Kyle Larson has broken through for his first victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup taking the chequered flag at the Pure Michigan 400.
He is the 13th different driver to win a race this season and firmly planted himself among those vying for the 16-car field in the Chase.
Larson beat home another young star in Chase Elliott after a restart with 10 laps to go. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet appeared to get loose and this allowed Larson a clear run through to victory in his 99th Cup Series start.
“We both spun our tyres really good,” said Larson.
“The 2 car (Brad Keselowski) — he pushed me really good. He could have pulled underneath and got by, but he stayed with me and got me the lead. So thanks to him. I’m still at a loss for words.”
Larson dedicated the win to his friend the late Bryan Clauson, who died earlier this month after an accident in a midget race in Kansas.
”I was tearing up those last few laps because I was feeling that was finally going to be it; we weren’t going to have a caution,” said Larson.
“This one’s for the Clauson family. We’re really missing Bryan. We love you guys. We parked it for him so that was really cool.”
Larson, who received congratulations from team owner Chip Ganassi and several fellow drivers as he kissed girlfriend Katelyn Sweet and son Owen, sealed the win on the final restart. He had Elliott and Brad Keselowski pushing hard off the line.
Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and series points leader Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five finishers at the 2-mile track.
Larson led a race-high 41 laps, followed by Jimmie Johnson, who led 37 laps and finished sixth.
The race featured the third time NASCAR used the 2017 low-downforce package to gather information for next season.
Only two races remain ahead of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup with the series heading to the famous Darlington Raceway and the Southern 500 next weekend.
VIDEO: Larson wins at Michigan
VIDEO: Victory Lane
RESULTS: Pure Michigan 400 – Michigan International Speedway
| POS. | CAR # | DRIVER | MAKE | START | LAPS | LAPS LED | FINAL STATUS | POINTS | BONUS POINTS |
| 1 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 12 | 200 | 41 | Running | 45 | 5 |
| 2 | 24 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 5 | 200 | 31 | Running | 40 | 1 |
| 3 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 18 | 200 | 14 | Running | 39 | 1 |
| 4 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 7 | 200 | 0 | Running | 37 | 0 |
| 5 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 4 | 200 | 33 | Running | 37 | 1 |
| 6 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 2 | 200 | 37 | Running | 36 | 1 |
| 7 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Toyota | 9 | 200 | 1 | Running | 35 | 1 |
| 8 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 8 | 200 | 0 | Running | 33 | 0 |
| 9 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 3 | 200 | 0 | Running | 32 | 0 |
| 10 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 1 | 200 | 24 | Running | 32 | 1 |
| 11 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 22 | 200 | 1 | Running | 31 | 1 |
| 12 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 19 | 200 | 0 | Running | 29 | 0 |
| 13 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 13 | 200 | 8 | Running | 29 | 1 |
| 14 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 11 | 200 | 0 | Running | 27 | 0 |
| 15 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 25 | 200 | 0 | Running | 26 | 0 |
| 16 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 17 | 200 | 1 | Running | 26 | 1 |
| 17 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 10 | 200 | 1 | Running | 25 | 1 |
| 18 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 20 | 200 | 0 | Running | 23 | 0 |
| 19 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 16 | 199 | 0 | Running | 22 | 0 |
| 20 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr | Toyota | 14 | 199 | 7 | Running | 22 | 1 |
| 21 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 15 | 198 | 0 | Running | 20 | 0 |
| 22 | 13 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | 28 | 198 | 0 | Running | 19 | 0 |
| 23 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | 23 | 198 | 0 | Running | 18 | 0 |
| 24 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 24 | 198 | 0 | Running | 17 | 0 |
| 25 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 26 | 198 | 0 | Running | 16 | 0 |
| 26 | 7 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | 31 | 198 | 1 | Running | 16 | 1 |
| 27 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | 29 | 198 | 0 | Running | 14 | 0 |
| 28 | 44 | Brian Scott | Ford | 30 | 197 | 0 | Running | 13 | 0 |
| 29 | 23 | David Ragan | Toyota | 32 | 196 | 0 | Running | 12 | 0 |
| 30 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 6 | 195 | 0 | Running | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | 95 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | 35 | 195 | 0 | Running | 10 | 0 |
| 32 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 34 | 195 | 0 | Running | 9 | 0 |
| 33 | 46 | Michael Annett | Chevrolet | 36 | 195 | 0 | Running | 8 | 0 |
| 34 | 98 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | 37 | 194 | 0 | Running | 7 | 0 |
| 35 | 34 | Chris Buescher | Ford | 21 | 193 | 0 | Running | 6 | 0 |
| 36 | 55 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | 39 | 193 | 0 | Running | 5 | 0 |
