Kyle Larson won on Saturday the inaugural Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway, making it his first win of this NASCAR season after some close moments before. The race was shortened due to weather reasons, and Larson was followed by Erik Jones and Ty Dillon for the second and third place, respectively.
Larson led 27 of the 53 shortened laps, which were originally 100. The race was called 1 hour and 35 minutes after the red flag came out, as reported by the Chron. The young pilot had been previously near the victory in both Sprint Cup and the second-tier Xfinity Series but failed.
“These rain races, a lot of it is luck,” Larson said. “I have not had a lot of luck this year, or my NASCAR career. Hopefully, the luck has turned and maybe we can start winning some Cup races, as well.”
The rain started just as Jones had reached the back bumper of Larson, who was on older tires and had only put fuel on the 32nd lap. Larson has yet to win at Sprint Cup on Sunday at Pocono as well.
The race always unfolds being either strategy or a race where the restarts dictate who wins, said pole-sitter Brad Keselowski while commenting about the weather affecting policy before the season officially started.
“Those things come to mind and they are a little more of a crapshoot. It feels a little more like Talladega to me than it does a lot of our other racetracks. There are some things you control and a lot that you cannot,” he added
Keselowski said that their approach for the weekend is shifting and adjusting based on how the rules package flows and how their team developments flow. And Pocono always seems to line up where the first Pocono, he said while assuring they are a lot less competitive than the second Pocono for an unknown reason.
A weather alert on Sunday
The race to be held on this Sunday in Pocono has some increased rain probabilities as well, according to some local weather reports from Pennsylvania. Rain is forecast at the 21/2-mile track in the Pocono Mountains, about 100 miles north of Philadelphia, as reported by Tampabay.
Although the rain was initially predicted for the morning, the weather continues to be challenging for the race, which is scheduled to begin at 1:00 pm. Any delay in the schedule would mean another shortened race like the one held on Saturday.
However, if the rain is too loud and persisting at the Pocono track, the race is likely to be moved to Monday because the place does not have any light. Xfinity race was held for the first time at Pocono this weekend, although the track has held two Sprint Cup race weekends and added the Truck series in 2010.
Source: Bleach Report