Kyle Larson goes from last to first for Xfinity win at Chicagoland

Larson, who won the pole but had to start from the rear of the field due to an unapproved tire change, cruised to a lopsided win over Kevin Harvick in Saturday’s Overton’s 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.

The win is Larson’s second of the season on just three starts and 10th of his career.

“There is always hope with this team. They always make it a lot better for the race. Hats off to them,” Larson said. “Thanks to all fans for coming out. It’s super-hot outside and in the car. Glad to finally get the win here at Chicago.

“I can’t say enough about this race car. We were really bad yesterday (in practice).”

Larson used his appearance in the race this week to honor Sprint car driver Jason Jordan, who died last week from injuries sustained in a World of Outlaws event at Beaver Dam Raceway in Wisconsin.

Daniel Suarez finished third, Cole Custer ended up fourth and Daniel Hemric completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 10 were Elliott Sadler, Justin Allgaier, Paul Menard, Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott.

With less than 35 of 200 laps remaining, Larson was the leader as a final round of green-flag pit stops began – the last stops teams would need to complete the distance on fuel.

Contender Christopher Bell was penalized for speeding on pit road during his stop and had to make a pass-thru penalty. “Sorry guys,” Bell said to his team over the radio.

Custer overshot his pit box during his pit stop which resulted in a very slow stop.

Once the cycle of stops was completed with 20 laps remaining, Larson moved back into the lead followed by Harvick, Suarez, Hemric and Custer.

With 10 laps to go, Larson still held a lead over of eight seconds over Harvick.

Stage 2

Larson, who started the race from the rear of the field, held off Harvick to claim the Stage 2 victory.

Bell finished third, Custer was fourth and Paul Menard completed the top-five.

During the break between Stages 1 and 2, Harvick was the first off pit road and took over the race lead when Stage 2 went green on Lap 52. He was followed by Bell and Hemric.

Tyler Reddick’s team had a slow pit stop and lined up 11th on the restart.

Bell quickly got around Harvick after the restart to take the lead for the first time in the race.

On Lap 59, Menard moved into the third position with Larson fourth and Allgaier in fifth.

With 22 to go in the stage, Harvick moved up to Bell’s rear bumper and challenged for the lead. But with 19 to go, Larson went three-wide to the high side of both Bell and Harvick and slid into the lead for the first time.

With less than five laps left in the stage Larson had already built up a more than four second lead over Harvick.

“Still too loose,” Harvick said to his team over the radio.

Stage 1

Reddick easily held off Bell to claim the Stage 1 victory which was the first stage win of his career.

Harvick finished third, Suarez was fourth and Hemric completed the top-five.

Reddick took the early lead on the first lap and on Lap 2 Kaz Grala’s No. 61 lost power and he immediately returned to pit road and then went to the garage.

With 33 laps remaining in Stage 1, Suarez powered around Reddick to take the lead for the first time.

On Lap 26, Reddick was able to get back around Suarez on the high side to retake the lead as Suarez dropped to the runner-up position with Harvick third.

With 15 laps remaining in the stage, Reddick continued to hold the lead followed by Harvick and Bell. Suarez had fallen to fourth.

With five laps left in the stage, Reddick held almost a one second advantage over Harvick.

Four cars had to start the race from the rear of the field. Larson, the pole winner, Custer and Vinnie Miller went to the back for unapproved tire changes. Ross Chastain started from the back for unapproved adjustments.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	200		81
2	98	Kevin Harvick	Ford	200	8.030	38
3	00	Cole Custer	Ford	200	9.559
4	18	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	200	11.663	13
5	21	Daniel Hemric	Chevrolet	200	13.122
6	1	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	200	15.170
7	7	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	200	18.303
8	22	Paul Menard	Ford	200	20.304
9	60	Chase Briscoe	Ford	200	26.307	2
10	23	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	200	27.044
11	19	Brandon Jones	Toyota	200	28.258	11
12	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	199	1 lap	21
13	4	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
14	12	Austin Cindric	Ford	199	1 lap
15	11	Ryan Truex	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
16	2	Matt Tifft	Chevrolet	199	16.014
17	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
18	38	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	197	3 laps
19	0	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	196	4 laps
20	39	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	196	4 laps
21	36	Alex Labbé	Chevrolet	196	4 laps
22	35	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	195	5 laps
23	52	David Starr	Chevrolet	194	6 laps
24	8	Jones Blake	Chevrolet	194	6 laps
25	15	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	191	9 laps
26	55	Brandon Hightower	Toyota	190	10 laps
27	01	Vinnie Miller	Chevrolet	178	22 laps
28	78	Scott Heckert	Chevrolet	146	54 laps
29	76	Spencer Boyd	Chevrolet	134	66 laps
30	5	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	130	70 laps
31	90	Josh Williams	Chevrolet	117	83 laps
32	16	Ryan Reed	Ford	105	95 laps
33	9	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	99	101 laps	35
34	3	Jeb Burton	Chevrolet	99	101 laps
35	45	Josh Bilicki	Toyota	83	117 laps
36	66	John Jackson	Chevrolet	63	137 laps
37	13	Timmy Hill	Toyota	52	148 laps
38	40	Chad Finchum	Toyota	23	177 laps
39	93	Jeff Green	Chevrolet	2	198 laps
40	61	Kaz Grala	Ford	1	199 laps