Sin City sizzler! Kyle Larson wins O’Reilly Series race at Las Vegas
Column By: Reid Spencer / NASCAR MEDIA – LAS VEGAS, NV – 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!, becoming the fifth different winner in five NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races this season.
Larson crossed the finish line in Saturday’s race 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 Auto Parts Series start of the 2026 season, the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet driver registered the 18th win of his career.
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 JRM 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, with the No. 7 JRM driver sweeping the first two stages to expand his series lead over Love to 13 points.
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action next Saturday at the historic Darlington Raceway for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 (5:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
