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| Carlos Osorio/Associated Press |
Ryan Blaney has won the NASCAR Cup Series “FireKeepers Casino” 400 at Michigan International Speedway, scoring his 2nd win of the season, and marking the first multi-win season of his career.
Today’s race at Michigan International Speedway had some very close racing that drivers and fans alike have been expecting for months now. The “FireKeepers Casino” 400 was dominated by drivers like Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Kurt Busch. Our winner Ryan Blaney was definitely very good during today’s race, but his success was based more off of pit cycle and strategy, not speed or performance.
Reading that list, you may noticed, there is one name glaringly missing; Kevin Harvick. One of Michigan’s best drivers did not have an amazing race. Harvick has five victories at Michigan, and three of them came consecutively. While the team was in hopes of making that 4 -in-a-row here today, unfortunately Harvick fell short.
It’s no surprise that Stewart-Haas Racing as an organization is off the pace this season. In years past Michigan International Speedway would have meant that Harvick would be a huge threat. While Harvick as a driver has not changed much in the past year, his team is missing the oomph that had him winning nine race last season.
If you read that list of dominant drivers you may have also noticed that three out of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers were included. Seeing that speed from Hendrick Motorsports can really only look good in terms of their strength throughout the playoffs. While the team took a dip around Late-June through Early-July, with only one race left in the regular season they appear to be back on track. During this race at Michigan, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott held off the field for a majority of the race, including an exhausting battle with Richard Childress Racing’s driver of the No. 3 Austin Dillon. Considering Hendrick Motorsports’ recent performance as we approach the playoffs, I would expect continued dominance through at-least the next several races.
Likely one of the biggest incidents to occur in this race happened to Austin Dillon. Coming to the end of stage 2 Austin Dillon attempted to pass Brad Keselowski for 6th place stage points. Dillon was successful in his venture, though doing so ended his day early. Approaching the line Austin Dillon got low and onto the apron to make the pass, and Brad Keselowski followed in an attempt to side draft, and slow Dillon down. After passing the line Dillon turned his No. 3 Camaro right to return to the racing surface, but without success because of how close Keselowski was. Turning right cause significant contact between the No. 3 and No. 2 cars, and sent Austin Dillon spinning into the outside wall. What looked like a successful day for Austin Dillon was the cut short.
Overall throughout this race passing was very difficult due to heavy aerodynamic dependency, and low horsepower in the cars, but aside from that, the racing was very entertaining.
Kyle Larson won stage one, and Kyle Busch won stage 2 in this race.
The following are the complete race
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| NASCAR (Click to enlarge) |
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