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Kyle Larson gets first Sprint Cup win at Michigan
Kyle Larson sprinted away from Chase Elliott on the race’s final restart to grab the first Sprint Cup Series win of his career at Michigan on Sunday.
Elliott was the leader on that restart, which came with nine to go. Larson restarted second and both drivers spun their tires severely as they tried to accelerate towards turn 1. Larson found traction first and got ahead of Elliott, who couldn’t close the gap over the race’s final few laps.
“[Brad Keselowski], he pushed me pretty good,” Larson said of the driver who ended up third behind Elliott. “He probably could have pulled underneath me and he stayed with me and got me the lead.”
With the win, Larson jumps into the Chase for the first time. Through his first two full seasons in the Cup Series, the touted 24-year-old had finished 17th and 19th in the Cup standings.
He dedicated the win to Bryan Clauson, a friend and former Chip Ganassi Racing Xfinity Series driver, who died from injuries suffered in a sprint car crash earlier this month in Kansas.
“This one’s for the Clauson family,” Larson said. “We’re really missing Brian. I love you guys, we’re going to miss him.”
Larson wore a tribute helmet to Clauson during last week’s race at Bristol.
Elliott, meanwhile, blamed the second-place finish on himself. Elliott was second-best at Michigan in June to Joey Logano, another race decided by a late restart. As he was struggling to gain traction, he got bumped by Ryan Blaney behind him (who was being bumped by Kevin Harvick behind him). The contact slowed Elliott, who also entered Michigan looking for his first Cup win, enough to allow Larson to get away.
“Just made another mistake,” Elliott said. “Had two opportunities to get out front there and kind of control the race. And let Kyle get a better start than me, I spun the tires and didn’t do my job. It’s about as simple as that. When the tires are spinning, you aren’t going forward and that’s what I was doing.”
The Michigan win was Larson’s seventh win in NASCAR’s top three series and came in his 99th Sprint Cup Series start. Given the talent he showed and wins he had accrued in the lower series as well as throughout his dirt track career, many figured Larson would win (a points race) in the Cup Series sooner rather than later.
Your definition of sooner and later probably depends on if you think 99 races is a lot. Larson had a chance to win at Dover in the spring but elected to race eventual winner Matt Kenseth cleanly over the races final stages.
Given the Cup Series’ win-and-in format for the Chase, the decision not to rough up Kenseth could have cost Larson a spot in the Chase had he not won Sunday. He entered the Michigan race 39 points behind the final Chase position on points. Now, points are of no concern over the next two races until the Chase begins at Chicago.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
