Michigan International Speedway

Kurt Busch has proven to be a rocket over the past three weeks during the Qualifying session. Kurt has earned three consecutive Coor's Light Pole Awards and now leads all drivers this season with three poles won. We all knew that Kurt Busch could have the car to win this event. Back in August of 2007 Kurt won here at Michigan. However former Michigan winners like Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, and Matt Kenseth qualified inside the top 10 to challenge for the top spot early in the event.

We have seen how important it is this season to pull off a quick, flawless pit stop and gain track position. In fact many of our victorious drivers in 2011 took the lead in the closing laps of the race which would lead them to the win. On lap 192 of 200 there were "yellow flag" pit stops and Denny Hamlin's pit crew got him off pit road as the new race leader. After the #11 crew did their job it was all up to the driver behind the wheel now. Denny Hamlin did an incredible job holding off a fast #17 Ford driven by Matt Kenseth to earn his first victory of 2011. That #17 car was certainly one of the fastest cars on the circuit all race long. Kenseth was looking to put himself in victory lane for the third time this season. Kevin Harvick remains the driver with the most victories so far with three (Fontana, Martinsville, and Charlotte). I am surprised it was this late in the season when we saw Hamlin win his first of the season. However I am not surprised it happened at Michigan International Speedway. Denny Hamlin loves this track, he has finished first or second in his last three starts at Michigan. In fact Denny raced his way to victory in this same event here last season.

NASCAR is approaching the halfway point in the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, yet there are 10 different winners in the first 15 events. No particular driver has been able to dominate the wins column yet. Keep in mind we have had plenty of surprises this year which shed some light on this topic. Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500, Regan Smith won at Darlington, and Brad Keselowski won at Kansas. These are three drivers that nobody believed would earn a victory in 2011. It's also quite a surprise to see Jeff Gordon win two events this season, especially after seeing him go through that long winless streak. These shocking results have caused the drivers who win on a regular basis to not have as many wins as they could have at this point.

With this victory Denny Hamlin cracks the top 10 in the standings since the third race of the season (Las Vegas - won by Carl Edwards). Jimmie Johnson drops from second to fifth in the standings after his terrible 27th place finish at Michigan. If you don't believe me that consistency is the key to success in the standings then read this... Carl Edwards has 11 top 10 finishes in 15 races, that's why he is the points leader! Congratulations to Landon Cassill for finishing 12th at Michigan... his best career finish.

Standings

9. Hamlin -77

10. Bowyer -77

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11. Stewart -78

12. J. Gordon -94

13. Biffle -107

14. Martin -114

Question:

Who will be the next driver to win their first race of 2011? Do you have a guess of what circuit it would take place on?

Images from: http://galleries.nascar.com/gallery/Heluva_Good!_400
Written by: Tyler McMurter