On Sunday, Larson looked like he could win late in the race, then he looked like his shot had once more slipped away as Chase Elliott took the lead and began pulling away.
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The win was so big for Larson that he capped the victory with his own signature celebration: He did burnouts without a steering wheel – something NASCAR had previously asked him not to do.
Elliott held the lead until losing it to Larson on a Lap 126 restart.
The 24-year-old Moffitt has been in the truck for three races in place of Matt Tifft, who is out after having brain surgery for a tumor earlier this summer.
Last year’s Chase did not include a single driver under 25. I made a few mistakes early in the race. For most of the day, we were a third-place vehicle. Finally, it’s special because all the hard work’s paid off. Oh there were moments, flashes where Larson looked just as Gordon and Stewart once did as they revolutionized the sport. Kyle Larson commented on the effort of so many participants that made this moment possible.
The 10-race Chase for the Championship starts September 18 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Larson’s first career victory nearly certainly won’t be his only career victory, but the road to Homestead certainly won’t be easy.
Elliott sits 14th on the Chase Grid followed by Austin Dillon and Jamie McMurray.
With 13 laps to go, and with Elliott more than 2 seconds ahead of second-place Larson, the fourth caution of the day was called. Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Keselowski also led laps before Larson and Elliott took over control of the race. Elliott returned to the lead, again, after another cycle of green-flag stops completed on lap 170.
Formula One: Although Nico Rosberg trimmed rival Lewis Hamilton’s lead in the title race after winning the Belgian Grand Prix, it was Hamilton who seemed the happier driver after turning a back-row start into a third-place finish.
“It means a lot and for Kyle”, said crew chief Chad Johnston during the NBCSN broadcast. “Kyle did everything he needed to do to have the lead off of (Turn) 2”. “That’s a couple races in a row in just a few short months here at this place we had a really good auto, had an opportunity”, Elliott said.
Larson was calm, initially, but could barely contain his emotions in the closing laps. The prodigy ranks highest among drivers without a victory.
BAD DAY FOR BUSCH: On a restart with 175 laps to go, Kyle Busch lost control of his auto and spun out of Turn 4. This one’s different just ’cause of how long we had to wait and how much harder I’ve had to work for it.
“I know it isn’t fun opening a hood of a race auto that is as hot as it is and trying to work on it”, said Buescher, a development driver for Roush/Fenway Racing who competes in the No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford for Front Row Motorsports. First and foremost came a tribute to a close friend, Bryan Clauson, who died August 7 from injuries sustained in a Midget vehicle crash.
Race victor Kyle Larson does a burnout in front of the center grandstand at MIS.
It came down to a couple of good drivers unfamiliar with victory lane. “Now, I’ll be able to go back and watch this, and it’s going to be awesome”, McDowell said.
Once in victory lane, the emotion continued.
It was not a given that Larson would make it as a Sprint Cup driver. Larson is stoked for the opportunity given the selection of racetracks in the final 10 events – half which he considers some of his best.
“For me, I just have to try to take the positives out of it, recognize an issue when you see one”, Elliott said.
“Yeah, we used a little bit of fuel strategy”, he added. Dover, that’s a good one.
What am I watching for at the track known as being “Too Tough to Tame”? “What if you would have moved him?’ Now I won, so we don’t have to talk about that anymore”.
Will Larson continue to be the underdog? My rookie year, I didn’t make the Chase obviously.
“I think that’s a good direction to go towards”. We’re really missing Bryan.
“We’ve been on the cusp for so many years”. Because you worked really really hard to to get. I just wanted to take a second and regain my composure. It was his 99 Sprint Cup start and ended a 99-race winless drought for his team, Chip Ganassi Racing.
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“It’s been never”, Ganassi said.
