Larson repeats at Michigan.
Three restarts are no problem
BROOKLYN, Mich. Three times, Kyle Larson needed to outrace the rest of the contenders on late restarts.
That’s a task he’s proven he can handle at Michigan International Speedway.
Larson took control on a restart with five laps remaining and held off Chase Elliott on Sunday for his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season. The finish was similar to the race at Michigan last August, when Larson took the lead on a restart with nine laps left en route to his first Cup win.
Larson won this year at Fontana and has five second-place finishes. He also was second in the AllStar Race, which doesn’t count in the standings.
“We’ve been so close to so many other wins,” the 24-year-old Larson said. “This is our second Cup win of the year, but we’ve had six second-place finishes. All in all, it’s a good season so far and we’ll continue to keep building on what we’ve got.”
Elliott was second in both Michigan races last year, and again this time. He’s winless in 56 career Cup races, but he’s fifth in points in 2017.
“We had a couple of opportunities to get the lead, and unfortunately, it just didn’t work out, but we’ll move on,” the 21-year-old Elliott said. “He had a fast car today and we’ll try to go get ’em next week.”
Joey Logano, who beat Elliott last June, finished third.
Martin Truex Jr. won the first two stages of the race but finished sixth, ceding the points lead to Larson. Truex has 10 stage victories this year. Nobody else has more than four.
“The 78 (Truex) was by far the class of the field, I thought,” Larson said. “I thought the 18 (Kyle Busch) was next best, the 20 (Matt Kenseth) was better than I was on the long run.
“I thought we were probably a third- or fourth-place car, and then to come out a winner, it makes it that much more exciting, I guess.”
Busch finished seventh and Kenseth, a native of Cambridge, Wis., was 11th.