After a rain delayed race at Watkins Glen last weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup series was back at Michigan International Speedway.
Greg Biffle would earn the pole for the Pure Michigan 400, his first since since Dover in 2008.
Battling Busch…
A week ago Kyle Busch had a car capable of winning but late caution saw him lose the lead and have to wait a week to try for that win. On Sunday, Busch needed clean air and when he was out front Busch was unbeatable.
A slow pits stop and pit strategies with the leaders on lap 107 saw Busch back in 19th but he charged through the field. Busch never ran worse than fifth from that point forward.
Not even a green white checkered finish and a fast Jimmie Johnoson would prevent Busch from collecting win number four on the season. His win and Carl Edwards troubles pushed his points lead over the field to 10 points.
Busch also locked himself into the Chase.
22,000 and counting…
Jeff Gordon at times on Sunday looked like he had the car to beat. He led the second most laps with 50. Heading into today all he had to lead was 22 to surpass the 22,000 laps led mark. Starting ninth he fell back early but the car came to him and he charged his way up to the front.
Solid pit stops all day long kept this teams track position. Throughout the race Gordon struggled with garbage on the grill of his car at times he was forced to give up positions to get the trash off. Still, the team came home with a sixth place finish.
Gordon’s fifth top 10 finish since the series last raced here in June saw him move up to sixth in the standings.
Chasing the Chase…
Denny Hamlin was coming to a track where he should run up front and where he should run well. He was running the new Toyota Racing Development engine for the first time this season. Hamlin didn’t have a very good car early on in the race but pit cycles saw them in traffic.
An ill handling race car and three wide racing saw him smack the wall hard. He came down for fresh tires but the damage was done he was forced to the garage. Not exactly what this team needed being on the bubble in the Chase. He would wind up finishing 35th and dropped to 14th in the standings.
Solid runs…
A few drivers turned in solid days while Chase contenders struggled. Bobby Labonte spun early on in the race bringing out the first incident caution but he battled back and played strategy well and finished 16th.
AJ Allmendinger who some predict will be the next first time winner ran around mid pack most of the day. He never did have a car to win the race but the team continued to battle and in the end they earned a 11th place finish.
Lug Nuts…
-Kurt Busch blew a right front tire to bring out the final caution of the day. He wound up finishing 33rd and dropped to eighth in the standings.
-Brad Keselowski earned his third straight top three finish. He has finished first, second and now third and moved to 12th in the standings.
-Paul Menard didn’t do himself any favors today he struggled throughout the day with an ill handling race car. He would finish 26th and drop to 18th in the standings.
For the rest of the results click here and for the rest of the standings click here
Next up is Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night at 7ET on ABC.
Written by:
