Larson Continues to Dominate, Wins in NASCAR's Return to Nashville

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Larson won the Ally 400 in NASCAR’s return to Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon.

Larson turned in another dominant performance on Sunday, and led a race-high 264 laps on his way to victory lane.

Larson was tasked with saving fuel over the final 70 laps, after a late pit stop forced many of the leaders to save almost 10 laps of fuel.  Larson quickly got out to a large lead, and he was able to save enough fuel over the final run.

Larson said his car was fast enough that he only had to defend the lead on restarts.

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“We never really had to run behind people,” Larson said.  “If one of my teammates had gotten out front, it probably would have been hard to pass them.”

The victory was Larson’s third in a row, in addition to his win in last weekend’s All-Star Race.

Larson said his team brought another strong car to continue his dominant summer.

“The Valvoline Chevrolet was really good,” Larson said.  “Our pit crew did an awesome job again…I just hope we can keep it going.”

Ross Chastain was the highest-finishing driver who pitted under the final stop to top-off on fuel, and he finished second.  After he got around the other leaders who were saving fuel, he was still five seconds behind Larson and ran out of laps to catch the eventual winner.

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Ross Chastain

3. William Byron

4. Aric Almirola

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

7. Daniel Suarez

8. Kurt Busch

9. Christopher Bell

10. Joey Logano

11. Kyle Busch

12. Austin Dillon

13. Chase Elliott

14. Ryan Newman

15. Alex Bowman

16. Corey LaJoie

17. Michael McDowell

18. Anthony Alfredo

19. Tyler Reddick

20. Erik Jones

21. Bubba Wallace

22. Denny Hamlin

23. Martin Truex Jr.

24. Brad Keselowski

25. Matt DiBenedetto

26. Garrett Smithley

27. Josh Bilicki

28. JJ Yeley

29. BJ McLeod

30. Joey Gase

31. Cole Custer

32. Chase Briscoe

33. Ryan Preece

34. Chad Finchum

35. David Starr

36. Justin Haley

37. Chris Buescher

38. Ryan Blaney

39. Quin Houff

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Larson Stays Hot, Wins at Sonoma

Kyle Larson won the Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Sonoma Raceway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his second-consecutive victory.

Larson started on the pole on Sunday, and led a race-high 57 laps on his way to victory.

Larson had to hold off his teammate Chase Elliott in the closing laps.  Elliott, who has the most wins on road course among active drivers, tried to find a way around Larson over the final three restarts.

Larson said he didn’t like having to give Elliott so many chances over the final batch of restarts.

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“I felt like I did a good job the one before, and stretched it out a little bit,” Larson said.  “I didn’t want to give him another try at it, but he kept the pressure on.”

Larson was born in Southern California, and said it was special to pick up a victory at his home track.

“This will always be home to me, even if I live way out on the East Coast,” Larson said.  “To get back-to-back wins in the Cup Series is something I’ve always dreamt of doing, and to get it done feels great.”

Elliott said he didn’t know what else he could have done to get past his teammate and get to victory lane.

“I feel like we were a lot better there at the end than we were at the beginning,” Elliott said.  “I wish we could have gotten another spot but we’ll try again.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Chase Elliott

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Joey Logano

5. Kyle Busch

6. Kurt Busch

7. Ross Chastain

8. Denny Hamlin

9. Alex Bowman

10. Ryan Blaney

11. Erik Jones

12. Daniel Suarez

13. Austin Dillon

14. Bubba Wallace

15. Brad Keselowski

16. Chris Buescher

17. Chase Briscoe

18. Corey LaJoie

19. Tyler Reddick

20. Cole Custer

21. Ryan Preece

22. Kevin Harvick

23. Matt DiBenedetto

24. Christopher Bell

25. James Davison

26. Scott Heckert

27. Aric Almirola

28. Michael McDowell

29. Josh Bilicki

30. Ben Rhodes

31. Anthony Alfredo

32. Garrett Smithley

33. Ryan Newman

34. Cody Ware

35. William Byron

36. Quin Houff

37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Larson Dominates in Charlotte, Wins Coca-Cola 600

Kyle Larson won the Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday night to pick up his second win of the season.

