WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — It looked to be a battle between William Byron and Ty Gibbs for the win on Saturday afternoon at Watkins Glen International, until it wasn’t.
Heading towards the bus stop with five laps to go, Gibbs held his ground on the outside of Byron.
Then, Gibbs hopped up on the inside curb, sweeping himself and the No. 17 Chevrolet off of the racing surface.
Through the clear path, Kyle Larson would hold off hard charges from A.J. Allmendinger and rookie Sammy Smith in the final four laps to win his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race on a road course.
“I knew, me not being as fast as those two, my only opportunity was gonna be if they got racing,” Larson said. “Selfishly, it worked out great for me. You would’ve liked to see us all three maybe get to race for more than just a quarter of a lap. Got the lead there, had to try and not make any big mistakes to let A.J. (Allmendinger) get a run on me.”
Larson’s victory at The Glen is JR Motorsports’ ninth of the season as an organization, the most for the team since 2014.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., co-owner of JR Motorsports, was ecstatic about the victory, though the two-time Daytona 500 winner knows how quickly momentum can change in the sport.
“It doesn’t last forever. Enjoy it while it’s going on,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Somebody else will be doing this in a very short period of time. Could be as early as the playoffs, next year. Not many teams stay on top for very long. There’s a lot of very tight quarters in the garages. Not a lot of secrets stay secrets for too long. We’re real happy with the performance, we worked real hard, and we’re gonna try and keep going. Like I said, you don’t stay up on top for too long around this sport.”
Amidst the jubilation of victory for the JR Motorsports team, left the agony of defeat for others.
After their contact in the bus stop late in the race, Byron took out his frustration on Gibbs, turning the No. 54 as the lead pack scampered off in the distance.
“We had a good start and he (Byron) kind of washed up a little bit, but we had a good start,” Gibbs said. “I stayed side-by-side with him and I felt like I had a good side draft going with him heading into the bus stop to where it helped me get position. And I remember coming to I think, however many laps to go so I feel like if I just let him by, it was game over.
“I had good position, I just didn’t put myself in a good spot on the curbs and and it just got me loose, I washed up into him and wrecked us both. It was my fault, but I was going for the win. I didn’t just want to pull over and let him go. Sorry to the 17 guys and to William. We put on a great show and I feel like he raced me well and I raced him well until I wrecked him. It was a good battle.”
Though the two drivers talked it over, without any heated exchange on pit road.
“He (Byron) just came up to me and asked me where I was going. I told him my side. I feel like he told me his side. I feel like I got pinched up on the curb so hard. I feel like the bus stop is not made for two cars to go through at the same time. I was going for the win and it was my fault.”
One of the stars of the race was 18-year-old rookie Smith.
Smith charged to the Stage 1 victory and ran up front for the entirety of the race before finishing third.
“I learned a lot. It was a good day overall,” Smith said. “We had a good day as a team and I was able to capitalize. The last few races I didn’t feel like I was able to capitalize and I feel like I did a better job today. Looking forward to Daytona next week.”
For Smith, it was his first career top-10 finish in Xfinity Series competition in his fourth career start.
The race saw eight cautions for 23 laps, with an average race speed of 77.651 miles per hour.