Kyle Larson

In The Fast Lane: Most Improved after Bristol

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Photo by: Sean Gardner

The Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway saw a lot of stop-and-go thanks to rain that caused Sunday’s event to be postponed to Monday, but not before the event was red flagged three times for weather.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stars went 204 laps before the remainder of the event got pushed to Monday, when a former champion and 11-year veteran scored their best finishes of the year.

Five different organizations are featured in this week’s top-5 for the first time this season.

No. 1 Jimmie Johnson – Jimmie Johnson may have won this event one year ago, but immediately was put at a disadvantage when an unapproved tire change after qualifying forced the team to give up their starting position.

Johnson recovered to finish third at Bristol, giving the Hendrick Motorsports driver his first top-5 of the season. Johnson had not earned a top-5 since October of 2017 when he finished third at Dover.

Johnson sits 17th in the points standings, 196 points behind leader Kyle Busch. He is one point behind Paul Menard in the 16th position and 72 points from 10th place.

When will Johnson find victory lane? Can Richmond be that place? The 7-time champion has three wins at the three-quarter mile track.

No. 2 Kyle Larson – Kyle Larson may have been looking for redemption after an early crash at Texas took him out of contention, but it didn’t run as smoothly as the Chip Ganassi Racing driver hoped for.

Larson was leading when he spun on Lap 324 after receiving a bump from behind from Ryan Newman, but the 25-year-old recovered and re-took the lead on Lap 439. Larson battled with Busch for the remainder of the event, before falling to second in the closing laps.

Larson received stage points in both Stage 1 and Stage 2 after crossing the finish line in the fifth position. He sits ninth in the points standings, 116 points behind Busch.

No. 3 Aric Almirola – Aric Almirola gained 16 positions from his finish at the half-mile track one year ago.

Almirola avoided trouble to earn a seventh place finish at Stage 1 end, but drifted to the back at midrace. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver ran as high as third before finishing sixth, earning his third top-10 of the season.

Almirola sits 11th in the points standings, 154 points behind Busch and 30 points behind teammate Kurt Busch, who is in the 10th position.

No. 4 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Ricky Stenhouse Jr quietly and consistently ran up front at Bristol, while earning his first top-5 of the season.

Stenhouse earned stage points in Stage 1 (ninth) and Stage 2 (sixth) during the event.

Stenhouse, who finished fourth, gained four spots in the points standings. He’s now in 18th place, 203 points behind the leader.

No. 5 David Ragan – David Ragan earned his best finish of the season at Bristol when he finished in 12th place.

Ragan failed to earn stage points, but was as high as seventh with an average position of 20th place.

This is Ragan’s best finish since finishing 10th at Talladega in the fall.

The momentum gained from this finish can help Ragan at Richmond before heading to Talladega, where the Front Row Motorsports driver has one win, four top-5s, and nine top-10 finishes.

Notables: Busch’s win at Bristol marked the first time in thirty-one years that a driver won at the half-mile track while leading the points standings. The feature was last accomplished by Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 1987.

Darrell Wallace Jr. became the first African American driver since 1963 to lead a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event. Wallace led for six laps, before his No. 43 STP Chevrolet began to lose the handling that allowed the rookie contender to battle with two former champions. Wallace salvaged for a 16th place finish.

Daniel Suarez earned an 11th place finish despite suffering a broken finger last weekend at Texas. Suarez also led for five laps on Monday’s rain postponed event.

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Kyle Larson Wins at Richmond, Playoff field is set

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Photo by: Sarah Crabill

Kyle Larson earned his fourth win of the season Saturday night at Richmond Raceway in overtime, after the No. 15 of Derrick Cope scraped the wall to bring out the seventh caution of the night.

Larson won the race off pit road and took the lead on Lap 403 during the Federated Auto Parts 400, but contact between the No. 11 and No. 78 Toyota’s sent Truex into the Turn 1 wall.

“I’ve got the greatest team out here and definitely the best pit crew,” Larson said. “That showed tonight. I can’t thank those guys enough. They were money all night long to gain spots. This win is a huge congrats to them. The Target Chevy was pretty good all night. The No. 78 (Truex) was definitely the best, but I thought I was second best for most of the runs.

