FOUR IN A ROW FOR LARSON
Kyle Larson won again — that’s all he does these days — this time in the Cup debut at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., where Hendrick Motorsports’ new star drove to victory lane for the fourth consecutive week.
Larson led 264 of 300 laps Sunday for his third consecutive win in a points race, fourth straight including last weekend’s All-Star race. That win at Texas Motor Speedway kicked off a stretch of four wins in seven days as Larson collected the $1 million All-Star payout then traveled to Ohio to pocket the $6,000 purses in two sprint car races.
Rick Hendrick’s cars have been to victory lane six consecutive weeks dating to Alex Bowman’s May 9 win at Dover.
Nashville Superspeedway reopened this weekend after a decade of dormancy to host its first ever Cup race. NASCAR’s top series last raced in the Nashville-area 37 years ago at the Fairgrounds, where Geoff Bodine won in the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick.
To celebrate his win in his new No. 5, Larson did burnouts along the entire Nashville frontstretch to put on a show for the sold-out crowd of 40,000.
“There’s a lot of fans out there and we had enough rubber and enough fuel there to do a good burnout at the end,” Larson said.
Next up for Larson is a trip to Brandon, S.D., for World of Outlaws races at Huset’s Speedway today and Tuesday night.
Ross Chastain finished second for Chip Ganassi Racing and Hendrick driver William Byron was third in a Chevrolet podium sweep.
Palou makes late surge
Alex Palou sailed past Josef Newgarden with two laps remaining to win at Road America in Elkhart, Lake, Wis., and reclaim the IndyCar points lead as Team Penske lost its third consecutive race because of a late caution.
Newgarden started from the pole and led 32 of the 55 laps until Ed Jones’ spin brought out the yellow with four to go. Newgarden got a good jump on the restart but Palou dipped left and sped around him for the lead.
Palou became the first Chip Ganassi Racing driver other than Scott Dixon to win multiple races in a season since Dario Franchitti in 2011. He’s also the first driver other than six-time champion Dixon to lead the points for Ganassi since Franchitti.
Verstappen wins French GP
Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap to win the French Grand Prix at Le Castellet, France, and extend his lead over his title rival to 12 points.
Verstappen used the DRS system to catch Hamilton on lap 52 and pass him on the inside before zooming off to clinch his third win of the season and 13th of his career.