Like at MI earlier this season, Elliott had a tough time getting his vehicle going in the final restart as Larson took the lead with nine laps remaining and held on for his first career win. With Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart fading from prominence and Dale Earnhardt Jr. sidelined with concussion problems, a handful of younger drivers have emerged in impressive fashion of late. He did it by beating rookie Chase Elliott out of a late restart, leading the final 10 laps.
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The Chip Gnassi driver earned a slot in the Chase for the first time in his career. Larson secured a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with two races left in the regular season. Larson came to NASCAR from open-wheel racing, and he and Clauson were close friends. Clauson passed away earlier this month from injuries sustained in a dirt track crash. “That’s Kyle. I think it’s important to understand that these guys are not robots. they’re all different”.
So, you’ll probably see us sooner than later put something in place that covers us for that as you kind of head into the last quarter of the season. That early in your career, you’re like, “it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen” and just never happened. “We’ve just got to work hard to get the best finishes we can the next two weeks and we both can get into the Chase”. “Like I said, it’s special because all the hard work’s paid off”.
“There have been a couple where I could have done things differently to get the win”, Larson, flanked by son Owen and Johnston, said afterward.
It took longer than some expected, but one of NASCAR’s future stars won for the first time in his career on Sunday. Elliot finished second and just like in June, he was kicking himself afterwards for a poor restart. While there, he worked on ICTV, on shows such as “Ya Think You Know Sports?” and “Sports Final”. I saw Kyle and Chase, and everybody. With that said, this team certainly seems to believe they can contend. “Unfortunately, I didn’t do my part again”.
Buescher clinched his place in the postseason thanks to a fifth place finish at Bristol last week, but needs to maintain his place in the top 30 in driver points between now and the start of the Chase in September. He had dropped to 17th place in the standings prior to the race.
Brad Keselowski of Team Penske finished third in a Ford and rookie Ryan Blaney was fourth in the Wood Brothers Ford.
Kyle Larson: Traditionally, momentum is a trait to be ignored in fantasy sports, but in NASCAR, a team can figure something out technologically and improve relative to the field. Elliott, who is also looking for his first victory, finished second.
“My guys did such a good job today of making the most of pit road”, Elliott said. The Woods Brother’s speedster would recover but not in time to challenge for the lead. He was running second on Lap 45 and then took the lead on Lap 58 by passing Kevin Harvick.
SLOW STOP: Jimmie Johnson, who started on the front row for just the second time this season, was in contention until a slow pit stop – his gas man appeared to have trouble filling the tank – knocked him back in the pack.
When it came to stock cars, Larson won his first ever start at New Smyrna Speedway at age 19, then repeated as a victor at the same track in the highly competitive World Series of Asphalt Racing.
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The victory came at Michigan International Speedway. The average speed was 162.742 miles per hour during the race.
