NASCAR at Michigan recap: Kyle Larson continues to impress

Jimmie Johnson has made many a driver look silly. That tends to happen regularly when you’re a seven-time champion with credentials that have him among NASCAR’s all-time best.

So Kyle Larson had nothing to feel bad about two weeks ago at Dover International Speedway. He was just the latest to fall victim to Johnson, who got the better of Larson on an overtime restart to take the win despite Larson having the faster car.

What the stumble illustrated was that Larson, despite being the brightest among a rising crop of budding superstars within NASCAR, still has more to learn even amid a breakout 2017 season. But the 24-year-old Chip Ganassi Racing driver now in his fourth full season has proved to be a quick learner and, equally as important, has shown the ability to put behind him tough losses like the one he experienced at Dover.

That was evident when Larson won Sunday at Michigan International. Not once, not twice, but three times he had to execute on restarts over the final 15 laps to score his second victory of the season.

On the first, Larson was lined up to the inside of leader Kyle Busch, positioned in the preferable outside lane. The 2015 Cup champion nosed ahead, but Larson stayed alongside Busch then side-drafted him entering Turn 1 where he then powered into the lead. An impressive pass under any circumstances, though more so considering Busch is known as NASCAR’s best restarter and not known for cutting a competitor any slack during late-race situations.

“Ryan (Blaney) gave me a heck of a push on the bottom lane there to shove me out in front of Kyle, which was huge,” Larson said. “Kyle is so good at restarts. … We were able to hold it wide open longer than Kyle, squeeze in front of him.”

Two accidents set up the final restarts, one where Larson had to first fend off Chase Elliott, then Denny Hamlin on the decisive restart with five laps remaining. On both Larson never wavered, quickly asserting himself on the initial jump then motoring away by Turn 3.

“You always kind of have in the back of your mind all the races you lost on restarts — I also got my first win here on a late restart,” Larson said. “I was pretty confident going into it, especially lined up on the front row with Chase again. I know we were both going to have a better restart than we had last year, neither of us spin our tires.”

Larson’s win vaulted him over Martin Truex Jr. into the points lead with 11 regular season races left before the playoffs begin. He’s a virtual lock to qualify for the postseason for a second year in a row, and considering the consistency he’s exhibited — his 7.9 average finish is a series best — and proficiency on intermediate speedways that make up half the 10-race playoff schedule, putting forth a deep championship run is a distinct possibility.

What’s still unknown is whether CGR can continue this performance for the duration of the year. While there’s no doubting Larson’s talent, the same cannot be said for the perennially underachieving Chip Ganassi-owned team, which before this season struggled to provide its drivers with winning equipment.

But after several years where every two steps forward was negated by two steps backward, a concentrated effort to find sustained consistency is paying off. Larson finally won his first Cup race last August at Michigan, while he and teammate Jamie McMurray both earned playoff berths.

And this season, aided by a tighter relationship with Chevrolet and other organizations within the manufacturer’s camp brought about by Stewart-Haas Racing’s offseason defection to Ford, Larson and McMurray have continued to impress. Although winless, the 41-year-old McMurray is a solid seventh in points and, barring a complete collapse, likely playoff bound.

“We had a great offseason,” Larson said. “Since I’ve been in Cup, we haven’t had a good offseason. We always start the year off worse than where we ended it. This year was opposite. We ended last year pretty good, but we started this year even better.”

But it’s Larson who’s the star, representing the present and future of a team on the rise. A transcendent driver committed to learn from previous failures and whose notable accomplishments thus far indicate that even greater success is ahead.