Winning Sunoco Rookie of the Year takes sting out of close calls on track
RELATED: Play NASCAR Fantasy Live | Sign up for RaceView today
After leading 96 of 134 laps in Friday's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and finishing second and leading 111 of 206 laps in Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series race and finishing third, Kyle Larson understandably was frustrated.
In Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, he didn't lead a lap and finished 13th, but he accomplished a season-long goal of winning Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. The "almost" theme continued in his post-race comments while acknowledging the strong effort of his Chip Ganassi Racing team.
"We were really competitive all season long with the Target team, and came really, really close to winning (a couple of them)," Larson said. "Starting off the year finishing second, really, really early in the season at Fontana was great."
It was the first of two runner-up finishes on the season for the first-year driver who was one of eight racers shooting for the award. The return of the No. 3 at Richard Childress Racing with the reigning Nationwide Series champion behind the wheel made some consider Larson the underdog for the prize. But Larson earned 326 points to Dillon's 238. Justin Allgaier was third with 201. Tied for fourth were Cole Whitt and Michael Annett with 187. The rookie standings were rounded out by Alex Bowman (175), Ryan Truex (131) and Parker Kligerman (61).
"There was a lot of room on the Kyle Larson bandwagon to start the season," Larson said. "I think a lot of people chose Austin Dillon to win it, and I was pretty confident in myself and in my team that we could do it."
That bandwagon includes the son of 1993 Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award winner Jeff Gordon, whose wife posted on Facebook Leo's reaction to the news of Larson's award.
In his first Sprint Cup Series campaign, Larson nearly made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. He made the most of the 10-race playoff and was the top non-Chase driver in the standings, finishing in 17th ahead of CGR teammate Jamie McMurray. Larson had eight top-five finishes and 17 top-10 results.
"I wish the season wasn't over, but at least I get to do some more racing in the offseason," Larson said.
The dirt-track ace made good on that promise, tweeting out a picture of his dirt car a day after the season finale.
MORE:
READ: Latest
|
PLAY: Monitor your Chase Grid Game picks
|
WATCH: Latest
|
FOLLOW LIVE: Get
|
|---|