Late charge propels Kyle Larson to O’Reilly Series win in Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- No matter the series, Las Vegas Motor Speedway agrees with Kyle Larson.

Surging into the lead from the seventh position moments after the final restart on Lap 154 of 200, Larson pulled away to win The LiUNA! on Saturday, becoming the fifth different winner in five NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series events this season.

Larson crossed the finish line 2.557 seconds ahead of Chase Briscoe, who recovered from a brush with the outside wall and resulting flat tire to finish second.

The victory was Larson's second at Las Vegas to go with three in the NASCAR Cup Series. In his first O'Reilly Series start of the season, the driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet registered the 18th win of his career in the series.

Sheldon Creed ran third, followed by series leader Justin Allgaier and Sammy Smith.

"I was a bit nervous," Larson said of the final run. "I knew the 00 (Creed) and Briscoe were ripping the top. I tried it once, and I didn't feel good up there at all.

"I don't know -- clean air just must have meant a lot today. So, glad I was able to get the lead when it mattered."

Briscoe took responsibility for the mistake that cost him a chance to win.

"Even with the adversity we were dealing with, I knew if we got a lucky break, we were going to hopefully get back up there," Briscoe said. "Honestly, it wasn't an unfortunate break with the tire -- I think it was my own fault.

"I just drove it into the fence and cost myself. I had a lot of fun. It was certainly fun slipping and sliding around the race track. You could kind of run all over. I had a blast."

Jesse Love ran sixth in one of the fastest cars in the race. Love led 36 laps and was first off pit road after stops on Lap 120. But his team incurred a safety violation when a crew member fell over the wall on that stop, and Love restarted 32nd under penalty. A determined charge through the field earned the sixth-place finish.

Creed's third-place run was not without incident. On Lap 148, a tap from Creed's front bumper sent Taylor Gray's Toyota rocketing into the Turn 3 wall and out of the race as the drivers were battling for second.

"I just got into him," Creed said. "I was trying to pack some air. I didn't know he was that close to the 17 (eighth-place finisher Corey Day). I could have cut him more of a break there, and I didn't. That's not the way I wanted to race him."

Connor Zilisch ran seventh as the fourth JR Motorsports driver in the top seven. Day in eighth scored his fourth consecutive top 10 after leading nine laps before the Creed/Gray accident caused the eighth and final caution.

William Sawalich finished ninth, and Daytona winner Austin Hill ran 10th.

Allgaier led a race-high 48 laps to Larson's 47 and swept the first two stages to expand his series lead over Love to 13 points.

NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Race -- The LiUNA!

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Las Vegas, Nevada

Saturday, March 14, 2026

1. (2) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 200.

2. (23) Chase Briscoe(i), Toyota, 200.

3. (3) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 200.

4. (9) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200.

5. (4) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 200.

6. (7) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 200.

7. (17) Connor Zilisch(i), Chevrolet, 200.

8. (11) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 200.

9. (14) William Sawalich, Toyota, 200.

10. (13) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 200.

11. (18) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 200.

12. (12) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 200.

13. (5) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 200.

14. (29) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 200.

15. (27) Daniel Dye(i), Ford, 200.

16. (32) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 200.

17. (24) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 200.

18. (16) Cole Custer(i), Chevrolet, 200.

19. (8) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 200.

20. (26) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 199.

21. (22) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, 199.

22. (33) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 199.

23. (38) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 199.

24. (10) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 199.

25. (19) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 199.

26. (30) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, 199.

27. (15) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 199.

28. (37) Mason Maggio, Chevrolet, 199.

29. (36) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 199.

30. (35) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 198.

31. (25) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 198.

32. (34) Nathan Byrd, Chevrolet, 198.

33. (20) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 197.

34. (31) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 197.

35. (1) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 196.

36. (28) Chandler Smith(i), Ford, Ignition, 184.

37. (6) Taylor Gray, Toyota, Accident, 148.

38. (21) Nick Sanchez, Ford, Fuel Pump, 141.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 116.82 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 34 Mins, 5 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.557 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 8 for 42 laps.

Lead Changes: 16 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: S. Mayer 1-5;S. Creed 6;S. Mayer 7-33;J. Allgaier 34-48;C. Briscoe(i) 49;J. Love 50-56;T. Gray 57;J. Love 58-64;J. Allgaier 65-93;C. Briscoe(i) 94;J. Love 95-104;J. Allgaier 105-108;J. Love 109-120;T. Gray 121-140;C. Day 141-149;B. Jones 150-153;K. Larson(i) 154-200.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Justin Allgaier 3 times for 48 laps; Kyle Larson(i) 1 time for 47 laps; Jesse Love 4 times for 36 laps; Sam Mayer 2 times for 32 laps; Taylor Gray 2 times for 21 laps; Corey Day 1 time for 9 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 4 laps; Chase Briscoe(i) 2 times for 2 laps; Sheldon Creed 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 7,41,19,54,00,2,88,17,0,20

Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,19,54,2,88,00,17,1,21,9

--By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.