But his Chevy fell too far behind on a slow pit stop to catch a fleeing Chase Elliott, who was also looking for his first career victory. “In my mind I thought, ‘Man, I hope one of these guys gets it'”.
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“We had a lot of work to do for that first third of the race and got it done”, Larson said.
After a lengthy, rain-delayed affair in Bristol a week prior, the Sprint Cup Series traveled to Michigan International Speedway for the Pure Michigan 400.
I think it’s something that we’re continuing to look at, but, in this case, it was the guy’s first win, it’s been three years, he was ecstatic.
It was the “Chip Slam” in 2010 when his Grand-Am Rolex Series sportscar team won the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Jamie McMurray won the Daytona 500, Dario Franchitti won the Indy 500, and McMurray completed the dream season by claiming the Brickyard 400, but what do you call Chip Ganassi Racing’s unparalleled accomplishments this year?
Still, Larson needed a late caution to get in position to win.
(Restarts are) obviously not a strong point, at least not here at Michigan, Chase Elliott said. Larson had the better restart and went on to win by 1.5 seconds. Elliott has replaced Gordon in the No. 24 auto and has 12 top-10 finishes this year, an encouraging sign amid a tough year for Hendrick Motorsports.
Elliott finished second at MIS in June and did it again on Sunday in similar fashion.
The next generation of NASCAR standouts has quite an opportunity over these next couple months. “Obviously I didn’t do a very good job of that here both trips”. In that final lap, a top five within reach, the finish line in sight, AJ Allmendinger wrecked Larson and he lost almost two-dozen points.
A competition caution took place on laps 22 to 25. “What if you would have moved him?’ Now I won, so we don’t have to talk about that anymore”.
Roush/Fenway Racing drivers failed to collect a top-10 finish Sunday with Greg Biffle coming in 11th in his No. 16 Roush Performance Ford. And who will make the finale and win the title?
Alex Bowman, filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr.in the No. 88 vehicle, had a problem with the ignition system and finished 30th.
Chase rules state that in order for a winning driver to automatically qualify that he must be in the top-30 in points. Tony Stewart, who has a victory, has clinched a top-30 finish in points to secure his spot.
The top nine drivers in points – Sadler, Suarez, Justin Allgaier, Ty Dillon, Brendan Gaughn, Erik Jones, Brennan Poole, Brandon Jones, Bubba Wallace – all seem to be a lock for the playoffs, so it nearly begs for another eligible first-time victor (McDowell is not competing for the Xfinity title) to pop up and make it even more interesting.
Get used to seeing a lot of those three drivers in the top five.
WHO’S HOT: Points leader Kevin Harvick followed up his win at Bristol with a fifth-place showing at MI.
Trevor Bayne finished 24th and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
“Definitely a bummer here again”, said Elliott, who had a strong No. 24 auto all day. Elliott, who spun his tires when the green flag was raised for the final time, settled for second. If we back out the three restrictor-plate races and the three races with the new low downforce package, a Gibbs vehicle has won 10 of the 18 events. “We ran some really fast laps, but we just got in a bad spot there on the restart and got sucked around and wore off part of our splitter”, crew chief Adam Stevens said. “Every week he tells us to do the obvious things right, and then you don’t do the obvious things right”. The vehicle passed post-race inspection.
SKID: Hendrick Motorsports is winless in 19 races after Elliott fell short, but there were some positive signs for the team.
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Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson finished fifth and sixth, respectively. While Kyle Larson isn’t a rookie, he is one of several drivers in 2016 who have made it to Victory Lane for the first time in their career and believes he can contend for this year’s championship.
