AVONDALE, Ariz. – Quite possibility no driver in Sunday’s Can-Am 500 at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway passed more race cars than Kyle Larson.
The challenge though resulted with a superb third place finish, the ninth top-five of the season and best finish in The Chase since a fifth at Charlotte Motor Speedway in early October.
It wasn’t at all surprising that Larson was a factor in the next to last race of the season. After all, Larson was fastest in the lone practice session Friday morning leading up to qualifying where he matched his season-best start with an outside pole.
His time at the front didn’t last long though.
Not initially anyway.
Coming to the completion on Lap 1, Larson spun from the front of the pack and nearly took eventual race winner Joey Logano with him. Luckily, both drivers recovered with minimal damage and able to continue.
With Sunday’s race only scheduled to be 312 laps, Larson couldn’t afford to waste time getting back to the front. In typical Larson fashion, the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet exercised areas of PIR that no other driver would dare.
But, it worked.
Quickly, Larson bolted back inside the top-20 by Lap 40. Forty laps later, the top-15 – but that was before the Lap 82 incident with Ryan Newman.
As much of the field began to make green-flag pit stops, the No. 31 Chevrolet of Newman wheel-hopped coming to pit road and slammed into the rear of Larson’s car causing the race’s second caution.
Now, trapped a lap down, the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver needed a free pass to put himself back in contention.
The Elk Grove, Calif. native would have to race hard for 41 laps, before debris on the frontstretch on Lap 132 put Larson and his team back on the lead lap.
Having to climb from the rear again would prove to be no easy task for the August Michigan winner, but Larson did and did it well.
Moving back inside the top-10 with roughly 40 laps remaining in the race, Larson would find himself on the prowl and through the chaos with a caution with two laps remaining, Larson quickly found himself in a position to spoil the party.
Spoiling the party he did not when the checkered flag waved, but the 23-year-old was still satisfied with the end result of his day, all things considered.
“I made a big mistake on the first lap and got loose into Turn Three and got up into the 22. It obviously didn’t affect his race. Then we were coming in for a green-flag stop and all kind of had our hands full getting to the commitment line. I think the 31 (Ryan Newman) must have wheel-hopped behind me and had a lot of speed.
“He tagged me in the rear bumper and spun me around. So, we went a lap down but we got the Lucky Dog pass-around later and fought hard the rest of the way.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
