Kyle Larson celebrates in Victory Circle after winning Saturday’s HISTORY 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Photo – CMS/HHP
Kyle Larson was the star of the show Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, picking up his second career NASCAR Nationwide win in the HISTORY 300. He outlasted a bevy of solid NASCAR veterans, including second-place finisher Brad Keselowski, third-place Kyle Busch and fourth-place Kevin Harvick.
“I knew if I could get the lead, the car would be really tough to beat,” Larson said. “That’s kind of how it went for us. The car was amazing all week-long.”
Larson led 82 laps en route to the win. He sealed his trip to Victory Circle with a perfect pit stop and restart with less than 30 laps remaining, jumping out ahead of Keselowski, Busch, Harvick and the rest of the field.
“That last restart, I was nervous,” Larson said. “You know, Harvick’s Harvick, and he’s to my outside, and Brad (Keselowski) and Kyle (Busch) were behind me. Those are probably three of the best on late restarts. I wasn’t sure if I was going to clear them all, I just knew I had to hit my marks and stay calm, and it seemed like they were getting smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror, and that’s a good sight.”
The veterans gave all the credit to 21-year-old Larson, who is also competing full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series this season.
“Kyle Larson was just gone,” Keselowski said. “He was really fast … we just didn’t have enough for him.”
Keselowski and Busch had a tremendous battle for second in the closing laps, with the pair tenuously threading their way through lapped traffic – with a couple of near-misses – as they fought for the runner-up spot.
“The fastest way was around the bottom, and we couldn’t make any time around the top,” said Busch. “It’s frustrating like that when you can’t make anything happen. I thought I was way faster than him, I just didn’t
have enough to get by him.”
Harry Scott Jr, owner of the No. 42 entry was supportive of his team and their success at Charlotte.
“These guys have been in the hunt each and every week. A day like today is pretty much as perfect as you can expect from an owner’s perspective. Kyle did a great job all day long. Zippy gave him a great car, and he was right on balance all day. Kyle really didn’t need a whole lot from him. Our pit crew did a great job. They were on their game every stop.”
Larson’s crew chief Scott Zipadelli talks about his part in making the right adjustments to the car.
“The first run he kind of wanted to be a little freer. I was kind of thinking we might be on the splitter a little bit. On the pit stop, I made an air pressure change because that was what Kyle said. The second stop I basically went back on the air pressure change and did a few other things to get the car off the splitter. And it really worked. He took better on the front of the run and it maintained its speed on the long run too. We made some pretty good changes throughout the day. It didn’t affect the handling as much as it affected the speed. It was a good day…well executed by the pit crew and Kyle. Everything went, I say, almost picture perfect.”
Regan Smith finished seventh and tentatively appreciates his role at the top of the points leader board.
“I don’t ever want to discount having the points lead, but it’s so early. Anything can happen. You want to capitalize when that happens, but you also have to understand it comes in waves and it could go in our directions sometime.”
The highest finishing rookie contender Chris Buescher came to the checkered flag in ninth-place happy with his team’s performance.
“That’s a lot better than we had here after practice. We knew it would be tough running this place in the day time. Last year, we didn’t really do so well. I’m proud of our guys…just trying to get that last little bit. We made adjustments back and forth trying to get from loose to back. Overall, it was a very nice job. We’re working and steadily getting there.”
Next on the schedule for the Nationwide Series teams is Saturday, May 31st at Dover International Speedway with television coverage on ESPN2 beginning at 2 pm ET and the green flag at 2:30 pm ET. Radio coverage is on MRN and Sirius XM, channel 90.
Race Results
Point Standings