Larson Continues to Succeed in Michigan

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Larson won the Pure Michigan 400 from Michigan International Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Larson went four-wide on the final restart to take the lead with two laps to go, and he pulled away from Martin Truex Jr. to take the checkered flag.  Larson said he had planned the winning move while sitting in his car during a red flag prior to the final restart.

“I was running a few options through my head of what to do if I got a good jump, and that was one of them,” Larson said.  “It was the most perfect restart of my life; I’ve lost a lot on late restarts, but to get one from the second row makes up for some of them.”

Larson’s victory was the fourth of his career, and his third-consecutive win at Michigan.  Larson, who only led the last two laps, said he was happy his team was able to fight back to win after struggling with the car’s handling throughout the race.

“We were struggling all day, definitely not as good as we were the last two times here,” Larson said.  “I can’t believe that happened…I didn’t think I had a shot to win that at all.  My car was really loose in traffic and average in clean air.”

“We persevered…and had some good restarts there at the end.”

Truex had one of the most dominant cars all day after leading 57 laps.  Truex held off his teammate Erik Jones over the final runs, but he wasn’t able to keep Larson behind him on the final restart. 

Truex said his tires were too cold following the red flag and his car couldn’t go.

“Just tried to do something different there with Larson behind me, and he hit me; when he hit me I went and I spun the tires,” Truex said.  “The tires just got too cold under that red.”

“I thought there was no way he would go around me on the bottom with all that speedy dry down there.  Sometimes these things don’t work out.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Martin Truex Jr.

3. Erik Jones

4. Ryan Newman

5. Trevor Bayne

6. Chris Buescher

7. Austin Dillon

8. Chase Elliott

9. Jamie McMurray

10. Kyle Busch

11. Kurt Busch

12. Aric Almirola

13. Kevin Harvick

14. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

15. Ryan Blaney

16. Denny Hamlin

17. Brad Keselowski

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19. Jimmie Johnson

20. AJ Allmendinger

21. Ty Dillon

22. Danica Patrick

23. Clint Bowyer

24. Matt Kenseth

25. Landon Cassill

26. Matt DiBenedetto

27. Michael McDowell

28. Joey Logano

29. Cole Whitt

30. David Ragan

31. Corey LaJoie

32. Brett Moffitt

33. Reed Sorenson

34. Paul Menard

35. Jeffrey Earnhardt

36. BJ McLeod

37. Daniel Suarez

38. Kasey Kahne

39. Derrike Cope

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images