Finally sealed the deal and scored his first career Sprint Cup Series win in exciting fashion on Sunday afternoon. We’ve got to work on that with two [races] to go now. Not surprising considering he has been the best driver in 2016 that has been unable to seal the deal and get the win. Finally, all the hard work by everybody, hundreds of people at our race shop, people who have got me through the Cup Series, it was all paying off.
Advertisement
Larson trailed Elliott when Michael Annett blew a tire on Lap 187.
It was a breakthrough race for Chip Ganassi Racing’s Larson, the first driver from NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity program (he’s Asian-American) to win.
The win snapped a 99-race losing streak for CGR and, as it were, Larson.
Said Larson: “We’ve been close a few times throughout my Sprint Cup career”.
The Furniture Row Racing driver remains eighth in driver points and 10th in Chase playoff points.
Larson, who was making his 99th Cup start, beat NASCAR rookie Chase Elliott (Chevrolet) to the checkered flag, with Rochester Hills native Brad Keselowski (Ford) third. Still seeking his first victory in his rookie season, Elliott had an opportunity to win at MI in June but likewise fell victim to a late restart.
“You just hate to have an opportunity like that again for a second time to make a second mistake here in a handful on months, ” Elliott said.
On the final restart, both Elliott and Larson had older tires that the guys behind him and the 21 of Dave Blaney got into the back of the 24 auto nearly wrecking him, dropping the Hendrick rookie back to 3rd. Looking at those numbers, it certainly is a surprise it took this long for him to win, certainly a fact that wasn’t lost on the California native.
“This feels different, because it’s taken me a lot longer than it took me in any of the other stuff to get a win”, Larson said.
Then, when a caution flag flew with 13 laps remaining and Blaney running fourth but riding on older tires, Bullins opted to stay on the track and maintain the track position. He spun out coming off Turn 4 early in the race and played catch-up all day before ending up 19th, one lap behind the leaders. Starting 12th, he has a little bit of upside through place differential, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him do some damage in the laps led and fastest laps run categories, as well.
Also struggling was Alex Bowman, driving for the sidelined Dale Earnhardt Jr in the 88 auto. Though the 24-year-old driver has two victories in the Camping World Truck Series and four in the XFINITY Series, he found it more hard to achieve the same result in the Sprint Cup Series. Larson stands 11th in the Chase standings between Martin Truex, Jr. and Tony Stewart.
He has been piling up top five finishes at MI, logging a series-best six in the last seven races here.
Advertisement
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. “On long runs, we were maybe the best auto”. “Even after that we were one of the probably five or six quickest cars on the race track and just whenever we got in the lucky-dog spot we ran there for I can’t tell you how many laps and just didn’t get a caution”.
