire No. 9 team improved the car the entire afternoon. We still collected some valuable points this afternoon even though we didn’t get the finish we wanted. Thanks to WILDE for their support. It wouldn’t be possible without them.”