By: Zach Arnold

It is no surprise NASCAR heads to the Circuit of the Americas for its annual race each year that the race will become a thriller. Saturday’s race came down to the final few turns, leaving NASCAR fans on the edge of their seats.

Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Hill, and Kyle Larson all entered the final restart in a strong position to earn the win. Entering turn one, Hill shoved van Gisbergen out of the way and took the lead. It looked like Hill had a decent lead; however, the over three-mile track allowed for anything to happen on each lap.

Larson began the final lap in the third position watching Hill and van Gisbergen battle for the lead ahead. The battle was only between the two leaders throughout the first half of the final lap. This was until van Gisbergen bumped Hill out of the way which allowed Larson to steal the lead.

Larson held the lead for the remainder of the race to earn his 15th win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The No. 17 team was the only team that decided to pit for new tires on the first NASCAR Overtime attempt, which was proved to be the right call to win the race.

This was the first time that the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports entry reached victory lane in the NXS.

The No. 97 of Shane van Gisbergen crossed the finish line in second ahead of Hill; however, he was hit with a penalty on the final lap due to short-cutting a turn. This is a 30-second penalty, which credits van Gisbergen for a 28th-place finish.

Before van Gisbergen became aware of his penalty, he blamed Hill for his loss of position on the final restart in saying,  “He just shoved me into one [turn one]”

COTA never fails to produce an exciting finish; tomorrow, the Cup Series stars have their shot to duel it out in Austin, Texas. Tune to FS1 at 3:30 pm to see how the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix plays out.