Larson Secures Seventh Top 10 In a Row With Seventh Place at Kentucky Speedway

Kentucky Speedway is one of only a few race tracks on the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) schedule that Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Kyle Larson has already raced at, as he made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at the 1.5-mile track in 2012. Larson used the experience he had from previously racing at Kentucky Speedway to work his way up from a starting spot of 21st to finish in seventh place as the skies opened up and forced the Feed The Children 300 to finish 30 laps early. This is Larson’s seventh top-10 finish in a row and 10th overall in 2013.

 

In practice, Larson and the Clear Men’s team focused on setting up their No. 32 Chevrolet Camaro for the NNS race and headed into qualifying happy with their car. After qualifying not as well as expected, Larson placed the No. 32 Clear Men’s Camaro 21st on the grid for the scheduled 200-lap event. When the green flag turned the field loose, Larson remained patient and picked off positions when they came to him. It wasn’t until lap 40 that Larson first broke into the top 15 and when he did, he was running quicker lap times than the leader. On Lap 47, Larson reported to his Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) crew that the No. 32 Chevy was too tight on exit but especially too free entering Turn 3. The TSM crew got the opportunity to adjust on Larson’s car on lap 50, when he came in for a green-flag pitstop. Unfortunately, the caution came out one lap later, in the middle of the pit cycle, forcing Larson to take the wave around and trapping him in the back of the line up.

 

Just past the halfway mark, Larson worked his way into the top 10 while still battling a loose-handling racecar. On lap 124, crew chief Trent Owens called his driver back down pit road to take four fresh tires and make a chassis adjustment in an effort to tighten up his driver for the remaining laps of the race.Larson went back racing for a top 10, maintaining his position through a couple fierce three-wide battles. As the field entered their fuel window, they got the opportunity to top off their fuel tanks when the yellow flag was once again displayed on lap 142. The Clear Men’s team topped off Larson’s fuel tank, and gave him two Goodyear Eagle tires, ensuring that the team could make it to the finish.

 

Restarting in the sixth position, Larson made a move on the top of three wide into Turn 1 that vaulted him into the fourth spot. However, as the laps continued to wind down, Larson relinquished some spots to the teams that had taken four tires. While running in the seventh position on Lap 164, the yellow flag was displayed for rain drops. The field continued to run around the 1.5-mile oval under caution until the red flag was displayed on lap 170. The rain continued, ending for the Feed The Children 300 30 laps short of the scheduled 200-lap distance. Larson finished in seventh, securing his seventh top-10 finish in a row and qualifying for one of four spots in the Nationwide Dash4Cash program. The rookie will go to Daytona International Speedway next week with a chance of winning $100,000 dollars.

 

“It was another great night for our entire Clear Men’s/Turner Scott Motorsports team,” said Larson. “We didn’t have the qualifying effort that we were looking for, but we knew that we had a great car in race trim, we just had to stay patient and work our way to the front. It’s unfortunate that it rained tonight, because I think we could have gotten a top five, but we’ll definitely take this seventh place and go back to Daytona and try to get our first Nationwide win.”

 

TSM PR