With the triumph, Larson earned a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the first time in his career, moving winless Ryan Newman 15 points out of the last Chase-eligible position with two races left in the regular season.
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Elliott, who is also desperate for a breakthrough Cup victory that would likely ensure him a start in the Chase (which begins at Chicagoland on September 18) blamed himself for another shoddy restart in the closing laps.
Sunday’s race was Larson’s third top 10 finish in six races at Michigan International Speedway.
The Team Penske driver finished third behind race victor Kyle Larson and runner-up Chase Elliott in Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400.
For the second week in a row, a Chevrolet racecar sat in victory lane while its driver celebrated another win in NASCAR’s premier series. “It was finally going to be it”. “This one’s for the Clauson family”. Next thing you know, we were off to the races. “I think it’s a lot harder to have the fortitude as a team to say, ‘Hey, we have all the pieces, we have all the stuff, we’re going to hang in there and keep massaging what we have and work with that'”. “We parked it for him, so that’s really cool”.
It looked as if Sunday would produce a first-time victor of the same lineage.
Sunday’s victory was more than just Larson’s first win.
The victory came in Larson’s 99th career start and was the first win for Chip Ganassi Racing in 99 races. The team rallied around him.
Clint Bowyer reported a loose wheel on lap 118 and just a few laps later headed to the garage with his 2nd DNF of the year in hand. I saw Kyle and I saw Chase sometimes smoking the tires through the corners and I think that’s what this racing was built on.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver chimed in on Elliott and the letter on Monday, telling the young phenom to stop stressing so much and have more fun.
For Larson, it was an inaugural victory that was a long time coming – 99 races and almost three seasons.
While Larson is gearing up for his first Chase, McMurray is looking to compete in his second playoff, having qualified for it through points for the first time a year ago. “We messed up that last stop but we made it back”.
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“You just have to get the most points you can and try to win”, McMurray said. A late caution gave Larson, restarting second, one final chance, and thanks to an assist from Brad Keselowski on the inside line, the wait was finally over. Elliott had a comfortable lead before a tire problem on Michael Annett’s vehicle brought out the yellow flag. A late caution would setup a great duel for the win between he and Chase Elliott. He said a mistake on the final restart of the day, which came with nine laps to go and with him in the lead, cost him his first Cup win. After 20 more laps, Bowman was forced to take his vehicle to the garage. Unfortunately, he was lined up behind his friend Chase Elliott for the re-start. “That was the only place you could make a large sum of ground in a short period of time”. I have a ton of respect for them and love racing for the organization. He could probably have pulled underneath me and went by. I was able to give him a push, a really hard push and got sideways, there, and was able to get the lead. “I’m kind of speechless to tell you the truth”. “Finally, all the hard work by the hundreds of people at our race shop, people who have got me through to the Cup Series, it was all paying off”. He returned to the race five laps down to the leaders. Chase Elliott, 20, finished second, matching the best finish of his career (set earlier this year at, where else, Michigan). I was starting to get choked up.
