Sunday, September 10, 2017

Larson Wins Regular Season Finale

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Larson ended the regular season with a victory in Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond Raceway.

Sean Gardner/Getty Images
Larson led 53 laps on Saturday, but he needed to use a late-race pit stop to take the lead for the final time.  His pit crew got him out front heading into overtime, and he was able to pull away from the field to head to victory lane.

Larson said he was excited his team was able to get him his first victory at a track shorter than 2 miles.

“This is amazing,” Larson said.  “My whole team, especially my pit crew tonight, were awesome.  The best pit crew showed up tonight…they were money all night long.”

Martin Truex Jr. dominated the race again, but Larson was able to get ahead on the final restart.  Larson said he knew he’d need a caution to catch Truex in the closing laps.

“The Target Chevy was great all night, but [Truex] was definitely the best,” Larson said.  “That was such a long run there at the end, I knew I needed a caution if I wanted a shot.”

“I’m really pumped for the playoffs; we’ve got a great shot at the championship.”

Truex led a race-high 198 laps, but wrecked in the closing laps for the second week in a row and finished 20th. 

Truex said he was unhappy with the final caution for Derrike Cope with four laps to go.

“Tonight sucked, plain and simple,” Truex said.  “Caution for a guy that shouldn’t even be out there is kind of ridiculous.  I don’t really know what to say about all that.”

Unofficial results:
1. Kyle Larson
2. Joey Logano
3. Ryan Newman
4. Kurt Busch
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Erik Jones
7. Daniel Suarez
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Kyle Busch
10. Chase Elliott
11. Brad Keselowski
12. Kasey Kahne
13. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
14. Jamie McMurray
15. Kevin Harvick
16. Michael McDowell
17. Aric Almirola
18. Ryan Blaney
19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
20. Martin Truex Jr.
21. Austin Dillon
22. Ty Dillon
23. Danica Patrick
24. Clint Bowyer
25. Trevor Bayne
26. AJ Allmendinger
27. David Ragan
28. Paul Menard
29. Corey LaJoie
30. Reed Sorenson
31. Matt DiBenedetto
32. Chris Buescher
33. Cole Whitt
34. Jeffrey Earnhardt
35. Gray Gaulding
36. Derrike Cope
37. BJ McLeod
38. Matt Kenseth
39. Landon Cassill

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

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