A little more than an hour's drive inland northeast of San Francisco -- a route where the hybrid cars on the freeway gradually become outnumbered by pick-up trucks, the rolling hills give way to vast sprawling yellow fields and the temperature climbs so dramatically you actually feel it inside your car -- is the unassuming home to NASCAR's next big thing: Sprint Cup Series rookie Kyle Larson. A few miles up the road from Dixon -- on the other side of Sacramento -- similar banners advertise Elk Grove's "3rd Annual Dog Days of Summer Picnic." The celebration is the earlier counterpart of the town's other big annual fete, the "Giant Pumpkin Festival" held each October. For all the talk about the Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate's bright Sprint Cup future, it helps to unravel Larson's past, learning just where his 3,000-mile journey to NASCAR's big leagues began. Big and important as the "Giant Pumpkin Festival" is in these parts, the small bedroom community on the outskirts of Sacramento may have held its biggest celebration last week when Elk Grove honored its favorite son, the 21-year-old Larson. More...