NASCAR driver Kyle Larson started his week of racing in Las Vegas with a win in the High Limits Racing Series season opener Thursday night at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Larson continued his winning on Saturday.
The Cup Series regular won the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series The LiUNA race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Larson, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, worked his way to the front late and led the final 47 laps.
“My car was not handling the best at all,” Larson said. “I was just super tight. I couldn’t carry any speed through the corners and I was getting ate up on restarts.
“That last restart, we had some guys stay out and I had a good launch, was able to get to the middle and get some clean air.”
Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe finished second, 2.557 seconds behind Larson, and Sheldon Creed was the highest-finishing series regular in third.
“Me being able to run the line that allowed my front tires to build where they need to allow my car to be OK on the long run, I think helped,” Larson said. “I was a bit nervous because I knew (Creed) and Briscoe were ripping the top, so glad we were able to pick our way through traffic well enough.”
Larson, who qualified fifth for Sunday’s Cup Series Pennzoil 400 race in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, was 21st in practice early Saturday and then qualified second.
Larson didn’t lead any laps early and was never battling for the lead. Then with 53 laps to go, Creed, in third place, hit Tanner Gray in second place driving into Turn 3 to cause a caution.
After a final round of pit stops during the caution, Larson restarted seventh and quickly made his way to the lead.
“I was just an average mid-pack guy for most of (the race). … Clean air must have meant a lot today, so I’m glad we were able to get the lead when it mattered,” said Larson, who raced in the third night at the High Limits Racing Series at the dirt track late Saturday night.
Justin Allgaier (237 points) won Stage 1 and 2 and finished fourth while leading a race-high 48 laps. Allgaier maintains a 13-point lead over Jesse Love, who finished sixth, in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series drivers standings.
Busch looks for good run at home
Las Vegas native Kyle Busch is seeking his first top-10 run of the season. He’s also looking to snap his long winless drought.
Busch’s last win was at Gateway in 2023 and his drought stands at 97 races. The 40-year-old is in his fourth season for Richard Childress Racing, and he’s looking to get back into the NASCAR playoffs after missing it in the last two seasons.
On Saturday, Busch qualified 24th (29.455 seconds, 183.331 mph). He finished eighth in last year’s South Point 400 at LVMS on Oct. 12.
Busch is looking for a better spring race at Las Vegas. He finished 33rd at last year’s Pennzoil 400 after qualifying fourth when Busch had a right rear wheel come off and ruined a chance at a top-10 finish.
“Just (trying) to kind of get a basis of where you stack up against the field,” Busch said at a news conference Saturday at LVMS before Cup Series practice and qualifying.
“Trying to pinpoint what allows us to be quicker and what allows us to be further up the pylon to compete, that’s what we got to work on here this weekend to get ourselves in tune with the rest of the year.”
Sunday’s race is the first for Busch and his Chevrolet teammates with a new body to the Camaro ZL1 Cup Series car that was aimed at enhancing the car’s aerodynamics. Las Vegas will be the first 1½-mile track for the new body to see how it performs at intermediate tracks.
“These cars are so aero-sensitive, it’s crazy,” Busch said. “Some of the aero numbers that we have from last year to this year — to this year — those are different. That’s kind of steering us in a little bit different direction as far as setup goes for the racecar.
“It’s not always as easy as just copy and paste from the previous year.”
Busch’s racing schedule this weekend was a little lighter with the driver not participating in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, and no Craftsman Truck Series race this weekend.
Busch said he would have run the Truck Series race if it were here this weekend and is hopeful the series returns in the future. Which is likely because Busch thinks the series puts on great racing at the track.
“Unfair question to the hometown boy, certainly on the higher end of the spectrum for sure,” Busch said when asked where he thinks LVMS ranks among the best tracks for the Truck Series.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