“It came down to the last restart there, and I got a good start. I spun my tires pretty bad, and I was a little nervous, but we cleared him (Truex) into (Turn) 1, and I was pretty excited about that. I’m really pumped for the playoffs. We’ve got a great shot at the championship, I feel like, this year. So I’m looking forward to it.”

Truex, the regular-season champion, finished 20th, while Hamlin earned a top-5 finish.

Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, and Matt Kenseth all earned their way into the 2017 Playoffs based off points, but it was the Joe Gibbs Racing driver who experienced the most pressure.

Kenseth’s day concluded after suffering damage in the most intense way.

An ambulance stopped on the apron before the pit road entrance and drivers scrambled to avoid the vehicle, but Kenseth was not that fortunate. Kenseth plunged into the back of the No. 14 Ford of Clint Bowyer.

Joey Logano, who’s win in April was deemed encumbered, was in a must-win situation to make the playoffs. The Team Penske driver came up one position short of the victory.

“Yeah, it stings a little bit,” Logano said. “Last time we were sitting here after a race, it was after a win, and this time it’s after a second, which overall if you look at our Richmond (record) for a season with the two races, you’d say, that’s pretty good, a first and a second.”

“But just overall, obviously it stings to come up one spot short and not be able to get into the playoffs. It is what it is. It’s reality, and we will move on.”

Ryan Newman finished third, while Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 5.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series head to Chicagoland Speedway on September 17 to kickoff the start of the playoffs. Truex won the event a year ago, while Elliott finished third after leading 75 laps.

Can Elliott earn his first career MENCS victory and punch his ticket into the next round? Find out on September 17, 2017 at 3 p.m ET on NBC Sports.

Kyle Larson wins Pure Michigan 400

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Photo by: Jonathan Ferrey

Kyle Larson boldly took advantage of a late-race restart to secure his third consecutive win in the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Larson restarted fourth in overtime after Michael McDowell and Paul Menard spun, but gained the lead after taking it four wide in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet with Matt Kenseth, Erik Jones, and Martin Truex Jr. Larson led just the final two laps to earn the fourth win of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career.

“Awesome finish for us” Larson said, “We definitely didn’t have the car that we had here the last two times we won, but we kept fighting. Probably even harder than we did in those other two wins.”

Larson joins NASCAR Hall of Fame members David Pearson and Bill Elliott to win three consecutive races at the two-mile track.

Truex finished second .310 seconds behind Larson after leading 57 laps.

“We got beat fair and square,” Truex said. “That’s the way it goes sometimes. Double‑file restarts are tricky, and I had good restarts all day I felt like, and we had that red flag for the first time and really just sat there while I got the tires cold and then only had one lap to come to the green and get some heat back in them, and I just struggled getting going, just spun the tires. I didn’t really expect it because I hadn’t had any trouble with that all day.”

Erik Jones finished third, followed by Ryan Newman and Trevor Bayne. Chris Buescher finished sixth, his third top-10 finish within four weeks.

The race remained quiet, with Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. earning the stage victories, until Lap 139 when the No. 5 of Kasey Kahne slid up the race track and collected Joe Gibb Racing’s Daniel Suarez.

Suarez and Kahne finished 37th and 38th, respectively.

The MENCS head to Bristol, Tennessee on Saturday, July 19th for the 24th race of the season with three races remaining in the regular season. Truex leads Larson over a hundred points in the standings.

Don’t miss the Last Great Colosseum under the lights on July 19th at 7:30 p.m ET on NBC.

Kyle Larson Wins at Michigan

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Photo by: Jonathan Ferrey

Kyle Larson celebrated Father’s Day in the best way any driver could, in Victory Lane.

Larson out ran his opponents through a series of cautions at Michigan and received a push from last week’s winner Ryan Blaney that put him ahead for his second win this season.

Larson did the complete opposite from two weeks ago, where Jimmie Johnson beat Larson on a restart that ultimately led him to another Dover victory despite the Chip Ganassi Racing driver having the dominate car.

