Perhaps Mike and Janet Larson should have seen it coming as they proudly and nervously watched their television and computer screens while son Kyle led the field to the checkered flag in Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

 

The Larsons attend a healthy dose of their 24-year-old son’s NASCAR races, but somehow have missed each of Kyle’s inaugural NASCAR victories from the K&N Series, to the Camping World Truck Series and XFINITY Series. They were at home in Elk Grove, California, on Sunday when Larson scored his first victory at the sport’s premier Cup level, too.

 

“That’s OK though,” Mike Larson said, his voice full of happiness and emotion. “As long as he wins, I don’t have to be there.

 

“Janet and I would have been in the grandstands anyway, that’s where we go every time to watch him race. It would have taken us half the (victory) ceremony anyway just trying to get back over there (to Victory Lane).”

 

Instead, the Larsons stood in front of their television sets, tears rolling, hearts full, taking it all in. The dedication, the sacrifices, the hope, the joy that was this family’s “every weekend” for years had resulted in a big-time, clutch victory three weeks before NASCAR’s playoffs, the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

 

And while Mike and Janet might not have been trackside last weekend, they still had quite the view.

 

“I was upstairs watching the end of the race, thinking ‘Man, Janet is awful quiet today,'” Mike Larson said. “And then it got to be that last restart and Kyle gets the lead and I can hear her starting to stress. I don’t hardly make a sound, but I thought, ‘She’s stressing me out.’

 

“My heart, I’m telling you, it was just pumping over those last nine laps. I just kept thinking a yellow is going to come out, you think something is going to happen to derail this. I’m still very quiet watching, but then my arms went straight up in the air … and I cried. I can admit that.

“I get emotional about that.”

 

The Larsons can smile about their timing now.

 

They took Kyle to his first race a week after he was born.

 

Then, this close-knit family spent years together trekking around the West Coast watching Larson win and dominate races – karts and USAC features – from the time he was a little boy. From childhood, he loved this sport of racing so much he dressed up as NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon for Halloween – and still has the photo proof.

 

The Larson’s support has never wavered or waned even as their son earned his shot in NASCAR’s big leagues and has quickly emerged as one of the most popular drivers on the circuit.

 

Truth be told, the kind, funny, humble and extremely talented third-year Cup driver Larson has been one of the sport’s bona fide stars even before hoisting his first Cup trophy.

 

And now the Chip Ganassi Racing driver is a legitimate first-time title contender, too. And he should be quite optimistic about his chances at hoisting the big trophy.

 

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Larson’s 2014 showing in Chase races – not as a Chase contender – was an incredible rookie effort and an enviable clutch performance. He boasted six top-10 finishes in the his No. 42 Target Chevrolet during the final 10 races that year.

 

The Chase venues have been good for Larson.

 

In the Chicago Chase-opener, Larson has finishes of third and seventh. His overall average finish at Dover is 6.2, and he’s never fared worse than 11th there.

 

He has a runner-up finish at Kansas (2014), was third at Martinsville in April and finished fifth at Homestead last year. He has at least one top-10 finish at every Chase track.

 

“He thinks those are good tracks for him,” his team owner Chip Ganassi said Sunday evening. “We think they’re good tracks. He’s shown before he knows his way around Miami [Homestead]. That’s always good, to be good at the final track.

 

“He’s a shootout kind of guy. A lot of those races turn into shootouts. You’re not so much racing the entire field in those races a lot of times. I look forward to it. … I think he’s the kind of driver that the Chase is made for, that format.”

 

After a throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway, NASCAR’s newest Chase contender Larson will host his “Outlaw Kart Showcase” at hometown Cycleland Speedway in Chico, California.

 

Less than two weeks later, Larson will begin his first Chase run thanks to that emotional, hard-fought victory Sunday.

 

“This feels different because it’s taken me a lot longer than it took me in any of the other stuff to get a win,” Larson said Sunday. “It took me a couple months to win my first sprint car race, four days after my 15th birthday. Took me a few months to win when I got into USAC. Took me a few years to win an Outlaw race.

 

“This, after the way my rookie season started, coming close a few times, not getting it done, you can visualize the win that early in your career. It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. But it just never happened.

 

“This one’s different just cause of how long we had to wait and how much harder I’ve had to work for it. Like I said, it’s special because all the hard work’s paid off.”

 

And the good news for the Larson family is there will be plenty more wins to experience first-hand, and good odds they celebrate a championship sometime soon too.