Larson banking on Michigan mojo
Gather all the drivers who haven’t won a race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this year, and it would make for quite the party.
To name just a handful: Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jamie McMurray, Aric Almirola.
The main culprits in this goose egg mania, of course, are Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, who have combined to win nine of the first 14 races. This has left little wiggle room for the rest of the field. In fact, Martin Truex Jr. became the only other driver with multiple wins this season when he scored victory No. 2 last weekend at Pocono Raceway.
The Fire Keepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (2 p.m. ET Sunday, Fox) offers a golden road, however, for one of the year’s 0-for-14 drivers.
Larson has been on a roll in recent weeks and will be riding into Michigan with high hopes. He has won the past three Cup races at the fast 2-mile track, and Sunday’s runner-up finish at Pocono was his third of the year. He has four consecutive top-10 finishes.
The last driver to win four in a row at one track was Harvick, who had a streak of four at ISM Raceway near Phoenix from 2013 to 2015. The last to win four consecutive at MIS was Bill Elliott, who was a superstar on high-speed tracks in the mid-1980s. He won both races at Michigan in 1985 and 1986. David Pearson scored seven wins at Michigan, one of his favorite tracks, from 1972 to 1976 but never won more than three in a row.
Larson’s shiny numbers won’t overwhelm Harvick, Busch and the other front-runners, of course, but they illustrate that the Chip Ganassi Racing driver has had the hot hand at MIS in recent years and that his 2018 season is trending upward.
“What our team has been able to do at Michigan the last few races is pretty special, and I hope we can keep it up this weekend with another win,” Larson said. “We have had good cars there just about every year I’ve raced, and I think we’ve hit on some things recently that will have us taking another fast Chevy to Michigan this time around, too.
“Getting the setup right is important everywhere, but I feel like it’s even more important at a track like Michigan. We’re coming off a good week of executing throughout the race, so hopefully more of that can lead to another win.”
Larson scored his first Cup win at MIS in 2016, and three of his five career victories have been registered there.
The downside for Larson is that Chevrolets have had a season of struggle. Austin Dillon won the season-open- ing Daytona 500 in something of an upset, and Chevy has gone winless over the 13 races that followed.
Truex, who came on strong late in the day to win at Pocono, also has an excellent worksheet over the past month. He finished fourth at Dover International Speedway and second at Kansas Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway before winning at Pocono.
Another potential winner Sunday is Chase Elliott, who finished second in his first three starts at MIS before coming home eighth last August. He’s still looking for his first Cup victory.