FORT WORTH, Texas - Corey Day flashed plenty of speed and resilience in his second ever start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway.
Improvements and gains are the name of the gain for Hendrick Motorsports' 19-year-old wheelman.
And Day certainly built upon his initial run at Martinsville Speedway earlier this year, recovering from an early hole and surviving a couple of crashes late to bring home a 16th-place finish, ending the event on the lead lap.
On the other end of the experience spectrum was Kyle Larson, who had to stare down some troubles of his own but took advantage of a pair of overtime restarts to drive to a victory. Larson was filling in for the injured Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and picked up his 12th win in the series in his last 28 starts. It was his second victory in the Xfinity Series this year.
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"There was a lot of survival I felt like throughout that race," Larson said. "Just dodging some wrecks, balance we had to work on quite a bit, so, it was fun.
"Thanks to JRM for letting me come run this thing here today. Obviously wish Connor was in the car but it means a lot that they thought of me to call up to run this thing."
Day started back in the pack after Xfinity Series practice and qualifying were scrubbed by rain on Friday. But immediately, he began a march forward from his 33rd starting spot, despite having never been on the track at Texas. He made it all the way to 11th by the time the first stage ended and improved that showing by three spots by the end of stage two, coming home eighth.
But the initial venture from the back to the front was just the beginning. Early in stage three, Day sustained damage in a crash and was forced to pit, dropping to the back of the line among lead-lap cars. Again, Day made his way forward, reaching the top 10 before a wreck involving Justin Allgaier, who had been battling with Larson for the lead, brought out a yellow with 45 laps to go.
Larson assumed the point position after pit stops cycled through with Day being relegated into the low teens again. He'd just reached the top 15 in his way forward again before he spun and hit the inside wall with just 13 circuits remaining. Still, the team was able to get the damage under control and kept Day on the lead lap, where he survived the rest of the chaos that would ensue.
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As for Larson, he pitted while six cars stayed out, relegating him to the fourth row for a restart inside 10 laps to go. He moved up to third by the time another caution flew for a Sammy Smith crash, setting up an overtime restart.
Yet another stoppage would come with Jeremy Clements spinning after the restart but Larson forged ahead to second, giving him a front-row position with fresher tires. And on the final rerack, Larson powered around Sam Mayer on the outside and cruised to victory.
The next scheduled event in the Xfinity Series for Hendrick Motorsports will come at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 24, with William Byron behind the wheel.
Watch Byron, Larson and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports contingent as they battle for a win in the Cup Series main event at Texas on Sunday afternoon. Green flag is set for 3:30 p.m. and the race will air on FS1.
Who won the NASCAR race today?
- Kyle Larson, No. 88
- Taylor Gray, No. 54
- Riley Herbst, No. 19
- Austin Hill, No. 21
- Sam Mayer, No. 41
- Harrison Burton, No. 25
- Jesse Love, No. 2
- Ryan Sieg, No. 39
- Brandon Jones, No. 20
- Jeb Burton, No. 27
- Daniel Dye, No. 10
- Anthony Alfredo, No. 42
- William Sawalich, No. 18
- Parker Retzlaff, No. 4
- Matt DiBenedetto, No. 99
- Corey Day, No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
- Brennan Poole, No. 44
- Sammy Smith, No. 8
- Carson Kvapil, No. 1
- Nick Sanchez, No. 48
- Mason Massey, No. 45
- Kyle Sieg, No. 28
- Ryan Ellis, No. 71
- Blaine Perkins, No. 31
- Joey Gase, No. 35
- Mason Maggio, No. 53
- Dean Thompson, No. 26
- Josh Bilicki, No. 91
- Nick Leitz, No. 07
- Garrett Smithley, No. 14
- Jeremy Clements, No. 51
- Katherine Legge, No. 32
- Kris Wright, No. 5
- Leland Honeyman, No. 70
- Justin Allgaier, No. 7
- Sheldon Creed, No. 00
- Josh Williams, No. 11
- Christian Eckes, No. 16