SAD NEWS: NASCAR announced that Denny Hamlin is Leaving immediately after Facing…..
A final restart with two laps to go saw Larson line up on the outside of row two.
He gave Denny Hamlin a push, creating a two-way battle for the lead and Larson nearly took advantage, diving low and tapping eventual-winner Christopher Bell as the three cars sprinted to the line together.
“I felt like I made the correct decisions there,” Larson said.
“I thought being patient to try and keep them side-by-side down the back was good.
I could’ve shot to the bottom but I felt like I would’ve wrecked everybody there.
Just kind of gave ourselves a shot for them to maybe get into each other and us squeak by.
“Great to get a solid finish in here. It’s been kind of a struggle for us here to start the year, so happy about that.”
NASCAR provided all teams with six sets of “primary” tires and two sets of “option” tires, the latter of which provided more speed and short-run grip but also quicker wear.
That sent teams in a variety of directions in terms of pit calls.
Byron earned the 14th pole award of his career on Saturday and took advantage of the track position, guiding the No. 24 Z by HP Chevy to a stage one victory.
It marked the fourth stage win for Byron at Phoenix, his most of any track.
Byron also matched a little Cup Series history as well.
With a third-place showing in stage two, he scored points in his 19th-straight stage at Phoenix, matching Martin Truex Jr.
for the most consecutive stages at any track in the top 10. Along the way, Byron led 83 laps and is the only driver to lead in each race this season.
Both Byron and Elliott dove down pit road just under 50 laps to go but were caught by an unlucky caution flag after Bubba Wallace blew a tire and slapped the wall.
The two cars took the wave around but were forced to start at the tail end of the longest line.
Yet, both began the march forward immediately.
There would be two more caution flags which helped both in their rallies.
One flew with 23 laps to go when Ryan Blaney suffered an engine failure and then the final stoppage with eight laps remaining as Ty Gibbs blew a brake rotor.
That set up the final two-lap sprint to the end.
𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐓-𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝! 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐰
