Kyle Larson returned to the seat of the No. 42 ENEOS Chevrolet Camaro for the third-time in 2015 to defend his Drive4Clots.com 300 crown from 2014. In two prior starts at ACS, Larson has finished no worse than sixth.
Larson and several other cars were involved in an accident during final practice after running through oil from another competitor. The team was able to prepare the backup car in time to get it on the track for at least a short time.
Larson started 11th after advancing through all three rounds of knockout qualifying. The 150-lap race was highlighted by several long green flag runs, however, within the first 20 laps of the race, Larson was able to make his way into the top-10. He reported during most of the race his car was tight in the center and off the turns. Larson’s crew made minor adjustments to the handling of the car, which was to his liking.
Larson ran a race-high sixth with less than 50 laps to go and was able to remain in the top-10. He would ultimately end up finishing 7th, marking his third top-10 finish in as many XFINITY Series starts.
Results (with starting position) from the Drive4Clots.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway (ACS)
1. (6) No. 88 Harvick, Chevrolet Camaro
2. (8) No. 62 Gaughan, Chevrolet Camaro
3. (1) No. 20 Jones, Toyota
7. (11) No. 42 Larson, ENEOS Chevrolet Camaro
NOTES OF INTEREST:
• This was Larson’s third XFINITY Series start of 2015 and 64th of his career
• Larson has scored top-10 finishes in his three XFINITY Series starts in 2015
• The race was slowed by three cautions for 12 laps
HSMCG QUOTE BOARD
Kyle Larson – No. 42 ENEOS Chevrolet Camaro: – “Once again, a big thank you to all my ENEOS guys who thrashed to get the backup car ready and back on track yesterday. We had a solid race car today, but lacked a little speed at the start of a run. The car started a little tight and (Crew Chief) Mike (Shiplett) did a nice job of loosening the car up without going overboard. It would have been great to win at Auto Club Speedway in back-to-back years, but considering the challenges of the weekend, we will take a seventh-place.”
NEXT WEEK
The NASCAR XFINITY Series’ next race will be in two weeks at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS). Catch practice Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. EDT. Qualifying will take place on Friday at 4:45 p.m. EDT. The O’ Reilly Auto Parts 300 will take placeApr. 21, at 8:30 p.m. EDT. FOX Sports 1, Sirius/XM NASCAR Channel 90 and PRN affiliated radio stations will have live coverage of the event.
HSCOTT MOTORSPORTS WITH CHIP GANASSI
HScott Motorsports, which was established in 1989 as Phoenix Racing, is owned and operated by Harry Scott Jr. and competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with technical support from Hendrick Motorsports. The team competes full time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with Justin Allgaier driving the No. 51 BRANDT Chevrolet and Michael Annett driving the Pilot Flying J Chevrolet. Scott also owns HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi, which fields the No. 42 Camaro in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, and is the co-owner of HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks, which fields five entries in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. His vision is to build a championship contender by developing talented young drivers, partnering with dedicated sponsors and competing hard every week.