NASCAR Cup Las Vegas: Larson holds off Bell in close battle for win

Despite Larson winning both stages and leading a race-high 133 of 267 laps, his victory on Sunday was anything but easy.

While running down the race leader, Larson hit the wall pretty hard off Turn 2 hard late in Stage 2 and fell back in the running order to regroup.

Larson reclaimed the lead on pit road on the next-to-last caution and after a brief battle with Brad Keselowski appeared ready to cruise to victory.

Pole-winner Christopher Bell, however, closed on Larson dramatically in the final five laps and had a big run off Turn 4 on the final lap but Larson edged him by 0.082 seconds to secure the win and become the first driver who will compete for the 2023 series title at Phoenix.

It’s the fourth win of the season for Larson and his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team and 23rd of his career. This has now secured the second opportunity of his career to compete for a championship.

“I could see him coming in my mirror, for sure,” Larson said of Bell on the final lap. “Was hoping those lappers were going to give me the bottom (lane). The No. 38 (Todd Gilliland) peeled off to the bottom. I knew I couldn’t follow him. I just didn’t want to go all the way to the top, leave the middle open.

“Thankfully, Christopher always races extremely clean. Could have got crazier than it did coming to the start/finish line. Thank you to him for racing with respect there.

“What a job done by my team, too. Just a great race car. I almost gave it away there in (Turns) 1 and 2, getting sideways, hitting into the wall. Had to fight back there with our balance. They got it much closer there (racing) in the lead.”

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro takes the checkered flag to beat Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, Rheem / Smurfit Kappa Toyota Camry (Photo by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images)

Kyle Busch finished third, Keselowski was fourth and Ross Chastain rallied from an early pit road speeding penalty to finish fifth.

Stage 1 saw Larson pass Bell with eight of 80 laps remaining, and held him off by 0.525 seconds to claim the Stage 1 win.

Keselowski was leading Stage 2 when a chasing Larson hit the wall in Turn 2 on lap 141 and fell off the pace but remained on the track and dropped to fifth.

Five laps later, Larson’s teammate, Alex Bowman, wrecked hard exiting off Turn 4, which brought an early end to his race.

Larson went to the inside of Keselowski with 10 of 85 laps remaining to reclaim the lead and held on to take the Stage 2 win.

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all the lead-lap drivers pit with Bell the first off pit road. He led Chastain and Larson when the race returned to green with 96 laps remaining.

Chase Briscoe hit the wall and spun around multiple times off Turn 2 to bring out the sixth caution of the race and set up what could be the final round of pit stops.

Larson was the first off pit road while Austin Dillon was penalised for speeding and had to restart from the rear of the field. Larson led Keselowski and Bell on the restart with 52 laps to go.

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro (Photo by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images)

With 50 to go, Ty Gibbs hit the wall off Turn 2 and lost a wheel, which went sailing down the track. Gibbs was assessed a two-lap penalty.

The race returned to green with 45 laps to go and Larson out front of Keselowski and Bell, before the latter made it into second by the flag.

Completing the top 10 were William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin,and Chris Buescher. Ryan Blaney originally finished sixth, but was later disqualified after failing post-race inspection.

After the race, NASCAR announced his No. 12 Ford had a left-front shock that didn’t meet the overall specified length.

He will be credited with a last-place finish (36th) and one point. He also loses all eight stage points he scored in the race.

The penalty drops Blaney to last among the eight remaining playoff drivers. He is basically now in the position of having to win one of the two remaining races in the Round of 8 – at Homestead-Miami Speedway or Martinsville Speedway – if he hopes to advance to the Championship 4 at Phoenix.

The team has the option of an appeal, but it must notify NASCAR of its intention on Monday.

With two races remaining in the semifinal round of the playoffs, the four drivers lowest in points without a win and in danger of elimination are Blaney, Buescher, Reddick and Bell, who is three points below the cutoff line.

NASCAR Cup Las Vegas results

 

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5		Chevrolet	267	2:57'10.134		9	60
2	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	267	+0.082	0.082	10	52
3	K. Busch Richard Childress Racing	8		Chevrolet	267	+4.504	4.422	10	41
4	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6		Ford	267	+4.650	0.146	10	47
5	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1		Chevrolet	267	+5.457	0.807	10	41
6	R. Blaney Team Penske	12		Ford	267	+5.837	0.380	10	39
7	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24		Chevrolet	267	+7.607	1.770	10	36
8	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45		Toyota	267	+8.549	0.942	10	38
9	M. Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	267	+9.056	0.507	9	34
10	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11		Toyota	267	+9.709	0.653	10	38
11	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17		Ford	267	+13.338	3.629	10	26
12	J. Logano Team Penske	22		Ford	267	+13.881	0.543	10	25
13	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23		Toyota	267	+14.132	0.251	10	25
14	A. Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing	10		Ford	267	+16.634	2.502	10	23
15	D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing	99		Chevrolet	267	+16.792	0.158	11	22
16	K. Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing	4		Ford	267	+20.268	3.476	10	23
17	M. McDowell Front Row Motorsports	34		Ford	267	+22.611	2.343	10	20
18	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3		Chevrolet	267	+22.678	0.067	9	19
19	C. Lajoie Spire Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	267	+23.072	0.394	10	18
20	H. Burton Wood Brothers Racing	21		Ford	267	+24.251	1.179	9	17
21	A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing	16		Chevrolet	267	+24.704	0.453	11	16
22	J. Haley Kaulig Racing	31		Chevrolet	267	+24.819	0.115	10	15
23	A. Cindric Team Penske	2		Ford	267	+26.614	1.795	9	14
24	T. Dillon Spire Motorsports	77		Chevrolet	267	+27.366	0.752	9	13
25	R. Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing	47		Chevrolet	267	+28.566	1.200	9	12
26	R. Preece Stewart-Haas Racing	41		Ford	267	+30.835	2.269	9	11
27	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	38		Ford	266	+1 Lap	1 Lap	9	10
28	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap	0.602	11	9
29	J. Yeley Rick Ware Racing	51		Ford	266	+1 Lap	7.138	9
30	B. Poole Rick Ware Racing	15		Ford	266	+1 Lap	0.265	9
31	B. McLeod Live Fast Motorsports	78		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap	6.003	9
32	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap	7.343	10	5
33	C. Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing	14		Ford	263	+4 Laps	3 Laps	11	4
34	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	259	+8 Laps	4 Laps	14	3
35	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48		Chevrolet	144	+123 Laps	115 Laps	6	2	Accident
36	C. Hocevar Legacy Motor Club	42		Chevrolet	110	+157 Laps	34 Laps	5		Accident
View full results

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