NASCAR Michigan 2017 results: Kyle Larson wins Pure Michigan 400

On the strength of a stellar overtime restart, Kyle Larson beat Martin Truex Jr to win the Pure Michigan 400 Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Larson was lined up fourth and behind Truex, who was leading, on an overtime restart with two laps remaining. And when the green flag waved, Larson quickly shot through the middle, taking Truex, Matt Kenseth and Erik Jones four-wide, bouncing off Truex and into the lead entering Turn 1 where Larson then drove away.

“That was the most perfect restart of my life,” Larson said. “I didn’t think I had a shot to win that at all.

“I was running a few options through my head of what to do if I got a good jump. That was one of them and it worked out perfect. I can’t believe it happened.”

The decisive restart was setup by an accident involving Michael McDowell and Paul Menard that occurred on the backstretch with three regulation laps remaining. The incident dropped enough oil on the track NASCAR briefly red flagged the race.

Truex finished second, with rookie Erik Jones third. Ryan Newman and Trevor Bayne completed the top five. Afterward, Truex complimented Larson for being better when it mattered most.

”We got beat fair and square,” Truex said. “That’s the way it goes sometimes.”

The win was Larson’s third of the 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series season and third straight overall at Michigan. It snapped a streak where the Chip Ganassi Racing driver had finished 23rd or worse in three consecutive races.

Sunday capped an eventful for the 25-year-old, which included a second-place finish in the Knoxville Nationals Saturday night. Larson earned a guaranteed spot in the prestigious sprint car race by winning his qualifying heat Wednesday, which prompted him to seek permission from his NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi to compete in the race. Ganassi agreed -- with the caveat his driver win at Michigan.

“This has been an incredible week for me,” Larson said. “To be able to go run the Knoxville Nationals yesterday, run second to Donny Schatz and then come here and win, beat Martin Truex, who is a Donny Schatz right now. Definitely a week I’ll never forget.”

Kenseth had an opportunity to extend his lead over Clint Bowyer by a healthy 50-plus points for the final playoff transfer position with three regular season races remaining. He was running solidly in the top five late, while Bowyer was mid-pack after dealing with repeated pit road speeding penalties and a flat tire.

But Kenseth cut a tire on the overtime restart just after Truex passed him and limped to finish 23rd, one positioned behind Bowyer. Because Kenseth finished seventh in the first stage, he did add three points to his advantage over Bowyer, who trails by 31 points.

The Cup Series next heads to Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday for the Bass Pro Shops/NRA Night Race.