Six days after winning the K&N East Championship, Kyle Larson nearly won his first career Camping World Truck Series race at Phoenix International Raceway in just his third start on the circuit.
An inopportune caution with four laps remaining in the race changed Larsen’s fortune as Brian Scott passed him on the restart for the win.
“Good job,” Larsen told his crew. “Second’s not bad here but it would have been good to get a win.”
Larson, 20, driving the Ganassi Earnhardt Racing Chevrolet, qualified a personal-best sixth. He took the lead for the first time on Lap 109. He’d led 41 laps when the ninth caution erupted on Lap 149.
“Wreck out of four, stay low, save fuel” spotter Tab Boyd said as points leader James Buescher wrecked with four laps remaining in the race after blowing his right front tire.
Scott led 48 laps, including the final two, picking up his second career win and becoming the 15th different CWTS winner this season.
Buescher finished 17th after the blown tire and retained an 11-point lead over second-place Timothy Peters, who finished fourth. Ty Dillon, who was collected in an earlier accident between German Quiroga and Brendan Gaughan, salvaged a 15th-place finish. He trails Buescher by 12 points heading into the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway next Friday.
