It was not a given that Larson would make it as a Sprint Cup driver.
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The outside is a tough place to be when you drive for Chip Ganassi, who fields winning cars in six different series and can be a bit demanding.
He got the better of another budding star, 20-year-old Chase Elliott, on a restart with nine laps left to win at Michigan International Speedway. Only a few races remaining in each series before the individual chases begin for the championship.
And you know what?
All in a day’s work.
Dale Jarrett is the only other driver to get his first win at MI, in 1991. Elliott is the top driver In points among non-winners and would be first in line for an at-large spot needed to fill the 16-driver field. That’s a couple of races in a row in a few short months at this place where I had a really good auto and had an opportunity.
“But this, after the way my rookie season started, coming close a few times and not getting it done, you can kind of visualize the win”. It’s going to happen.
“Solid top five day and I really think we could have raced for the win”, Bowman tweeted after the race. “It’s special because all of the hard work has paid off”.
And then a late caution changed everything. When the race restarted with eight laps to go, Elliott lost the lead for good when Keselowski pushed Larson by and took second for himself.
Larson’s victory also snapped a winless streak for Chip Ganassi Racing, as it was the first Cup win for the organization in 99 races. Larson has come close to a win a couple of times this season, finishing second at Dover (when he cleanly raced eventual victor Matt Kenseth) and third at MI earlier this year.
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.
The University of Michigan-sponsored auto was in the top five early in Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 before an ignition failure slowed the vehicle.
Larson and the rest of the drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be in action again on September 4 when their stock cars will be making left turns at Darlington Raceway. He was the third first-time victor of the weekend in one of the sanctioning body’s three major touring series. “Chase just had a heck of a race”.
“He is due”, teammate McMurray said. I said, ‘What do you think about these other teams that are talking to you?’ I’ll never forget his answer. “But I hadn’t been to Victory Lane before so I was going to do some burnouts”.
“It’s cool that he got a good restart and earned it”. I was able to give him a push, a really hard push and got sideways, there, and was able to get the lead.
The series also only runs there once a year, so we don’t have a prior visit this year to lean on. “Props to those guys”. Throw in the frustration Larson has felt in recent weeks and finally being able to fulfill the great promise he had since entering the sport and it’s easy to explain why emotions were sky high. He said that when the year started he wasn’t certain that the team could be as competitive as it wanted this season. (Crew chief) Chad (Johnston) and the pit crew and everybody.
That culminated with the emotional win Sunday.
One victory isn’t going to solidify Larson’s career.
“Chase was going to win had that last caution not come out”, Larson said. I was starting to get choked up. Buescher must remain in the top 30 after the next two races to parlay his Pocono victory into a Chase berth. It was pretty awesome. I got up to second.
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Sunday that was all erased and Larson was standing tall in Victory Lane.
