Kyle Larson Wins in a Dash to the Finish at Rockingham Speedway

Kyle Larson held off a hard charging Joey Logano to capture the win at the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at The Rock Sunday afternoon. This was his first NASCAR national series win in five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts and his first top-ten finish in 2013. Larson currently drives full-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Larson was dominant all afternoon, leading 187 laps, but the biggest threat came in the last 25 laps of the race.

Logano had dropped to 18th after he had to pit under green to fix loose lug nuts. But a caution on lap 180 gave Logano the lucky break he needed to make a final pit stop and put on four fresh tires. He methodically made his way to the front and was in second place when the last caution fell.

“I was passing a ton of cars on the newer tires,” Logano said. “That’s Rockingham for you. That’s what makes this race track so cool, because you can play a strategy like that. When we got the last caution, I thought it was playing out perfect for us.”

Larson was apprehensive, but determined.

“I was pretty nervous on that last restart because Joey was on a lot newer tires than me, and I’m not normally the best on restarts.”

It was the veteran Logano, however, who made the mistake on the green-white-checkered start.

“I just got beat. I spun my tires, so it was all my fault. I was so mad at myself. I felt like we should have won this race. We might not have had the truck to win, but we had the strategy to win.”

Larson was all smiles after the race.

“It was a great day,” he said. “We didn’t make any changes to the truck; it was perfect from the start. It was a lot of fun today.”

Joey Logano finished in second place. Brendan Gaughan, Johnny Sauter and Chase Elliot rounded out the top five.

Johnny Sauter remains the unofficial points leader. Jeb Burton is 16 points behind in second place. Matt Crafton is third followed by Ron Hornaday Jr. in fourth and Ryan Blaney in fifth.

Hornaday met with NASCAR after the race and may face further sanctions for wrecking Darrell Wallace Jr. under caution during the final laps of the race.

Wallace finished a disappointing 27th.  Hornaday was penalized at the time of the incident for aggressive driving and sent to the rear of the field. He finished the race in 15th place.

Unofficial Race Results
N.C. Edu. Lottery 200 at The Rock
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/race.php?race=3
=========================================
Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
=========================================
1 3 30 Kyle Larson(i) Chevrolet 0
2 7 19 Joey Logano(i) Ford 0
3 9 62 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 41
4 11 98 Johnny Sauter Toyota 41
5 4 94 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 39
6 5 88 Matt Crafton Toyota 38
7 1 4 Jeb Burton # Chevrolet 37
8 6 29 Ryan Blaney # Ford 36
9 36 51 Erik Jones # Toyota 35
10 18 32 Miguel Paludo Chevrolet 34
11 26 7 John Wes Townley Toyota 33
12 14 3 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 32
13 17 18 Joey Coulter Toyota 31
14 2 31 James Buescher Chevrolet 31
15 16 9 Ron Hornaday Jr. Chevrolet 29
16 15 8 Max Gresham Chevrolet 28
17 8 60 Dakoda Armstrong Chevrolet 27
18 30 5 Tim George Jr. Ford 26
19 23 77 German Quiroga # Toyota 25
20 25 81 David Starr Toyota 24
21 24 14 Brennan Newberry # Chevrolet 23
22 12 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 22
23 31 99 Bryan Silas Ford 21
24 22 6 Tyler Young Chevrolet 20
25 28 92 Clay Rogers Chevrolet 19
26 20 17 Timothy Peters Toyota 18
27 10 54 Darrell Wallace Jr. # Toyota 17
28 32 7 Johnny Chapman Chevrolet 16
29 21 75 Caleb Holman Chevrolet 15
30 13 52 Tyler Reddick Toyota 14
31 34 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb 13
32 19 13 Todd Bodine Toyota 12
33 35 57 Norm Benning Chevrolet 11
34 29 93 Chris Jones Chevrolet 10
35 27 27 Jeff Agnew Chevrolet 9
36 33 84 Mike Harmon(i) Ford 0

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

Angie Campbell
Angie Campbell
A native of Charlotte, NC, Angela (Angie) was first introduced to racing by her father. An avid fan of NASCAR, she found a way to combine her love of racing with her passion for writing. Angie is also an award-winning member of the National Motorsports Press Association. Follow her on Twitter @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

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