Dale Earnhardt Jr. came into this race sitting 9th in the standings and just 36 points ahead of Clint Bowyer who arrived at Michigan 11th in the standings. Remember the top ten drivers in the standings at the end of 26 events will be entered into the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. Followed by the two drivers outside the top 10 in points with the most victories, if drivers are tied with victories the driver in the best points position is chosen. So it's crucial to notice that Earnhardt Jr qualified eighth and Bowyer qualified 35th.
A victory for the pole sitter Greg Biffle would put him in contention with Denny Hamlin and Paul Menard to be one of the two drivers outside the top ten in points allowed into the Chase. However Denny Hamlin would start fourth and Paul Menard would start 11th, so the pressure was certainly on. Either way Jack Roush must have had spectacular confidence. They have been fast all weekend long and his drivers qualified 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 22nd. I was very surprised to see Carl Edwards being the driver who struggled during the qualifying and practice sessions.
There was a point during the Pure Michigan 400 where 4-time Champion Jeff Gordon began to show dominance on the track. An incredible statistic was pointed out while Gordon was leading... he led his 22,000th career lap in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. That in my eyes is a number I never thought a NASCAR driver would reach in terms of career laps led. However it would be debris on the grill that cost Gordon from having a flawless finish, even a small hot dog rapper would cause the #24 car to have a loose handling condition and begin to overheat. He would go on to finish in sixth.
It would be Kyle Busch who would go on to earn the victory at Michigan for his fourth win of the season, which is now the most wins in the series this season. Kyle qualified that #18 Toyota Camry in 17th, but he was second fastest of the 43 cars in the final practice session (after qualifying session). So we all had a hunch "Rowdy" Busch would be quick on race day as always. This is the 100th victory for Toyota in NASCAR. Instead of the Roush drivers earning the wins at Michigan, a Toyota driver has won four of the last five races at Michigan.
Clint Bowyer and that #33 Cheerios Chevrolet team struggled throughout the entire weekend... except when it came to race day. Clint started 35th but there was a bit more confidence in that team's garage area after being 13th fastest in the final practice. After some patience and handling adjustments Bowyer managed to earn an eighth place finish. In his interview during the post-race show Clint explained the standings situation. He is aware that he didn't gain enough points on the driver in the 10th place spot, but he feels he has the ability to earn a few top 10's before the Chase begins. We might see him in the battle for the Championship.
Michigan Results:
1. Kyle Busch
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Mark Martin
5. Ryan Newman
6. Jeff Gordon
7. Kasey Kahne
8. Clint Bowyer
9. Tony Stewart
10. Matt Kenseth
14. Dale Earnhardt Jr
20. Greg Biffle
22. Kevin Harvick
36. Carl Edwards
Images from: http://galleries.nascar.com/gallery/2011_Pure_Michigan_400
Written by: Tyler McMurter
Awesome, I actually learned something :)
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