American Racing News Vol 1, Issue 2 Issue 5 | Page 31

Feature Story | American Racing News |

Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

Adding fuel to his fire, Larson was docked one lap by
NASCAR for intentionally causing the yellow after spinning and stopping on the race track.
Two cautions later, however, Larson found himself back
on the lead lap courtesy of the free pass and his mission
to rally from the back to the front began.
Chasing down Pierce for the race lead, Larson took advantage of Pierce's transmission being stuck in fourth
gear to take the lead with 30 laps to go, Pierce attempted
to take the lead back three laps later, but slammed the
outside Turn 4 wall, ending his night and bringing out the
final caution of the event.
Despite a late race charge from Bell on the restart, Larson pulled away as the laps dwindled away and earned a
0.767-second advantage to win his second NCWTS race
in his 12th start.
"I guess I didn't really hold him (Pierce) off, he slid in
there and hit the wall and got a flat I think," Larson said.

"I hated that I couldn't race with him, but I was happy
when he was out. I almost gave it away again after that
restart. I went to the middle of three and four in third
gear and I missed a shift off Turn 4 and Bell got into my
back bumper. Thankfully, he wasn't inside of me, because he would have got the lead there and probably
would be standing where I am."
Bell, last year's winner, was disappointed with second
but knew he gained crucial points towards his championship chase.
"Tony (Stewart, Eldora Speedway owner) did an awesome job with the race track tonight," said Bell. "It was
really technical, it was really tough to get around and it
was really fun, too. Kyle's been trying to win this race for
a long time and it was cool for him to win tonight. The
guys at KBM ( Kyle Busch Motorsports) worked really
hard to put me in this position. I was disappointed we
couldn't repeat."