Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Wins at Michigan on Father's Day

This handed the lead back to Vickers, who led for a short period before making his pit stop with 14 laps to go. Kenseth, Edwards, and David Ragan would all lead the race before making their scheduled pit stops.

That would allow Jamie McMurray to take the top spot and lead for the first time in the race with just five laps remaining. McMurray’s lead was short-lived though as Earnhardt Jr. took the lead with 4 laps to go. Earnhardt was saving fuel so that he would not have to pit again.

Earnhardt looked like he had the race in hand until a caution flag waved for a spin by Hornish coming out of turn four with 3 laps remaining. Earnhardt, Kasey Kahne, and Mark Martin all stayed out under the caution because they were trying to stretch their fuel mileage.

The race restarted with Martin running out of fuel just after passing the start finish line. Earnhardt would lead the pack around to take the white flag just hoping that there was enough fuel in his gas tank to make it around the track one last time.

Fortunately for Earnhardt, a caution came out for a spin by Patrick Carpentier and Michael Waltrip on the front stretch that froze the field and gave Dale Earnhardt Jr. his first win in 76 races dating back to Richmond in 2006.

It was also Earnhardt’s first win with Hendrick and his first points paying victory of the season. It’s funny how Earnhardt ended up breaking his winless streak on Father’s Day, because there is no greater gift that Jr. would have wanted to give his father than a victory.

The top ten were Earnhardt Jr., Kahne, Kenseth, Vickers, Stewart, Johnson, Edwards, Ragan, Elliott Sadler, and McMurray. Some notable finishes were Kyle Busch in 13^th, Jeff Burton in 15^th, Jeff Gordon in 18^th, and Mark Martin in 25^th position.

The top 12 in points are Kyle Busch, Burton, Earnhardt, Edwards, Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Kahne, Greg Biffle, Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Stewart, and Clint Bowyer.

I just want to congratulate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his crew on finally breaking through and earning that victory today by gambling on fuel. I believe that this win is the first of many to come for Jr. this season and I believe that he will be a serious contender to win the championship this year.

Michigan is now in the history books, and we can all look forward to a great weekend of road course action in California next week.

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