Page 18 - ARUBA TODAY

A18 SPORTS
Monday 14 august 2017
Larson snatches another win at Michigan on final restart

BY NOAH TRISTER ing 202 laps. Keselowski
AP SPORTS WRITER led almost the entire way
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) through the 60-lap first
-- Kyle Larson’s ambitious stage, only giving up the
weekend ended in tri- top spot briefly during a pit
umph. cycle. Keselowski was sec-
Larson slipped between ond to Truex in the second
cars on an overtime re- stage.
start and won Sunday’s Aside from the end of the
NASCAR Cup Series race first two stages, there were
at Michigan International no yellow flags until lap
Speedway. The victory 140, after Kasey Kahne
capped a busy stretch for slid in front of Daniel Su-
Larson after team owner arez and slammed into the
Chip Ganassi allowed him wall , taking them both out.
to go to Iowa to compete TOYOTA’S DAY
in the Knoxville Nationals Keselowski ended Toyota’s
on Saturday. streak of five straight poles
He finished second at that and offered a theory as to
sprint car event before re- why after qualifying Friday.
turning to Michigan and “About this time every
earning his fourth career Kyle Larson crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR Cup Series auto race in Brooklyn, Mich., year NASCAR takes all the
Cup victory. Sunday, Aug. 13, 2017. cars to kind of check to
“This win feels amazing to make sure that the com-
steal one in a way,” Larson a spin by Michael McDow- series points leader. “The straight from 1985-86. This petitive balance is where
said. “My other three wins I ell. That forced overtime. double-file restarts are was Larson’s third win of they want it to be,” Kesel-
felt like we had the first- or A red flag for oil on the track tricky, and sometimes you the season and ended a owski said then. “We had a
second-best car, but to- only added to the drama, do them right, sometimes mini-slump in which he had strong suspicion that those
day at times I didn’t think and when the race restart- you screw them up, and finished out of the top 20 in guys would kind of tune it
we were a top-10 car. But ed for the final time, Lar- unfortunately I screwed the three straight races. down this weekend, so not
to get the win that way is son - who hadn’t led at all one up that mattered the Truex and Jones finished to post a pretty big number
awesome.” to that point - drove to the most today.” second and third for Furni- in inspection that maybe
Martin Truex Jr. was in the right of Jones and passed Larson has won the last ture Row Racing. balanced back out the
lead, about a second to the inside of Truex. three Cup races at MIS, the Larson won by 0.31 sec- competition.”
ahead of teammate Erik “We got beat fair and first driver to do that since onds in his No. 42 Chevro- On race day, Truex and
Jones, before a late cau- square,” said Truex, the Bill Elliott, who won four let. Brad Keselowski and Jones finished second and
tion came out because of Truex won the first two stag- third in their Toyotas, but

es. There was a lot of hoop- the win went to a Chevy.
la Friday when Ganassi an- Keselowski drives a Ford.
nounced he was letting “I think that for Brad and
Larson go to Iowa. Both those guys that think that
driver and owner were go- maybe we’re sandbag-
ing to be in the spotlight no ging, I think it’s a glimpse of,
matter what happened in if they get their stuff right,
Sunday’s race. maybe they can beat us,”
“When you’re in my po- Truex said. “It’s not all just
sition of this past week’s that we have better race
activities with all the talk cars. ... I feel good about
about Knoxville and going our race cars and what
to Knoxville last night and we’ve been doing all year.
not getting back here until We brought some new stuff
two in the morning, I’m out here this weekend to try to
on the end of the diving get better, and that’s what
board there a lot of times,” we’ll continue to do.”
Ganassi said. “So I appre- PLAYOFF OUTLOOK
ciate when Kyle steps up Matt Kenseth plummeted
and does what he did to- at the end and finished
day. It makes it all worth- 24th, missing a chance to
while, obviously.” open some distance be-
Keselowski, the pole win- tween himself and Clint
ner, led for 105 laps, but fin- Bowyer in the playoff race.
ished 17th. He is now win- If the playoffs began now,
less in 17 Cup races at his Kenseth would be the last
home state’s track. driver in. He is 31 points
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has ahead of Bowyer in the
two wins at Michigan, fin- standings, but he could
ished 14th in his final race have had a bigger advan-
at MIS before he retires at tage.
the end of this season. Bowyer finished 23rd on a
The race was originally problem-filled day that in-
scheduled for 200 laps and cluded multiple penalties
400 miles. It ended up be- for pit road speeding.q