NASCAR Michigan 2017 results: Kyle Larson wins FireKeepers Casino 400

Kyle Larson passed Kyle Busch to take the lead with 15 laps remaining, then withstood two late restarts to win the FireKeepers Casino 400 Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Kyle Larson burn out

Larson started on the pole and led a race-high 96 of 200 laps in scoring his second victory of the 2017 Monster Energy Cup Series season, with his previous win coming at Auto Club Speedway in March. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver won his first series race last August at Michigan.

“We’ve been so close to so many other wins,” Larson said. “This is our second Cup win of the year, but we’ve had six second place finishes. All-in-all, it’s a good season so far and we’ll continue to keep building on what we’ve got.”

Chase Elliott finished second for a third straight Michigan race, with Joey Logano in third, Denny Hamlin in fourth, and Jamie McMurray in fifth. Rounding out the top 10 were Martin Truex Jr., Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jimmie Johnson.

Busch and Larson were first and second on a restart following a caution for debris with 15 laps remaining. Busch edged ahead in the preferred outside lane, but Larson executed a power move underneath Busch entering Turn 1. Larson kept that lead on two subsequent restarts following cautions for crashes, pulling away each time — including one with five laps remaining. His margin of victory over Elliott was 0.993 seconds.

“For us to withstand a few restarts there with some tough competitors that was pretty important,” Larson said. “What a great Father’s Day present for myself and all the other fathers out there. My dad is here today, too. So, I’m looking forward to celebrating with him.”

Elliott is still seeking his first series win and has now finished runner-up three times in 56 Cup starts. The second-year driver moved to fifth in points and is in sound position to earn a playoff berth for a second straight season.

“We had a couple of opportunities to get the lead and unfortunately, it just didn’t work out,” Elliott said. “But we’ll move on. Congratulations to Kyle. He had a fast car today and we’ll try to go get ‘em next week.”

Three cautions jumbled the running order over the final 20 laps. The first came for a controversial piece of debris NASCAR believed to be on the track, which team owner Tony Stewart later pointedly disputed. That setup a restart where one of Stewart’s four drivers, Clint Bowyer, smacked the Turn 1 wall necessitating another yellow flag.

On the subsequent restart, a multi-car pileup on the backstretch collected two of Bowyer’s teammates, Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick. Harvick was able to continue with minimal damage, however Patrick slammed into the inside wall. She was uninjured.

“It’s a shame that so many drivers and teams day was ruined by the results of another ‘debris’ caution towards the end of the race today,” Stewart tweeted.

The Cup Series travels to Sonoma Raceway in Northern California next weekend for the first road course race of the season.