Frustrated early after pit-road contact with Daniel Suarez’s machine, Kyle Larson took advantage of a rapid final pit stop and outdueled Hendrick Motorsports’ teammate Josh Berry to claim Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.
The 2021 NACAR Cup Series champion, Larson earned his 20th career victory. It also handed substitute crew chief Kevin Meendering his first win. Larson, who compiled two top-five finishes in the opening six events, qualified for the playoffs with his first trip to Victory Lane this season.
“It’s really cool, we’ve been close to winning a couple,’’ Larson told Fox Sports. “Things just worked out. My pit crew had a great stop.’’
Contact. 😦 pic.twitter.com/0tbS2fUPbW
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 2, 2023
Kyle Larson Moves to Front With Quick Pit Stop
Paced by Larson, Hendrick Motorsports dominated the field as Berry placed a career-best second. William Byron led the field for 50 of the opening 75 rotations and claimed his Cup-high fifth stage win.
Byron, who is the lone driver to win twice this season, appeared he would continue to challenge his teammates during Stage 3, but he was taken out by Christopher Bell on Lap 381. He placed 24th.
“So I was just kind of restarting fourth there and trying to stay tight to the 9 (Berry) and get a good restart,” Byron said, as reported by NBC Sports. “I just got tagged in the left rear. So, yeah, just a dive bomb move on the inside on (Bell’s) part and it is what it is.”
With Byron fronting the pack on Lap 370, Martin Truex Jr. came up and started mixing it up with the leader before last week’s winner, Tyler Reddick, spun out on the backstretch.
The caution period provided the leaders with a final opportunity to pit and take on four fresh tires. Larson emerged as the new front-runner and Byron fell back to fourth.
On the restart, Byron’s accident set up the field for a final dash to the start/finish line.
DRIVER OF THE DAY! 👏 @joshberry, filling in for @chaseelliott, scores a runner-up finish in the @NASCAR Cup race at @RichmondRaceway. pic.twitter.com/ElkrBAVm0i
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) April 2, 2023
Josh Berry: ‘Man, what a huge day … Pretty Cool’
During the final restart, Larson started on the inside of the front row, next to Berry. Larson and Berry battle side-by-side on Lap 387, but Larson and his No. 5 Chevrolet pulled ahead along the backstretch.
Five laps later, he led by 0.8 seconds and cruised to the checkered flag. Larson led the event four times for 93 laps. Since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, Larson has earned 14 wins, twice as many as any other Cup driver. It was the 294th career victory for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based organization.
“Man, this is really cool,” Berry said of his runner-up finish.
Berry is filling in for injured Chase Elliott and has compiled three consecutive top-10 finishes, despite early trouble Sunday. He overcame no track practice and qualifying because of rainy conditions.
“Man, what a huge day,” Berry said. “You know, to come here and start in the back, no practice, qualifying, get spun out, work through the field like that, just second place, it’s pretty cool.”
Ross Chastain placed third and Bell fourth. Chastain said his No. 1 Chevrolet didn’t have enough to maintain pace with Larson.
“Hats off to the 5 team, Kyle, and everyone at HMS,” said Chastain, who trails Hendrick Motorsports diver and standings leader Alex Bowman by four points entering next week’s clash on the Bristol dirt.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
