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NASCAR Michigan: Kyle Larson takes maiden Cup victory

Kyle Larson came out on top in a tense late race battle with rookie Chase Elliott to win his maiden NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan

In a race of minimal incident, the pair ran together throughout and Elliott took the lead from Larson midway through due to a slow stop for the Chip Ganassi driver under green flag conditions.

The Hendrick Motorsports rookie looked the safe bet for victory until the yellow was thrown late on as Michael Annett blew a tyre.

Larson got the better of his young rival at the final restart to take the lead with nine to go.

It was a lead that Larson did not relinquish, securing the win and a spot in the Chase for the championship in the process.

Elliott fell to third at the restart but did recover to finish second ahead of Brad Keselowski, the Penske driver taking two tyres at the final round of stops to elevate himself from the midfield.

Rookie Ryan Blaney took fourth to help his case in securing a Chase spot through points scoring and early race leader Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.

Jimmie Johnson finished sixth despite being a strong contender in the early stages, consistently racing in the top three and leading 37 laps.

His race was ruined at the third caution midway through when having previously pitted under green, he came in again for new tyres as his right rear felt like it was deflating.

Carl Edwards took on two tyres at the final round of green stops to finish seventh as Jamie McMurray came home eighth with Denny Hamlin in ninth.

Polesitter Joey Logano featured strongly and led 24 laps, but faded away as his Ford struggled on restarts and the longer green flag runs to eventually finishing 10th.

Reigning Cup champion Kyle Busch had another weekend to forget, finishing a lap down in 18th after a spin on lap 25 ruined his chances of a decent finish.

A pitstop error by Martin Truex Jr's crew caused damage to the left rear bodywork of his Furniture Row car and he also finished a lap down in 19th.

Chris Buescher's Chase place - which relies on him remaining in the top 30 in the championship following his shock Pocono win - is under threat as engine issues meant he finished seven laps down in 35th.

RESULT - 200 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2h27m29.s
2 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 1.478s
3 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 2.064s
4 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 4.108s
5 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 4.559s
6 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 4.773s
7 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 6.371s
8 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 6.722s
9 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 7.748s
10 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 7.791s
11 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 8.284s
12 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 9.020s
13 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 9.419s
14 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 9.729s
15 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 10.108s
16 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 10.256s
17 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 11.323s
18 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 11.547s
19 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 1 Lap
20 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 1 Lap
21 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 2 Laps
22 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 2 Laps
23 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 2 Laps
24 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 2 Laps
25 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 2 Laps
26 Regan Smith Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 2 Laps
27 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 2 Laps
28 Brian Scott Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 3 Laps
29 David Ragan BK Racing Toyota 4 Laps
30 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 5 Laps
31 Michael McDowell Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 5 Laps
32 Matt DiBenedetto BK Racing Toyota 5 Laps
33 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 5 Laps
34 Cole Whitt Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Laps
35 Chris Buescher Front Row Motorsports Ford 7 Laps
36 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 7 Laps
37 Jeffrey Earnhardt Go FAS Racing Ford 8 Laps
38 Josh Wise The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 8 Laps
39 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford Suspension
40 Clint Bowyer HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 40 Laps

CURRENT PROVISIONAL CHASE FIELD

On wins: Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, Chris Buescher

On points: Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Pos Driver Points
1 Kevin Harvick 799
2 Brad Keselowski 764
3 Carl Edwards 724
4 Kurt Busch 721
5 Joey Logano 716
6 Kyle Busch 696
7 Denny Hamlin 691
8 Martin Truex Jr. 652
9 Jimmie Johnson 648
10 Matt Kenseth 633
11 Chase Elliott 628
12 Austin Dillon 622
13 Jamie McMurray 616
14 Ryan Newman 601
15 Kyle Larson 582
16 Kasey Kahne 564
17 Trevor Bayne 558
18 Ryan Blaney 545
19 A.J. Allmendinger 544
20 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 528
21 Greg Biffle 472
22 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 461
23 Paul Menard 454
24 Danica Patrick 450
25 Aric Almirola 422
26 Tony Stewart 420
27 Clint Bowyer 408
28 Casey Mears 394
29 Landon Cassill 357
30 Chris Buescher 334
31 David Ragan 327
32 Regan Smith 309
33 Brian Scott 304
34 Michael McDowell 288
35 Matt DiBenedetto 243

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