FORT WORTH, Texas – Kyle Larson punched his ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series championship race with a dominant performance Sunday during the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Larson started from the pole and was in his own league throughout most of the race, surviving seven restarts during the final stage of the race to secure his eighth victory of the season.
The win in the first race in the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs automatically advances Larson to the NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., on Nov. 7.
RESULTS: AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500
“This is unreal,” Larson said. “I knew we’d have a good shot to win today and our car was amazing. That’s probably the best 550 (horsepower) package, intermediate car we’ve had all year.
“We get to go race for a championship in three weeks. This is crazy.”
Despite having the dominant car, Larson had his work cut out for him during the final stage of the race. Multiple caution periods for wrecks, which included a brief red flag when the car of Anthony Alfredo caught fire following a crash, led to the aforementioned seven restarts.
The final three incidents each involved Cup Series playoff contenders. The first of those came with 21 laps left when Denny Hamlin spun after cutting down a tire after contact with another playoff driver, Ryan Blaney, while racing inside the top-10.
The next restart came with 16 laps left and while Larson held the lead, behind him bad luck struck Martin Truex Jr. when a tap from Daniel Suarez sent Truex into the outside wall coming out of turn four. The contact ended Truex’s day and brought out another caution flag.
Racing resumed again with nine laps left, but two laps later the final caution flag waved when Chase Briscoe made contact with the wall coming out of turn two. That, in turn, led to Chris Buescher spinning into the path of Hamlin, who had no where to go and ran into the side of Buescher’s car.
That led to the final restart with two laps left, but Larson was again perfect as he drove away from the battle for second to collect the victory and a shot at the NASCAR Cup Series championship on Nov. 7.
“I just got good pushes from behind me really. I tried to stay patient on the throttle to keep them to my back bumper and thankfully I was able to just barely clear them every time into (turn) one,” said Larson, who advanced to the championship race for the first time in his career. “Thanks to William, Tyler (Reddick), Brad Keselowski, anybody who was ever behind me. Especially Brad there on that last restart.”
There are two races left before the championship race at Phoenix Raceway, next weekend at Kansas Speedway and Oct. 31 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Larson says now his team can shift their focus and prepare for the finale at Phoenix.
“I don’t think we’re going to lose focus on Kansas or Martinsville, but I definitely think we can shift a little more to our Phoenix car. Really looking forward to that,” Larson said. “Our team has been so strong all year long. Might as well close it out now.”
William Byron spent most of the second half of the race chasing Larson, but could never make a move to get around him. He settled for second ahead of Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick.
In addition to the trouble encountered by Truex and Hamlin, Joey Logano also ran into bad luck Sunday afternoon when the engine in his Ford Mustang failed on lap 299. He finished 30th and sits last of the remaining seven drivers hoping to race for a championship at Phoenix Raceway.