SONOMA, Calif. — Kyle Larson led 53 laps, swept the stages and seemed well on his way to the win in Saturday’s inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Sonoma Raceway.
Fate thought otherwise.
Chasing Aric Almirola in an attempt to reclaim the lead with eight laps to go, Larson clipped a tire bundle in the center of Turn 11, knocking the wheel out of Larson’s hand and forcing his No. 17 Chevrolet wide. Larson fell from second to third as AJ Allmendinger capitalized on Larson’s mistake, and Larson could not recover.
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“I just got a little too greedy there trying to get low through 11,” Larson said. “If you can get your right sides underneath the rumble strips, it’s worth a lot of speed and grip and just got a little too greedy.
“Yanked the wheel out of my hand, and then even after that, the toe was bent. So yeah, just was tight to the left after that and then really loose in the rights, which really hurt my shot of having any more chance to win.”
After a late caution for a crash by Jeffrey Earnhardt in Turn 10, Larson was caught behind leader Alex Labbe and Daniel Suárez on the restart after the duo opted not to pit. Larson’s lane stacked up, allowing Almirola and Allmendinger to get past the No. 17. Larson quickly worked past Allmendinger and set sail for Almirola, but the opportunity to pass Almirola’s No. 28 RSS Racing Ford never materialized.
“When I was behind (Almirola), he was better than me off of a couple of important corners, and then I just couldn’t get close enough to him,” Larson said. “So (Turn) 11 was really the best chance for me to kind of build a run throughout a whole lap. That’s why I was getting really greedy over there and just ended up biting me.”
The result was a win for Almirola, the first for RSS Racing, which has an alliance with Stewart-Haas Racing. Team co-owner and driver Ryan Sieg, who piloted the No. 39 Ford to a 28th-place finish, had no idea until he hopped out of his car behind his hauler in the Xfinity Series garage.
“It pays the bills,” Sieg said with a laugh. “It’s a great day. It’s pretty special to do it here with Ford and everybody helping out, Stewart-Haas. It’s a great day for RSS Racing and great points day. … Just not a lot of words to say. It’s a great day. Pretty exceptional to come out here and win. We’re pretty excited. We just found out when this guy told me here, so I didn’t even know.
“At least RSS is a winner now. Too bad it’s not me,” he laughed.