Kyle Larson surprised everyone as he claimed the recently concluded NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race win at the Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday. The win came as a breath of fresh air amid his winless streak in the Cup Series, where he has yet to win a race in over a year.

"Well, I really didn’t think I had a chance there with Justin behind me," Larson told the media after the win. "He was really good at catching me there in the long run after the green flag dropped. I was just hoping in the clean air I could kind of stretch away, like I did in the run before, to start stage three, but, yeah, I don’t know. He was just really good behind me."

Larson started the race in third place and remained in the same place in Stage 1. He went on to finish Stage 2 in fourth place, only to take the lead in the third stage and win the race. He led 93 laps and denied Allgaier the victory, who led 54 laps.

Larson's win came at a time when the Hendrick Motorsports driver was desperate to grab a win in the Cup Series. His last victory came at Kansas Speedway in May last year, and at this point, he is undergoing a 34-race winless streak.

While Larson did everything on his part to win a race, it did not result in a fulfilling outcome. When he returned to Kansas Speedway this year, he arrived with a mindset to win, only to fail, once again.

Kyle Larson wanted to win at Kansas, but failed

When Kyle Larson returned to Kansas this year, he came with a mindset to win. However, his efforts were cut short as Tyler Reddick pipped him to victory and won the race by 0.118 seconds.

"It's kind of wild to think that, yeah, it's almost been a year since I've won," Larson said ahead of the race. "I don't feel like we're that bad. I think ultimately celebrating the championship in Phoenix felt like a win in a lot of ways."

"But yeah, ultimately, I mean, we want to get back to Victory Lane. We're working as hard as we ever have worked, I feel like, as a group. We want to win. It's just gotten really tough for whatever reason," Larson further added.

After the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race victory, his focus now will be on the Cup Series race at the Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. It will be interesting to see if he finally manages to win a race.

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason