By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
Last year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway produced the second closest finish in series history, but that likely won’t be repeated with Kyle Larson in the field this year.
Sam Mayer beat Ryan Sieg to the finish line by 0.002 seconds last spring in a drag race to the stripe. Larson, on the other hand, prefers to win by as large a margin as possible, as he did in April at Bristol, where he led 276 laps and won by 2.054 seconds in his second Xfinity start of the season.
Larson, however, won’t be in the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
In fact, he wasn’t scheduled to race at all until JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch withdrew because of a back injury he sustained in a hard crash at Talladega.
As a consequence, Larson will be driving the No. 88 JRM Camaro, competing against teammate and series leader Justin Allgaier.
“Texas has been a strong track for us the last few years,” said Allgaier, who finished third behind Mayer and Sieg last spring. “We were close last year, and I know that we are going to have that same speed when we unload on Friday.
“Everyone on this Jarrett team is ready to go, and we know what we need to do to be just those couple spots better at the end on Saturday.”
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: Andy’s Frozen Custard 300
The Place: Texas Motor Speedway
Track Length: 1.5 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Saturday, May 3
The Time: 2 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,651,939
TV: CW, 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 300 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)
Where To Watch NASCAR This Week:
Friday, May 2
NXS Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying (CW App at 5 p.m. ET)
NCTS Race: SpeedyCash.com 250 (FS1, NRN, SiriusXM at 8 p.m. ET)
Saturday, May 3
NCS Practice & Busch Light Pole Qualifying (Amazon Prime, PRN, SiriusXM at 11 a.m. ET)
NXS Race: Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 (CW, PRN, SiriusXM at 2 p.m. ET)
Sunday, May 4
NCS Race: Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM at 3:30 p.m. ET)
