On my other website that I am the lead editor, AllAboutHorsepower.net, I recently wrote about how NASCAR is seeing a fading out of sorts of the “special” or “one-off” paint schemes. In this era, teams are rare to have one main primary sponsor to be on the car for the 36-race season, 38 if the Clash at Daytona and the All-Star Race are included. Now, many different primary sponsors are on board for a full year, while taking an associate role in the races they are not the main feature.
It’s sad that this is happening because many of the cars that are remembered of past drivers include special looks. Like Jeff Gordon, he’s been known for his rainbow car but in 1997, it was T-Rex that took the NASCAR world by storm in the Winston.
Even Dale Earnhardt, who always had his car in black for a majority of his career, donned a special look on occasion. His “Silver Bullet” in 1995, his Wrangler car in 1999, and probably the wildest of them all, the Peter Max rainbow or tye-dye look he ran in 2000 all came to mind.
Sunday, one special look stood out, and he happened to be starting on the pole. Kyle Larson, although showcasing the Target sponsorship, decided to be the kid in the group as his car was wrapped in a look on the lead character in the Cars franchise, Lightning McQueen.
The newest in the series of movies, Cars 3, opened Friday in theaters, and quickly soared to the top of the box office charts as if McQueen had taken the lead in the race.
How appropriate that the fastest car on Sunday at Michigan happened to carry the same look as the famed character. Larson loved the special paint scheme, as did his little boy, Owen, who joined him in victory lane to celebrate on Father’s Day. This was the one-off scheme that led a majority of the race, and has been the dominant car on these sweeping two-mile speedways since last August.
Add in he’s one of the cleanest, and nicest, guys in the garage and it makes for one popular victory for everyone. Well, except for the folks that work at the Michigan International Speedway, because now they have to clean up his burnout marks from victory lane.
Lightning McQueen led in sales at the movies, and he led when it mattered on Sunday. Not so bad for an animated character.
STAGE 1 WINNER: Martin Truex Jr.
STAGE 2 WINNER: Martin Truex Jr.
RESULTS: 1-Larson 2-Elliott 3-Logano 4-Hamlin 5-McMurray 6-Truex Jr. 7-Kyle Busch 8-Stenhouse Jr. 9-Earnhardt Jr. 10-Johnson
NOTABLE FINISHES: 12-Kurt Busch 14-Harvick 15-Newman 16-Keselowski 25-Blaney 27-Dillon
CAUTIONS: 8 for 34 laps. Lap 8-10 (Debris-FS); 27-29 (Competition); 62-67 (Stage 1 Conclusion); 122-127 (Stage 2 Conclusion); 151-154 (#23 Spin-T4); 181-185 (Debris-FS); 188-190 (#14 Incident-T2); 192-195 (#4, 10, 19, 21, 43 Incident-BS).
LEAD CHANGES: 10 among 4 drivers. K. Larson 1-34; M. Truex Jr. 35-62; K. Larson 63-108; Kyle Busch 109-112; B. Keselowski 113-114; K. Larson 115; M. Truex Jr. 116-126; Kyle Busch 127; M. Truex Jr. 128-150; Kyle Busch 151-185; K. Larson 186-200.
TIME OF RACE: 2 Hrs, 47 Mins, 24 Secs.
AVERAGE SPEED: 143.369 MPH
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.993 Seconds
POINT STANDINGS (Points/Behind Leader [Playoff Points]): 1. Larson, 640 [13]; Truex Jr, -5 [20]; 3. Kyle Busch, -130 [4]; 4. Harvick, -132 [3]; 5. Elliott, -162 [2]; 6. Keselowski, -164 [12]; 7. McMurray, -190; 8. Johnson, -191 [15]; 9. Hamlin, -210 [2]; 10. Logano, -242 [1]; 11. Kenseth, -242 [1]; 12. Bowyer, -249; 13. Blaney, -264 [8]; 14. Kurt Busch, -281 [5]; 15. Stenhouse Jr, -286 [5]; 16. Jones, -294; 17. Newman, -296 [5]; 20. Dillon, -343 [5].