Kyle Larson screamed past Martin Truex Jr. in a restart in overtime to achieve his third victory of the season in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.
Larson only led the last two laps of the 202 lap race in the No. 42 Chevrolet which propelled him to victory. This is his third win on a two mile track which seems to be his lucky charm.
Larson at the end powered his way ahead of the pack on the most perfect restart of his career. He quickly jumped from fourth position to first by amazingly launching past Truex and would not relinquish the lead as the No. 78 tried to catch him at the end along the straightaway at the finish line.
Truex finished in second place, in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota only .310 seconds behind as Larson crossed the finish line just ahead of the Jersey Boy. He appeared to be poised to win his fifth race this season, however, one final restart in overtime changed everything and would rewrite the entire story of the Pure Michigan 400.
The late caution yellow flag on lap 196 involving a wreck between Paul Menard and Michael McDowell sent the race into overtime setting the stage for final outcome which is now history.
Erik Jones finished third in the No. 77 Toyota, Ryan Newman fourth in the No. 31 Chevrolet and Trevor Bayne in the No. 6 Ford fifth. To round off the top ten, Chris Buescher sixth, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch tenth.
Pole starter Brad Keselowski and Stage I winner, led the race during the first 103 of 110 laps with 105 overall, however, he faded and ended up 17th for his day of racing. He did pick-up a playoff point for his 60 lap stretch leading in the early part of the race.
Meanwhile, Truex picked up another playoff point when he won Stage 2 for his 15th Stage win of the season keeping him firmly the leader in the points standings. In fact, Truex has accumulated 933 points, Kyle Larson 804, Kyle Busch 797, Kevin Harvick 787 and Brad Keselowski with 710 are the top five leaders for the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings.
Next weekend before the break into September the Monster Energy Cup Series moves on to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race on Saturday August 19th at 7:30 PM. All the exciting action can be followed on NBCSN, PRN and Streaming on NBC Sports.
