MILLER: Credit where it's due

A couple summers ago, Dario Franchitti and I were having lunch at the Workingman's Friend in Indianapolis when Kyle Larson strolled in and we invited him over to eat – after he got carded – the best cheeseburger in town.

About 15 minutes into the conversation Larson said he appreciated Dario and I constantly pushing Chip Ganassi to let him run the Indianapolis 500, but could we please back off for a while because the boss was getting a little testy about it. Then later on that season, Ganassi told me to leave the kid alone. "Let him win a few NASCAR races, and then maybe we'll discuss May someday," was the directive.

Well, fast-forward to this morning. Larson owns three wins in 2017 and sits second in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup standings. His magnificent move from fourth to first at Michigan got Ganassi so excited he nearly beat his engineers to death in jubilation. In his fourth year of Cup, the 25-year-old wunderkind is driving with the kind of confidence he displays at Eldora or Calistoga or the Chili Bowl, and it certainly appears like there's a correlation.

Which brings us back to the Chipster. He's seldom wrong (ask him), loves to argue and can be a tad bit oafish. But he did something really smart this season. He let Larson breathe in the fresh air of dirt racing between NASCAR dates. It's kept him sharp (seven wins and second place at the Knoxville Nationals last Saturday night) and those 25 dirt races have kept him happy. Now, maybe with every big Cup team circling free-agent Larson like piranhas for 2018, the longtime IndyCar/NASCAR owner decided his best negotiating tool was to let Kyle run free on dirt tracks across the country. If so, it was brilliant because other than his wife, son and parents, Larson's first love is The Cushion – running high and fast – and NASCAR is simply a nice way to supplement his income.

On top of that, it's made Larson easily one of the most popular drivers in the land. People pay to watch him run Williams Grove and then cheer for him on Sundays while watching television. With Target gone after 2017, finding a sponsor might be easier when you've got a personable young man winning fans and races everywhere.

"Kyle has got so much talent, and for all those people to be able go to their local dirt track and watch him kinda reminds me of our days," said Parnelli Jones, who Larson was compared to back in 2011 on WIND TUNNEL. "I think it's great he gets to do both and sprint cars keep him sharp."

Of course the flipside is that once Rufus, A.J., Mario, J.R. and the Unsers made it big in Indy cars, they either cut back or cut out all sprint car racing because of the dangers. Gary Bettenhausen was in his third year with Roger Penske but refused to stop running dirt cars and it cost him the use of his left arm and the best ride in IndyCar.

"It's a helluva risk, but it's what racing is all about," said Ganassi after announcing he was going to let Larson compete at Knoxville on Saturday night.

I'm not sure what changed Chip's mind, and I don't really care, it's just cool to see one of the brightest lights in American motorsports being allowed to race just about anything with four wheels. And that big one each May is right down Larson's gunsight.

"I don't know, we'll see, the Indy 500 is definitely on my bucket list," he replied after being asked the obvious question in Sunday's post-race press conference. "I don't know if it is right now at this moment, but for sure some day I'd like to, and Chip knows that."

Ganassi has been very perceptive. He hired the kid before anyone else identified his pedigree and now he's given Larson back the fun of racing. Two very smart moves, and Indy will be the third. Some day.