Kyle Larson pulls off ‘most perfect restart of my life’ to beat Martin Truex Jr. at Michigan

There wasn’t much Martin Truex Jr. could do but tip his hat while Kyle Larson struggled to comprehend how he pulled off a deft move on a restart that left people talking and him celebrating in Victory Lane Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Larson was fourth and on the outside of the second row, directly behind Truex, as the field rolled to the green flag for an overtime two-lap restart. Truex, whose No. 78 Toyota emerged as the dominate car over the second half of the Pure Michigan 400, figured if he could get away clean he’d win for the second week in a row.

But when Truex spun his tires, it allowed Larson to go on the attack. Quickly, Larson split Truex and fellow front row restarter Matt Kenseth, bouncing off Truex in the process, and then drove hard into Turn 1 where he then sailed away.

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

“My screwup gave him the win basically.”

The pivotal moment of the race more was more than just Truex spinning his tires and Larson capitalizing on Truex’s misstep.

Recognizing that he held the upper hand over Truex because his tires were considerably fresher, Larson knew he had to be aggressive, otherwise Truex would use clean air to his advantage and build a lead he couldn’t overcome. For his part, Truex wanted to lead the field slowly to the green flag thereby preventing Larson from laying back and getting any sort of run.

How they should approach the restart was something both Truex and Larson thought about as the race was stopped for a crash on the backstretch that set up an overtime finish.

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

The win was Larson’s third consecutive at Michigan and third of the 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series season. On the afternoon, he led a mere two laps, whereas Truex led 57 laps and Brad Keselowski a race-high 105 laps.

Yet, when it mattered most, Larson was simply better. The-25-year-old executed when he absolutely need to, flawlessly timing when he should accelerate and not hesitating to pass Truex when the opportunity presented itself.

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