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Kyle Larson held off Chase Elliott and a host of challengers after late restarts at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday to win his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. Larson, who started on the pole and had the fastest car in practice, led the most laps and was able to hold the lead throughout three restarts within the final 20 laps.

Larson won his first-career race here in 2016. Sunday's victory was only the third win of his career. We had him pegged as one of our contenders in our Michigan picks, with Joey Logano as our favorite. Logano took third Sunday.

Larson's three Cup victories have all come at 2-mile tracks, although there are some differences between racing at MIS and Fontana.

"Michigan and Fontana are very, very similar in shape and size, but the racing surface is way different," Larson said. "Fontana's rough and bumpy, and it's wore-out surface -- you have to really, really take care of your tires and move around, find different lanes that work. Here at Michigan, your tires don't wear out quite as bad, not nearly as bad, and your line doesn't move around a ton, but it's really fast, got a lot of grip.

"They're both a lot of fun." 

Martin Truex Jr. battled Larson to take the first two stages after both drivers started the race from the front row. The No. 78 now has 10 mid-race stage victories this season, nobody else has more than four. Truex Jr. and Larson combined to lead nearly all the laps in Stages 1 and 2, only forfeiting the lead briefly during green-flag pit stops. 

Ryan Sieg got loose late in the final stage and nearly took out Truex Jr., who was leading at the time. The No. 78 almost lost it as well but was able to right the ship as the caution flag came out.

Last week's winner Ryan Blaney brought out the caution with 10 laps to go, taking out both Danica Patrick and rookie Daniel Suarez. Patrick, who got into it with booing fans after finishing 16th at Pocono, sustained heavy damage but was able to make it out of the car OK.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a nice bounce-back day, notching a top-10 finish after a really tough race at Pocono last week. Earnhardt Jr. was hoping to get that elusive first win of the season on Sunday at a track where he already had two victories. The No. 88 will have a legitimate shot at a win in two weeks when the series returns to Daytona International Speedway, arguably his best track.

FireKeepers Casino 400 Results

  1. Kyle Larson (96 laps led)
  2. Chase Elliott
  3. Joey Logano
  4. Denny Hamlin (won Xfinity Series race on Saturday)
  5. Jamie McMurray
  6. Martin Truex Jr. (62 laps led)
  7. Kyle Busch (40 laps led)
  8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  9. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  10. Jimmie Johnson
  11. Matt Kenseth
  12. Kurt Busch
  13. Erik Jones
  14. Kevin Harvick
  15. Ryan Newman
  16. Brad Keselowski (2 laps led)
  17. Trevor Bayne
  18. AJ Allmendinger
  19. Darrell Wallace Jr.
  20. Ty Dillon
  21. Kasey Kahne
  22. Paul Menard
  23. Michael McDowell
  24. Daniel Suarez
  25. Ryan Blaney
  26. Clint Bowyer
  27. Austin Dillon
  28. Matt DiBenedetto
  29. David Ragan
  30. Corey LaJoie
  31. Cole Whitt
  32. Landon Cassill
  33. Ryan Sieg
  34. Reed Sorenson
  35. Jeffrey Earnhardt
  36. Chris Buescher
  37. Danica Patrick

2017 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series Driver Standings

POS

DRIVER

CAR #

POINTS

BEHIND

STARTS

WIN

1

Kyle Larson

42

640

LEADER

15

2

2

Martin Truex Jr.

78

635

-5

15

2

3

Kyle Busch

18

510

-130

15

0

4

Kevin Harvick

4

508

-132

15

0

5

Chase Elliott

24

478

-162

15

0

6

Brad Keselowski

2

476

-164

15

2

7

Jamie McMurray

1

450

-190

15

0

8

Jimmie Johnson

48

449

-191

15

3

9

Denny Hamlin

11

430

-210

15

0

10

Joey Logano

22

398

-242

15

1

11

Matt Kenseth

20

398

-242

15

0

12

Clint Bowyer

14

391

-249

15

0

13

Ryan Blaney

21

376

-264

15

1

14

Kurt Busch

41

359

-281

15

1

15

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17

354

-286

15

1

16

Erik Jones

77

346

-294

15

0

The Associated Press contributed to this report