NASCAR Xfinity Series at Pocono 2016 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Kyle Larson won the inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway Saturday, as the drivers completed just 53 of 100 scheduled laps in the Pocono Green 250 because of rain. 

Larson led 27 of those 53 laps to earn his first Xfinity Series win of the season, while Xfinity regular Erik Jones bolstered his Chase positioning by finishing second.

Here is a look at how the rest of the top 10 shook out behind Larson and Jones. You can view full results for all 40 cars at NASCAR.com.

Position	Driver	Car No.
1	Kyle Larson	42
2	Erik Jones	20
3	Ty Dillon	3
4	Kyle Busch	18
5	Joey Logano	22
6	Elliott Sadler	1
7	Paul Menard	2
8	Brandon Jones	33
9	Daniel Suarez	19
10	Alex Bowman	88

Daniel Suarez entered the race with a 14-point lead over Elliott Sadler in the standings, and while Sadler closed the gap a bit, the 24-year-old native of Mexico remains in front. Here is a full rundown of the current top 10 following the Pocono Green 250, courtesy of NASCAR.com:

Position	Driver	Points	Behind Leader	Wins
1	Daniel Suarez	408	Leader	0
2	Elliott Sadler	397	-11	1
3	Ty Dillon	390	-18	0
4	Brendan Gaughan	363	-45	0
5	Erik Jones	359	-49	2
6	Brandon Jones	357	-51	0
7	Justin Allgaier	355	-53	0
8	Brennan Poole	343	-65	0
9	Darrell Wallace Jr.	308	-100	0
10	Ryan Reed	274	-134	0

Jones started on the pole Saturday, but it didn't take long for Kyle Busch to seize the lead from the outside, which he accomplished during the first turn of the race, as seen in this tweet via Fox Sports: NASCAR:

Busch led the first 16 laps of the race before a competition caution reshuffled the field and allowed Joey Logano to get to the front after pit stops.

Another yellow flag came out shortly thereafter on the 19th lap when Justin Allgaier went hard into the wall, which knocked him out of the race, via NASCAR Xfinity:

After Larson seized the lead on the 24th lap, he took control of the race by leading 27 of the next 30 laps.

During Larson's run of dominance, Ryan Reed and Jeremy Clements got involved in a hard wreck that led to the fourth caution flag of the day, as seen in this video from Fox Sports:

With menacing skies above as the race reached the halfway point, Larson lobbied for the field to be red-flagged due to precipitation:

He soon got his wish, as all drivers were asked to come to pit road with 47 laps remaining, and the rain started to come down harder as the field was frozen:

While NASCAR made every effort to dry off the track with the use of air titans, the rain continued to come down, which resulted in the abandonment of the final 47 laps and Larson being declared the winner.

The victory marked the fourth of Larson's career in the Xfinity Series, and it was a fitting reward for the excellent form he has displayed in recent weeks across all of NASCAR's levels of competition.

Larson's win could prove to be significant entering Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Pocono, as he is still searching for the first win of his career in NASCAR's top series.

The California native has two top-10 finishes and a top five in four career Sprint Cup starts at Pocono, and his average finish of ninth place is tops among all active drivers.

Larson finally knows what it takes to get the job done at Pocono even if Mother Nature provided a helping hand, and it puts him in prime position to score a weekend sweep.

Post-Race Reaction

While winning a rain-shortened race often makes for a different atmosphere than winning under normal circumstances, Larson was thrilled with the victory and felt as though something finally went his way, according to the Associated Press (h/t USA Today):

"

I'm happy with it. Now that the race is over and we've got the win, it can clear out (Sunday) so we can race in the Cup race. ... These rain races, a lot of it is luck. I haven't had a lot of luck this year, or my NASCAR career. Hopefully, the luck has turned and maybe we can start winning some Cup races, as well.

"

Luck worked in Larson's favor Saturday, but the same can't be said for Jones, who was forced to settle for a second-place result.

Per Reid Spencer of NASCAR.com, the 20-year-old was disappointed because he had a great deal of confidence in his car:

"

It's pretty frustrating. You look at this whole year, and it's kind of been a season of just missing it by that much. ... We've missed a few races with penalties and circumstance and the way things worked out, and today was another one of those days where I thought we had a good shot at the win, and the way it played out, it just didn't work out for us.

"

Despite falling short, Jones registered a strong finish, and the fact that he already has two wins means he is locked in to the Chase for the Xfinity Series championship.

Larson can't run for that title, but Saturday's change in luck could be key for him in the Sprint Cup Series moving forward.

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