Larson steals win in regular season finale
RICHMOND, VA. » Kyle Larson and his Chip Ganassi Racing team needed a break, and it came with two laps to go.
Running second to a dominant Martin Truex Jr. and itching for fresh tires and a shot at victory in overtime, Larson got it when Derrike Cope’s car hit the wall, bringing out the seventh yellow flag of the night. Larson grabbed the lead on pit road and sailed to the victory.
“I’m really pumped for the playoffs, we’ve got a really good shot at the championship,” Larson said. “I’ve got the greatest team out here and definitely the best pit crew. They were money all night long to gain spots. This win is a huge congrats to them.” And to Cope. Truex, who clinched the regularseason NASCAR Cup title last week, had the race easily in hand until the 58-year-old Cope crashed with under four laps remaining. Truex then wrecked in overtime while racing with Denny Hamlin for position. The sequence cost him his fifth win of the season.
“A caution for a guy who shouldn’t even have been out there,” Truex said about Cope. “It’s kind of ridiculous.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was officially eliminated from the playoffs with a 13th-place finish. He’s retiring at the end of the season, and has never won a Cup title. Earnhardt stayed out during late green-flag pit stops, briefly assuming the lead with 66 laps to go, but the caution that could have made the strategy pay off never came.
“That’s what we needed at the moment, and we didn’t get it,” Earnhardt said. “It was the only shot we had.”
Truex will still start the 10-race playoff stretch as the favorite to win the championship because he earned the most bonus points during the regular season. He and his Furniture Row Racing team were presented with the regular-season championship trophy.
The reward is a slew of bonus points, but Truex feigned a smile because he’d have preferred to have the race winning trophy, too.
“Tonight is a little tough, it’s a little hard to be excited,” he said.
He’s also got to watch over his shoulder for Larson, who now has a nice bit of a momentum going into the opening round of the playoffs at Chicagoland.
The Richmond victory was Larson’s first on a short track in the Cup Series.
“This has been a dream season for me, and we still have a long way to go,” Larson said,
Chaos erupted with 140 laps remaining because one of NASCAR’s rescue vehicles clogged the entrance to pit road as cars headed to their stalls. As the traffic bottlenecked, Matt Kenseth ran into the car in front of him, and his night was ended with a crumpled hood.
“I saw an ambulance sitting there,” Kenseth said. “It was an accordion effect and I just couldn’t get stopped.”
The incident could have knocked Kenseth out of the playoffs had there been a first-time winner, but Larson fixed that, allowing Kenseth, Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray to make the 16-driver field as the only nonwinners.
Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer, both needing a victory to advance, also suffered damage in the ambulance incident. Logano ran in the top 10 for much of the night, and Bowyer got up into the mix a few times, but Logano’s hope to strike lightning never quite materialized.
“It’s happened to us a few times at Richmond that we didn’t have a winning car and we won,” he said. “We almost did it again.”
Logano finished second, and Bowyer was 24th.
Logano did win here in the spring, but the result was “encumbered” by NASCAR when Logano’s car was found to have an illegal rear end. Under series rules, Logano was allowed to keep the victory, but it no longer guaranteed him a spot in the playoffs. He also lost playoff points. LURKING JIMMIE » Seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson finished eighth, and is feeling upbeat after a struggling summer.
“Honestly, over the years and throughthe various challenges we’ve faced, I just think the tracks in the spring and the tracks in the fall work the best for us, the same places,” he said. “Nothing like Chicago for me, or Dover, Charlotte, Martinsville. Those are great tracks.” GANASSI DUO » Chip Ganassi Racing got both its drivers in the playoffs when Jamie McMurray took the 16th and final position. That already makes it a great week for the car owner; driver Scott Dixon heads into next week’s IndyCar Series finale only three points away from his fifth championship. UP NEXT » The opening round of the 10-race playoffs Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. There will be 16 drivers at the start of the playoffs, and the field will be cut by four after the third race of the series.
POLL POINTS
DOWN » The Buckeyes have their lowest ranking November of the 2014 season. Ohio State hopes this season takes a similar path.
In 2014, the Buckeyes lost at home to Virginia Tech and fell from No. 8 to No. 22 in the rankings. The Buckeyes did not lose again and won the national championship in Urban Meyer’s third season as coach in Columbus.
The Buckeyes did extend their streak of 41 polls ranked in the top 10, which dates back to the Nov. 9, 2014. OUT » Notre Dame’s stay in the Top 25 lasted one week. The Fighting Irish lost 20-19 at home to Georgia, which moved up two spots to No. 13. The Irish were the only team to fall out of the rankings. IN» UCLA followed up its remarkable comeback victory in week one against Texas A&M with a more routine blowout of Hawaii and landed at No. 25 in the latest rankings. The Bruins moved into the rankings for the first time since starting 2016 at No. 16.
The Bruins stumbled to a four-win season last year, but quarterback Josh Rosen and the offense seem to be blossoming under new offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch.
RANKED VS. RANKED
No. 3 Clemson at No. 14 Louisville. Lamar Jackson and the Cardinals nearly beat the eventual national champions in Death Valley last season. Can the Tigers’ ferocious defensive front slow down the Heisman Trophy winner?