| 37 | 32 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Ford | 40 | 192 | 0 | Running | 4 | 0 |
| 38 | 30 | Josh Wise | Chevrolet | 38 | 192 | 0 | Running | 3 | 0 |
| 39 | 38 | Landon Cassill | Ford | 33 | 174 | 0 | Suspension | 2 | 0 |
| 40 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | 27 | 160 | 0 | Running | 1 | 0 |
STANDINGS
| POS | DRIVER | POINTS | BEHIND | STARTS | WINS | TOP 5 | TOP 10 | DNF |
| 1 | Kevin Harvick | 799 | Leader | 24 | 2 | 11 | 19 | 2 |
| 2 | Brad Keselowski | 774 | -25 | 24 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 0 |
| 3 | Carl Edwards | 724 | -75 | 24 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 4 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | 721 | -78 | 24 | 1 | 6 | 16 | 1 |
| 5 | Joey Logano | 716 | -83 | 24 | 1 | 9 | 16 | 3 |
| 6 | Kyle Busch | 696 | -103 | 24 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 5 |
| 7 | Denny Hamlin | 691 | -108 | 24 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 3 |
| 8 | Martin Truex Jr | 652 | -147 | 24 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 1 |
| 9 | Jimmie Johnson | 648 | -151 | 24 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 4 |
| 10 | Matt Kenseth | 633 | -166 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 3 |
| 11 | Chase Elliott | 628 | -171 | 24 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 1 |
| 12 | Austin Dillon | 622 | -177 | 24 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 1 |
| 13 | Jamie McMurray | 616 | -183 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
| 14 | Ryan Newman | 601 | -198 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| 15 | Kyle Larson | 582 | -217 | 24 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 2 |
| 16 | Kasey Kahne | 564 | -235 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 17 | Trevor Bayne | 558 | -241 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| 18 | Ryan Blaney | 545 | -254 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| 19 | AJ Allmendinger | 544 | -255 | 24 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| 20 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 528 | -271 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| 21 | Greg Biffle | 472 | -327 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 22 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | 461 | -338 | 18 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
| 23 | Paul Menard | 454 | -345 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 24 | Danica Patrick | 450 | -349 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 25 | Aric Almirola | 422 | -377 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 26 | Tony Stewart | 420 | -379 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 2 |
| 27 | Clint Bowyer | 408 | -391 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 28 | Casey Mears | 394 | -405 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | Landon Cassill | 357 | -442 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 30 | Chris Buescher | 334 | -465 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 31 | David Ragan | 327 | -472 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 32 | Regan Smith | 309 | -490 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 33 | Brian Scott | 304 | -495 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 34 | Michael McDowell | 288 | -511 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 35 | Matt DiBenedetto | 243 | -556 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 36 | Cole Whitt | 239 | -560 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 37 | Michael Annett | 210 | -589 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 38 | Josh Wise | 123 | -676 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 39 | Reed Sorenson | 113 | -686 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 40 | Jeff Gordon | 99 | -700 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | Brian Vickers | 86 | -713 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 42 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | 77 | -722 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 43 | Bobby Labonte | 51 | -748 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | David Gilliland | 46 | -753 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Michael Waltrip | 42 | -757 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | Boris Said | 17 | -782 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 | Patrick Carpentier | 11 | -788 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | Eddie MacDonald | 5 | -794 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 | Alex Kennedy | 5 | -794 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 50 | Robert Richardson | 3 | -796 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 | Ty Dillon | 0 | -799 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 | Alex Bowman | 0 | -799 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 | Jeb Burton | 0 | -799 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 54 | Joey Gase | 0 | -799 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 | Ryan Ellis | 0 | -799 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 56 | Dylan Lupton | 0 | -799 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 | Justin Allgaier | 0 | -799 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 58 | Cody Ware | 0 | -799 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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