The penultimate race of the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series season took place at the 1.0-mile Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) on Saturday, November 14, 2015. Kyle Larson was behind the wheel of the No. 42 ENEOS Chevrolet Camaro for the 200-mile race. Larson started ninth and worked his way to a race-high sixth by lap 34. After the race’s final caution on lap 114, the remaining 80 laps were run under the green flag forcing the ENEOS Chevy team to stretch fuel to the finish. Fighting a loose condition the remainder of the race, Larson brought the car home in 15th-position
During Friday’s practice sessions, Larson’s team worked to improve a loose handling car as they prepared for Saturday’s qualifying session and the race. After advancing through all three rounds of qualifying, Larson would start in the ninth position, equaling his best in an XFINITY Series car at PIR.
At the drop of the green, Larson drove his way quickly towards the front. By lap 34, he was running in a race-high sixth position. Although pleased with the car on a long runs, Larson reported he was too loose on restarts. The ill-handling car cost the young driver several positions during the second half of the race, relegating him to outside the top-10. The race’s final 80 laps were run under green, forcing the team to conserve fuel to the finish. Larson brought the car home with a 15th-place finish.
[recent_works picture_size=”fixed” layout=”carousel” boxed_text=”boxed” filters=”yes” columns=”1″ cat_slug=”phoenix-2015″ exclude_cats=”” number_posts=”10″ excerpt_length=”35″ animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ class=”” id=””][/recent_works]
Results (with starting position) from the DAV 200 at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR)
1. (1) No. 54 Busch, Toyota
2. (4) No. 22 Keselowski, Ford
3. (3) No. 20 Jones, Toyota
15. (9) No. 42 Larson, ENEOS Chevrolet Camaro
NOTES OF INTEREST:
- This was Larson’s 13th XFINITY Series start of 2015
- The race was slowed by three cautions for 18 laps
QUOTE BOARD
Kyle Larson – No. 42 ENEOS Chevrolet Camaro: – “We had a long day with our ENEOS Chevy today. We started out moving towards the front, but as the race continued we steadily fell back. The lack of cautions didn’t give us enough opportunities to improve the handling of the car. I look forward to next week’s race in Homestead. It’s one of my favorite tracks and I will be driving the same car I did in Texas that led so many laps.”
NEXT WEEK
The NASCAR XFINITY Series will move to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend. Catch practice Friday Nov. 20, at 1:30 p.m. EST. Qualifying will take place on Saturday at 11:15 a.m. EST, both on NBC Sports Network. Race coverage will take place Nov. 21, at 3:00 p.m. EST. NBC Sports Network, Sirius/XM NASCAR Channel 90 and MRN affiliated radio stations will have live coverage of the event.