Kyle Larson came up one spot short of redemption Sunday at Chicagoland. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver lost the race last year after a somewhat controversial last lap bump and run from Kyle Busch on the final lap, after Larson made up ground and passed Busch in the closing laps. He would recover to finish second and be part of the highlight reels the rest of the season. The move was also shown several times this past weekend.
Sunday, he would take the lead for the first time on lap 179 just after a restart. In the final laps, Larson, much like he did last year, began to reel in Bowman who was enjoying the biggest lead of the race at the time of nearly 3 seconds. Larson caught Bowman and took the lead with 8 laps to go. Bowman regrouped however and retook the lead from Larson with 5 laps to go.
Unlike last year Sunday there was no bump and run, no last lap heroics and Larson had to settle for second once more.
“I could see him struggle when I was getting to him, and when I got by him, I’m like, all right, good, he’s going to be in my dirty air and get loose,” Larson said. “He could get big runs on me down the straightaways, and I think that allowed him to get that run into 1 and he got to the main side and I got tight, I don’t know if him getting air on my spoiler or something got him tight, but I had to kind of breathe it a little bit, and then we side drafted on the backstretch.
“I wish I would have maybe done some things different into 3 instead of going all the way to wall, maybe chase him to bottom, just try to hang on his quarter, but he might have cleared me anyways down there,” he added. “Cool to see him get the win there. Would have liked for him to have to wait another week or so, but happy for him. He’s an open‑wheel guy, so cool to see.”
“That wasn’t the outcome we had hoped for,” Busch said. “The car had been a struggle all weekend. We thought we were set up to be able to get a solid finish, but it didn’t work out.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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