Larson continued his strong season with a dominant effort in NASCAR’s longest race.  Larson led 327 laps after starting on the pole, and was able to run at the front of the field for most of the race.

Even though he dominated the race, Larson said he had to fight his teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron for the victory throughout the night.

“It was not easy, I felt like I had to fight off William and Chase a lot,” Larson said.  “It kind of worked out that last run…[Erik Jones] had to pit and pulled out in front of me.  I just towed with him for awhile and stretched my lead out.”

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The victory was the 269th victory for Hendrick Motorsports, which broke a tie with Petty Enterprises for the most victories in Cup Series history.

Larson said it was an honor to be the driver to get the record-breaking win for HMS.

“Feels great to be the guy to help Mr. H break that record finally,” Larson said.  “Very lucky that Mr. H was able to put together a deal for me; I’m living a dream for sure.”

Elliott finished second to his teammate on Sunday, and said Larson was the class of the organization and the field.

“He did a good job tonight and ran a great race,” Elliott said.  “Made no mistakes and the best car won.  They’ve been kicking ass since February, so they deserve to win and rightfully so.”

“Proud of HMS; feel like everybody’s just pulling in the same direction and it’s really showing.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Chase Elliott

3. Kyle Busch

4. William Byron

5. Alex Bowman

6. Austin Dillon

7. Denny Hamlin

8. Chris Buescher

9. Tyler Reddick

10. Kevin Harvick

11. Brad Keselowski

12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

13. Ryan Blaney

14. Bubba Wallace

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Erik Jones

17. Joey Logano

18. Matt DiBenedetto

19. Corey LaJoie

20. Michael McDowell

21. Cole Custer

22. Aric Almirola

23. Chase Briscoe

24. Christopher Bell

25. Anthony Alfredo

26. Ryan Preece

27. Ryan Newman

28. Justin Haley

29. Martin Truex Jr.

30. Cody Ware

31. BJ McLeod

32. Quin Houff

33. James Davison

34. Garrett Smithley

35. Josh Bilicki

36. David Starr

37. Ross Chastain

38. Kurt Busch

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Elliott Wins Wet Inaugural Race at COTA

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Chase Elliott won the Inaugural EchoPark Automotive Texas Grand Prix from the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday afternoon after weather ended the race with 14 laps remaining.

Elliott, winningest active driver on road courses, ran up front for most of the race before he took the lead under the final pit cycle.

Elliott won on the first new track added to the schedule since 2011, with the world-class facility of Circuit of the Americas normally hosting Lewis Hamilton and the rest of the drivers in Formula 1.

The weather was the story of the day, as the Cup Series ran under rainfall for the very first time.  Rain tires allowed drivers to run on the wet racetrack, but standing water created visibility issues in the second stage. 

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace and Cole Custer were among those involved in two scary accidents in the second stage, which caused NASCAR to throw the red flag to help push water off the track.

The race was able to continue as the rainfall slowed, but with the laps winding down the heavy rain returned.

Elliott said standing water on the backstretch was causing problems over the final laps.

“There were some areas on track that were getting treacherous,” Elliott said.  “The back straightaway was puddling up and you started to hydroplane and do some weird stuff.  My only option was to…just send it through those spots and hope for the best.”

Elliott’s victory was also historic.  The win was the 800^th for Chevrolet in the Cup Series, and it was also the 268^th victory for Hendrick Motorsports, tying them with Petty Enterprises for the most in Cup Series history.

Elliott said his crew chief made the right call with the team short on fuel.

“I just kept pushing myself harder and harder,” Elliott said.  “We’ve had kind of an up-and-down year.  Not the ideal win, but we’ll definitely take it and move on down the road.”

Elliott’s teammate Kyle Larson finished second for the second week in a row.

Larson said he was hoping the race would resume with his teammate short on fuel.

“I wanted to go green the whole way,” Larson said.  “I think Chase was short on fuel; we wanted to keep going so he’d have to pit.”

