By Matt Crider, Staff Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas — A race weekend marked by duels between teammates kept its theme Saturday afternoon in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Texas Motor Speedway.
Kyle Larson held off the hard-charging Justin Allgaier to win the Andy’s Frozen Custard 340. Both drivers were in Chevrolets fielded by JR Motorsports, the O’Reilly powerhouse owned by Kelley Earnhardt Miller, Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Larson’s No. 88 Camaro completed the 200-lap, 300-mile race in 2 hours, 25 minutes, 23 seconds. After one last lunge on the final circuit, Allgaier trailed at the line by almost 0.3 seconds.
“He was way faster than me,” Larson said. “It was just tough. He was always kind of coming at me with a big run. I was surprised at how high he could run through [Turns] 1 and 2 and even 3 and 4.
“It just seemed like he had way more grip than me. I didn’t feel like my balance was all that terrible that run, but he was building such big runs behind me.”
Fellow Chevy team Spire Motorsports took the top two spots in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race and Saturday’s Cup Series qualifying session, with Carson Hocevar prevailing in each battle.
Larson defended his TMS victory from 2025. In 10 NOAPS starts at the track, his three wins have come in his last four attempts, dating to his victory in the fall of 2016. He’s posted six top-10 finishes in Fort Worth.
For the season, Larson is 4-for-4 when it comes to top-five finishes. After a win at Las Vegas, he was fourth at Darlington and second at Bristol.
Allgaier has been on a roll at TMS but has yet to win. He has 16 top-10s in 29 starts with eight top-fives. He’s finished in the top five in six of his last eight races here and seven of the last 10.
Sam Mayer finished third in the Andy’s Frozen Custard Chevy. Andy’s is celebrating its 40th anniversary, which is why the race was designated as a “340.”
Brent Crews was fourth in a Toyota. There were no Fords entered in the event.
Crews was part of one of the race highlights. Larson was racing to the inside of Connor Zilisch for the lead when Crews made a run at them. Crews made it three-wide in Turns 3 and 4 but got sideways as they emptied onto the frontstretch. That allowed all three cars to escape potential carnage, and Larson scooted to the point.
“The weather was absolutely gorgeous today. It warmed up from yesterday, so it was a little bit tougher in the car,” Crews said. “This Mobil 1 Toyota GR Supra was as fast as it could be. I just needed a little bit more there at the end. It just got a little bit tight, but I had a blast there at the end getting to race Larson and Allgaier and Sam.”