Nate Ryan

USA TODAY Sports

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Kyle Larson won't become a first-time dad until later this year, but Father's Day marked its own NASCAR rite of passage weekend for the Chip Ganassi Racing rookie.

Over the course of 400 miles Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, Larson powered from 35th to fourth with a busted bumper, overcame getting tagged for speeding in the pits and received his first in-race scolding from Tony Stewart.

Larson, 21, persevered through all of it, earning an eighth in the Quicken Loans 400 that bolstered his bid for a Chase for the Sprint Cup berth.

"I didn't think you could pass this many cars at Michigan," said Larson, who is ranked eighth in the standings, jumping two places, through 15 races of his first season in NASCAR's premier series. "We just fought hard all day long."

The most stirring battle was with Stewart, who angrily pointed a finger at Larson during a caution after their Chevrolets collided during a restart.

"Yes, that's Tony being Tony," Larson said with a smile. "I was pretty tight on whoever was inside of me on the restart, and I was looking in my mirror and saw him juke to the right, so I juked to the right and he hit me. I don't know. He was just trying to teach me a lesson, I'm guessing. Oh, well, that's two weeks in a row."

Larson said there was a similar incident in practice at Pocono Raceway, which drew a chuckle from third-place finisher Brad Keselowski (seated to Larson's right during a postrace interview).

"I told him Tony never did that to me," Keselowski said with a laugh.

Larson drew scrutiny from other NASCAR veterans after sustaining rear bumper damage from a backstretch spin on Lap 7. His No. 42 SS seemed to get faster after the incident, causing Joey Logano to joke on his radio under yellow that he wanted Austin Dillon to knock off the bumper of his Ford. Dale Earnhardt Jr. speculated during a yellow-flag radio discussion that Larson might have gained 20 pounds of rear downforce.

Larson conceded the damage might have provided an edge but "it happened so early in the race that I don't know how it would have handled had I had a rear bumper. Either way I think we would have had a really good car because we were good in practice, but it probably did help a little bit."

The Elk Grove, Calif., native still had to overcome a speeding penalty during a caution on Lap 149 that dropped him from eighth to 18th.

"I just made one too many mistakes," he said. "We probably would have finished a little bit better. But I can't say enough about this team. I'm having a blast so far."

Life indeed seems good for Larson, who bought a house in Mooresville, N.C., last week and revealed last Friday his girlfriend is expecting in December.

"It would have been cool to get a win" on Father's Day, he said. "I guess it'll mean more next year."