“Really cool to run up front on a road course and…get my first rain race in.”

Unofficial results:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Kyle Larson

3. Joey Logano

4. Ross Chastain

5. AJ Allmendinger

6. Chase Briscoe

7. Michael McDowell

8. Alex Bowman

9. Tyler Reddick

10. Kyle Busch

11. William Byron

12. Austin Dillon

13. Chris Buescher

14. Denny Hamlin

15. Ryan Preece

16. Erik Jones

17. Ryan Blaney

18. Anthony Alfredo

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Corey LaJoie

21. Ty Dillon

22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

23. Matt DiBenedetto

24. Ryan Newman

25. Austin Cindric

26. Aric Almirola

27. Kurt Busch

28. Garrett Smithley

29. James Davison

30. Josh Bilicki

31. Kyle Tilley

32. Cody Ware

33. Daniel Suarez

34. Quin Houff

35. Martin Truex Jr.

36. Cole Custer

37. Kevin Harvick

38. Christopher Bell

39. Bubba Wallace

40. Justin Haley

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Bowman Wins, Hendrick Motorsports Dominant in Dover

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Alex Bowman won the Drydene 400 from Dover International Speedway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his second win of the season.

Hendrick Motorsports was dominant on Sunday, and swept the top four spots.  Kyle Larson led 263 laps, but was beaten off pit road by Bowman following their final pit stops.

Bowman was able to stay ahead of his teammate on his way to victory lane, and said his pit crew helped get him to victory lane.

“So proud of this pit crew,” Bowman said.  “The whole pit crew is doing a good job.  Glad to get Hendrick Motorsports another win.”

Bowman said his team had to fight through some struggles since their last win at Richmond earlier in the season.

James Gilbert/Getty Images

“We won at Richmond, then had a really rough couple weeks,” Bowman said.  “Went to some really good racetracks for us and struggled.  Told the guys last week that we’re still the same team that won it at Richmond.”

After losing the lead, Larson was never able to get close enough to challenge Bowman for the win.

Larson said the Hendrick cars were so evenly matched that they couldn’t pass one another.

“It was like whoever got out to the lead was going to be hard to beat,” Larson said.  “Their team just did a really good job on the pit stop and gained control of the race.  I never really had a shot after that.”

“Hard to be disappointed with that second, I feel like I did everything I could.  What a day for Hendrick Motorsports.”

Unofficial results:

1. Alex Bowman

2. Kyle Larson

3. Chase Elliott

4. William Byron

5. Joey Logano

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Denny Hamlin

8. Tyler Reddick

9. Daniel Suarez

10. Cole Custer

11. Bubba Wallace

12. Ryan Blaney

13. Kurt Busch

14. Austin Dillon

15. Ross Chastain

16. Brad Keselowski

17. Chris Buescher

18. Ryan Preece

19. Martin Truex Jr.

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Christopher Bell

22. Erik Jones

23. Ryan Newman

24. Matt DiBenedetto

25. Michael McDowell

26. Corey LaJoie

27. Kyle Busch

28. Anthony Alfredo

29. Quin Houff

30. Josh Berry

31. Cody Ware

32. Garrett Smithley

33. James Davison

34. Josh Bilicki

35. Chase Briscoe

36. BJ McLeod

37. Aric Almirola

James Gilbert/Getty Images

Truex Dominates in Darlington

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Martin Truex Jr. won the Goodyear 400 from Darlington Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Truex was dominant on Sunday, and won both stages while leading a race-high 248 laps.

After the victory, Truex commented on how he became the first stage winner to finally take the checkered flag at Darlington.

“We’ve won a bunch of stages here the last couple of years; always lady luck got us,” Truex said.  “Really proud of everybody on this Auto Owner’s Camry.”

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

While dominant throughout the day, Truex had to hold off Kyle Larson over the final green-flag run.  After Larson made up some time during the final green-flag pit cycle, he was able to chase down Truex as he worked his way through lapped traffic.

Hamlin said the heavy traffic at the end of the race allowed Larson to challenge for the lead.

