Larson outlasts Elliott at Michigan
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 All-Star race, which doesn’t count in the standings.
“We’ve been so close to so many other wins,” the 24-year-old Lar-
son said. “This is our second Cup win of the year, but we’ve had six secondplace finishes. All in all, it’s a good season so far and we’ll continue to keep building on what we’ve got.”
It was the third Cup win of Larson’s career and 14th by Chip Ganassi Racing. 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. Congratulations to Kyle,” the 21-year-old Elliott said. “He had a fast car today and we’ll try to go get ‘em next week.”
Joey Logano finished third. He beat Elliott in last June’s race at MIS. Then Elliott was leading the August race comfortably before a yellow flag gave Larson a boost .
This time, there were three cautions toward the end. The first was for debris, and Larson beat Kyle Busch on the inside for the lead on the restart with 15 laps to go.
Then Clint Bowyer went into the wall, bringing out another caution flag. Larson was first off that restart too, only to be slowed by another caution after a multicar incident on the backstretch that included Danica Patrick being knocked off the track and into the wall.
Finally, with five laps remaining, the race restarted, and Larson took the lead on the outside. He won by 0.993 seconds in his No. 42 Chevrolet.
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.
Truex and Larson were 1-2 in the points standings coming into the race, and Truex was second to Larson in qualifying Friday . Their dominance carried over to the race Sunday, at least at the start. They were the only drivers to lead during the first half of the 200-lap, 400-mile race.
Denny Hamlin, who won Saturday’s Xfinity event, finished fourth Sunday, followed by Jamie McMurray and Truex. Busch ended up seventh, followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jimmie Johnson, who started at the back after going to his backup car, finished 10th.
Some other things to note from Sunday’s race: HIS TYPE OF TRACK » Lar-
Kyle Larson raises his arms in victory lane after winning a NASCAR Monster Energy Cup series auto race, Sunday, in Brooklyn, Mich.
son’s three Cup victories have all come at 2-mile tracks, although there are some differences between racing at MIS and Fontana.
“Michigan and Fontana are very, very similar in shape and size, but the racing surface is way different,” Larson said. “Fontana’s rough and bumpy, and it’s wore-out surface — you have to really, really take care of your tires and move around, find different lanes that work. Here at Michigan, your tires don’t wear out quite as bad, not nearly as bad, and your line doesn’t move around a ton, but it’s really fast, got a lot of grip.
“They’re both a lot of fun.” FROM THE FRONT » This was the fifth time in the past eight races at Michigan that the pole winner also won the race. It has happened three times in the Cup Series this year — Larson also did it at Fontana, and Stenhouse pulled it off at Talladega last month.
Still, Larson didn’t feel he had the dominant car Sunday.
“The 78 (Truex) was by far the class of the field, I thought,” Larson said. “I thought the 18 (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.”
Boxing
WARD CELEBRATES BIG WIN WHILE KOVALEV PLANS PROTEST » After leaving no doubt who was the best light heavyweight around, Andre Ward talked about securing his place as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world and perhaps even one day moving up to heavyweight.
The talk in Sergey Kovalev’s camp, meanwhile, was about protesting the outcome of Saturday night’s fight because the referee did nothing about borderline low blows that helped bring the fight to an end in the eighth round.
Kovalev’s promoter, Kathy Duva, said she would protest to the Nevada Athletic Commission on Monday to try and erase the second straight loss Kovalev suffered at the hands of Ward. Duva admitted, though, she has little hopes a protest would succeed.
“We have to try,” Duva said. “He was hitting him low the whole fight.”
Two blows near or below the belt line in the final seconds helped finish off Kovalev, who sat on the bottom ring rope as referee Tony Weeks called an end to the fight at 2:29 of the eighth round. Ward, who caused a brief pause in the fight in the second round when he hit Kovalev below the belt, was never warned after that by Weeks for low blows.
Still, it was a big right hand that started Kovalev’s downfall in the final round, and he didn’t protest much when the fight was ended.
“I could have continued,” the Russian said. “I didn’t feel he could throw the punch that would end the fight. This is fighting, we are boxers and he did punch me but he didn’t hurt me. The fight should have continued.”
Ward and his camp dismissed any idea that low blows were a factor, preferring instead to celebrate a win that put to rest any controversy over the judging in their first fight last November. In that fight Ward came back from a second round knockdown to win a decision by one point on all three ringside scorecards.
“Whatever the excuses were this time, I just don’t have the energy,” Ward said.
Ward remained unbeaten by turning the tables on the big punching Kovalev, who seemed to tire as the fight went on. Ward was ahead on two judges’ scorecards and behind on a third when he landed a right hand midway through the eighth round that caused Kovalev’s legs to wobble.
He went after Kovalev, finally finishing him off in a neutral corner with the disputed body shots.
“I knew this time it was going to be different,” Ward said. “He’s a great fighter,” Ward said. “You’ve got to raise your game to the next level and thankfully that’s what we did tonight.”
Football
TITANS AGREE TO TERMS WITH WIDE RECEIVER ERIC DECKER » The Tennessee Titans and wide receiver Eric Decker have agreed to terms on a one-year deal. The Titans announced the deal Sunday night. The 6-foot-3, 214-pound Decker visited the Titans on Wednesday, met with coach Mike Mularkey and took a physical. He was released this month by the New York Jets after three seasons with the team.
Decker, who spent his first four seasons with Denver, has three 1,000-yard seasons with 12 100-yard games in his seven-year NFL career. He has 33 touchdowns in the red zone since 2012, second in the NFL only to Brandon Marshall (35) in that span. He also ranks 18th in the NFL with 43 touchdown receptions and 4,535 yards receiving since 2012.
Hip and shoulder injuries limited Decker to three games last year.
Boxing
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