By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(NASCAR)—There are all kinds of clichés that tell the story of Kyle Larson’s NASCAR Cup championship this year:

—from the outhouse to the penthouse

—outcast to king

—when one window closes, another opens.

—Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement.

So on and so forth. Don’t call it a “Cinderella story” either.  Cinderella and her pumpkin/coach have no comparison to what Kyle Larson and his team did this year in a sport that is too tough for sloppy sentimental comments and fairy tales.

A year ago, Kyle Larson watched NASCAR’s championship race from North Carolina, sitting out his indefinite suspension for using a racial slur during a computerized race during the temporary pandemic shutdown of Cup racing.

At Phoenix he did what Kevin Harvick couldn’t do last year—seal a championship deal.  Like Harvick, Larson had nine victories, going into the final race. Unlike Harvick, who had not made the final four despite all those win last year, Larson was there and snagged his tenth win and the championship.  Eleven wins if you count the non-points all-star race.

He’s the first Cup champion since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to have ten more wins and only the seventh NASCAR champion in almost fifty years that are considered the modern era with ten wins or more.

(Jeff Gordon in 1998 and Richard Petty in 1975 have the record, 13.)

Larson, running fourth with the other title contenders, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., and Denny Hamlin, ahead of him took the lead when his pit crew turned in its second-fastest stop of the year. He beat Denny Hamlin on the restart and then had to hold off Martin Truex Jr., for the last 24 laps to claim the championship by four-tenths of a second.  Hamlin finished third and last year’s champion, Chase Elliott, came home fifth, edged out by Ryan Blaney.

Hamlin remains the active driver with the most wins who has never won a championship. His 46 wins trails only Junior Johnson’s 50. (Incidentally, Columbia’s Carl Edwards ranks fifth with 28 victories. He finished second twice.)

Larson feared his career among elite big-time racing drivers might have been over last year.  But Rick Hendrick watched as he quietly worked to redeem himself and signed him to drive in 2021 after NASCAR reinstated him.

He is the first minority champion in NASCAR history as the first Asian-American (his mother is Japanese-American) and the first graduate of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program to win the NASCAR Cup, a status significant in light of last year’s events.

“I didn’t even think I’d be racing a Cup car a year and a half ago,” Larson said after the win. “to win a championship is crazy.”  After thanking Hendrick and co-owner Jeff Gordon and NASCAR, among others, He told interviewers “Without my pit crew on that last stop, we would not be standing right here. They are the true winners of this race. They are true champions. I’m blessed to be part of this group. Every single man and woman at Hendrick Motorsports, this win is for all of us, and every one of you.  This is unbelievable.”

(FORMULA1)—The last of the major motorsports championships won’t be decided for another month but Max Verstappen has made it clear it’s his to lose.  Verstappen’s 16-second in over rival Lewis Hamilton extends his points lead to 19 points with four races left.

Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s teammate, grabbed third place to become the first Mexican driver to land a podium finish in the history of the Mexican Grand Prix.

Verstappen seized the lead on the first turn although starting third when pole sitter Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton gave him room on the preferred outside line. With late braking, he stormed past the first two starters and gave up the lead only during pit stops.

(INDYCAR)—INDYCAR will return to the streets of downtown Detroit for the first time since 1991 when the Detroit Grand Prix moves from Belle Isle Park in 2023.  INDYCAR competitors ran on a temporary downtown circuit in 1989-91.  They’ll run at Belle Isle next year. The series ran two races there this year with Marcus Ericsson an Pato O’Ward the winners. Only one race will be run there in 2022 as INDYCAR makes adjustments to its schedule.

(Photo Credit: NASCAR/Christian Peterson, Getty Images)