“I knew the car would do what I wanted it to do, and I just had to manage those long runs,” Truex said.  “It was really loose that last run, and I was nervous with the 5 catching us.  We got mired in some traffic there.”

Larson said he was surprised he was able to challenge at the end of the race with how bad his car handled all afternoon.

“Felt like we were not very good all day, but I passed a lot of cars and found myself towards the front,” Larson said.  “I was surprised I was able to get to him…he was just a little better than I was on the long run.”

“Fun to come here to Darlington with low downforce and during the day.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Kyle Larson

3. Kyle Busch

4. William Byron

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Kevin Harvick

7. Chase Elliott

8. Ryan Blaney

9. Chris Buescher

10. Ryan Newman

11. Chase Briscoe

12. Tyler Reddick

13. Joey Logano

14. Christopher Bell

15. Ross Chastain

16. Austin Dillon

17. Alex Bowman

18. Erik Jones

19. Matt DiBenedetto

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Bubba Wallace

22. Corey LaJoie

23. Daniel Suarez

24. Brad Keselowski

25. Ryan Preece

26. Anthony Alfredo

27. Michael McDowell

28. Justin Haley

29. JJ Yeley

30. Quin Houff

31. James Davison

32. BJ McLeod

33. Josh Bilicki

34. Cody Ware

35. Kurt Busch

36. Cole Custer

37. Aric Almirola

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Kyle Busch Caps Off Emotional Week with Kansas Victory

Kyle Busch won the Busch Light Buschy McBusch Race 400 from Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Busch ran up front for most of the day, and he and Kyle Larson were the class of the field as the laps wound down.

Busch was the leader when a late caution came out, and he held off the field on the final restart to pick up his first victory of 2021.

James Gilbert/Getty Images

Busch didn’t win until late in 2020, and he said he’s glad his team could get to victory lane early this season.

“It’s cool to get everybody in victory lane again this early in the season,” Busch said.  “It’s hard sometimes…there’s a sense of doubt there for sure.  You’ve got to keep persevering and keep digging.”

The victory came on Busch’s 36^th birthday, and came at the end of an emotional week.  On Friday, Busch and his wife Samantha announced that they had suffered another miscarriage, another setback in their infertility journey.

Busch said it was a tough week for his family.

“You talk about the ups and downs of racing…it’s been a lot of downs of life for us,” Busch said.  “I’ve got a great opportunity and a great job…but struggling with infertility and stuff like that with Samantha.  Just a great day to put this M&M’s Mix Camry up front.”

Larson led a race-high 132 laps, but he lost the lead following a few late cautions.

With the field taking the green flag with two laps remaining, Larson committed to pushing Ryan Blaney to give both drivers a chance at the win.  Larson and Blaney got loose and into the wall, and Larson ended up 19^th.

Larson said he was trying to do all he could to give himself a shot at the win.

“Just planned on pushing Blaney as hard as I could, obviously I was just pushing too hard.” Larson said.  “Got him loose and chased ourselves both up into the wall.”

“That’s really the first time I was behind anybody on a restart, so I thought I could push around the corner.  I learned for next time.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Matt DiBenedetto

5. Chase Elliott

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Tyler Reddick

8. Chris Buescher

9. William Byron

10. Austin Dillon

11. Daniel Suarez

12. Denny Hamlin

13. Michael McDowell

14. Ross Chastain

15. Kurt Busch

16. Ryan Newman

17. Joey Logano

18. Alex Bowman

19. Kyle Larson

20. Chase Briscoe

21. Ryan Blaney

22. Austin Cindric

23. Anthony Alfredo

24. Cole Custer

25. Erik Jones

26. Bubba Wallace

27. Corey LaJoie

28. Christopher Bell

29. Aric Almirola

30. Justin Haley

31. BJ McLeod

32. Ryan Preece

33. Garrett Smithley

34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

35. Joey Gase

36. Cody Ware

37. Quin Houff

38. Matt Mills

39. Josh Bilicki

Sean Gardner/Getty Images