“Yeah, Ryan Blaney gave me a heck of a push,” Larson said “So I’ve really got to thank him a ton. I knew the Penske cars took off good, so I was happy to see him behind me. For us to withstand a few restarts there with some tough competitors there was pretty important. I can’t thank these guys enough.”

Through the series of restarts Larson held off 2015 Champion Kyle Busch and finished .993 seconds ahead of Chase Elliott, who scored his third consecutive second place finish.

“From where we started the day to where we ended up, I was really proud of our effort,” Elliott said. “I really think we overachieved today from what we had on Friday and Saturday, and even last night, I was getting a little nervous about how the day was going to go.”

Kyle Busch came home in seventh after a late caution for debris on Lap 180 demolished his 1.4-second lead. Larson passed him shortly after the restart for his second win this season. The driver of the No. 18 Toyota is still searching for his first.

The win also landed Larson atop the point standings, five points ahead of Martin Truex Jr., who secured both Stage 1 and Stage 2 wins during the Firekeepers Casino 400.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series head to Sonoma, California next weekend, where Tony Stewart battled it out with Denny Hamlin for the last win of his NASCAR career.

Who will take home the win? Find out Sunday, June 25th at 3 p.m ET on Fox Sports 1.

Kyle Larson earns first career Sprint Cup victory

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Photo by: Jeff Zelevansky

Kyle Larson scored his first Sprint Cup Series victory at Michigan International Speedway during Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400, the first person since Dale Jarrett to score their first Cup victory at the racetrack.

Larson, who led 41 laps, snapped a 99-race winless streak for Chip Ganassi Racing. The driver was the third first-time winner this weekend in a national series. Michael McDowell won in the XFINITY Series and Brett Moffitt in the Camping World Truck Series – the first in NASCAR history.

“I was teared-up that whole last few laps, because I could just feel it,” Larson said. “It was finally going to be it. This one is for the Clauson family. We really miss Bryan. We’re going to miss him. We parked it for him, so that’s really cool.”

Much like other races the No.42 Target Chevrolet driver looked promised to win, Larson overcame losing the lead to rookie Chase Elliott after final pit stops when a late-race caution bunched up the field for a final restart.

“We’ve been close a few times throughout my Sprint Cup career to final put it all together and get a win, it’s awesome.” Larson said, “It makes me extremely proud because we didn’t start off this year good at all. I was pretty down the first month and a half or so.”

Larson became the first graduate of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program to win on the Sprint Cup Series level. He also clinches a spot inside the Chase for the first time in his career.

“It’s special because all the hard work has paid off.” Larson said.

The win comes three weeks after close friend Brian Clauson was fatally injured in a racing accident. Larson ‘Parked It’ in victory lane and dedicated the win to his family after celebrating with a thrilling burnout.

“He didn’t like people doing burnouts and stuff like that because he wanted you to act like you’ve been to Victory Lane before.” Larson said of his late friend, “But I hadn’t been to Victory Lane before. So I was going to do some burnouts.”

From Penalty to Victory

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Photo by: Brian Lawdermilk

Kyle Larson overcame the obstacles he faced in Wednesday night’s Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby to score his second Camping World Truck Series victory and his first series victory at Eldora Speedway.

“It means a lot, especially losing the way I did the two years I ran,” Larson said during his celebration. “Thanks to everyone on this GMS Racing team, DC Solar for coming on-board for this, this is very special for them.”

Larson was leading on lap 52 when he blew a tire and spun out, bringing out the caution. He was forced to do a pass-through penalty after NASCAR determined that he intentionally spun to bring out the caution.

Larson was not to be denied, however. After regaining his lap, he charged to the front of the field and battled with Bobby Pierce until Pierce crashed into the turn 4 wall after suffering transmission issues. Pierce, who finished second in last year’s event, led 102 of 150 laps and finished 25th.

After Larson reclaimed the lead with 30 to go, he extended his lead as the remaining laps dwindled and won by a 0.767-second margin of victory.

Last year’s winner, Christopher Bell, went home second, followed by Rico Abreu, Jake Griffin, and Tyler Reddick.