O’Reilly: Mid-Race Report: Larson Dominates in Darlington

What’s Happening?

Two stages down at the Lady in Black for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. The opening two stages belonged to Kyle Larson, who led all 90 laps of the first two green flag stints to start the race. Larson dominated the closing laps last week at Las Vegas. It appears that he has picked up where he left off with the intention to go four in a row for JR Motorsports.

With Larson appearing to be lights-out faster than the rest of the field, here’s where everyone else stands as we gear up for the final stage of the race.

Mid-Race Report

• Stage 1 belonged exclusively to polesitter Kyle Larson. Larson led the race from the drop of the green flag, leading all 45 of the opening laps. The top 3 remained consistent from the start, with Christopher Bell and Carson Kvapil finishing the stage in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. But, early on, it appeared that nobody could match the early race pace of Young Money in the JRM 88 as he picked up where he left off last week in Las Vegas.
• Points earners in the opening stage include: Carson Kvapil (8), Brandon Jones (7), Justin Allgaier (6), Parker Retzlaff (5), Jesse Love (4), William Sawalich (3), and Anthony Alfredo (2). Larson, Bell, and Chastain were ineligible to collect stage points as they are running for points in the NASCAR Cup Series.
• Though the stage ran green for its entirety, there was one incident of note in the first stage. That was when Austin Hill slapped the wall, causing significant damage to the right front fender of his No. 21 Chevrolet. Though the initial impact caused Hill to rapidly lose spots, he battled back late until the damage caused him to suffer a right front tire failure. This cost him a couple of laps under green, putting him deep in the hole for the remainder of the race.
• The opening stage was much like the first. Flag to flag, Kyle Larson led. As Christopher Bell faltered slightly, this opened the door up for Larson’s teammate, Carson Kvapil, who settled into 2nd. Also having a great run today was Parker Retzlaff, who ran in the top 10 and top 5 for most of the race. Larson won the stage without contest.
• The following drivers earned stage points in Stage 2: Carson Kvapil (9), Brandon Jones (8), Justin Allgaier (7), Parker Retzlaff (6), Anthony Alfredo (4), Corey Day (3), and William Sawalich (1).
• The only incident of note happened during the Stage 1 and Stage 2 break. Jesse Love spun on pit road, causing him to have an extremely slow stop. He managed to bounce back to 15th but could not earn any further stage points in the second stage.

What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.