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Larson Wins At Dover

As Kyle Larson stood atop his Chevy with a two-year winless streak behind him, perhaps his playoff victory Sunday at Dover International Speedway was indeed a preview of a championship celebration ahead.

 

The 27-year-old Larson has been oh-so close toward grabbing the checkered flag since his last win Sept. 9, 2017, in Richmond. Larson had nine runner-up finishes in the No. 42 Chevrolet over that span and won the $1 million NASCAR All-Star race this season.

 

He cashed in at Dover with the Monster Mile-stone win (it was the track’s 100th race) that earned him an automatic berth into the third round. Not only has Larson failed to win a title, long-time team owner Chip Ganassi has never won a NASCAR Cup Series championship, something that’s surely chapped an organization with handfuls of IndyCar titles.

 

Larson had four of his six career Cup wins in 2017 and Dover marked his first one in the playoffs. He led 154 laps late after Denny Hamlin faded from a dominant early run (he led 219 laps) in the No. 11 Toyota that opened the door for Larson. Playoff drivers took the top six spots: Martin Truex Jr. was second, followed by Alex Bowman, Kevin Harvick, Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Chase Elliott and reigning series champion Joey Logano both suffered serious blows to their championship runs with a rough start to the second round.

 

Truex won the spring race at Dover and didn’t have enough down the stretch to catch Larson and complete the season sweep.

 

Logano and Elliott both had their races ruined before the race even finished 10 laps. Logano failed to start the race because of a broken axle on the No. 22 Ford. He eventually hit the track more than 20 laps down and finished 34th.

 

Clint Bowyer and Ryan Blaney join Logano and Elliott as the bottom four drivers in the playoff field.

NASCAR heads to Talladega Superspeedway where Aric Almirola is the defending race winner.

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