NASCAR at Michigan 2016: Winners, Losers from the Pure Michigan 400
The Pure Michigan 400 was one of the fastest races all season. Speak nothing of Joey Logano topping out at 219 miles per hour. The race went from green flag to checkered flag in well under three hours.
In his 99th career start, Kyle Larson at long last reached Victory Lane, thus snapping a 99-race losing streak for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Larson has been one of the most highly touted young drivers in the Sprint Cup Series for the past three seasons, and he threw down the throttle in the final restart that brought home win No. 1.
“I can go back to that restart,” NBCSN’s Dale Jarrett said during the broadcast. “You’ve got two young drivers going after it at one point. The adrenaline, it’s overwhelming. Your legs are getting light and your head is getting light. That restart was something to behold. He could have easily lost the restart and lost the race.”
The future was on display at Michigan, so let’s examine this race's winners and losers.
Loser: A Flat Engine
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Chris Buescher was already driving on eggshells—his position in the Chase tenuous—given that he needs to stay within the top 30 in points.
He entered Michigan’s Sunday race with a 13-point cushion over David Ragan, the specter lurking in 31st. Three laps into the Pure Michigan 400, Buescher radioed in that his engine flattened. He barely made it to the Lap-20 competition caution on the lead lap. He then spent a long, country cup of sweet tea on pit road as his crew madly scurried to replace spark plugs.
Buescher went down one lap.
Two laps.
Three laps, seven laps in the end.
His only saving grace was that Ragan didn’t fare any better.
"It felt more like 400 laps than 200," Buescher told NBCSN after the race.
By the end of the race, Buescher finished just six spots behind Ragan in 35th, but the cushion shrunk, and the window slid down the frame ever so little. With two races to go, the margin for error just got tighter for the No. 34 team.
Buescher should be fine and should make the Chase, but these errors of luck can be the difference between making the playoffs or not in the final two races of the season.
Winner: The Future
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Three drivers in the top five at Michigan were under the age of 25.
Larson, the race winner, is 24 years old. Ryan Blaney, who finished fourth, is 22. Elliott, who was the runner up, can’t yet order a Bud Light Goose Island IPA.
With the retirement of Gordon in 2015, Tony Stewart this year, and the aging of Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick, it means young drivers need to step up and fill that inevitable void.
Seeing how Blaney, Elliott and Larson performed—and let’s not forget Buescher, too—means the future looks bright for NASCAR when the tenured stars hang up their fire suits.
Loser: Ignition Systems
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Alex Bowman is the right call to drive the No. 88 car. Yes, Jeff Gordon had a prior commitment and ceded control of the car, but Bowman was/is the better call.
Not even Gordon could have prevented the misfortune that struck Bowman early in the Pure Michigan 400.
Bowman drove steady in sixth place when the ignition system kicked out. He fell to 17th, then 27th, then 40th and down four laps.
It has been several weeks since the No. 88 car had hopes of making the Chase. You’d likely have to go back to the last race Dale Earnhardt Jr. was healthy, a 13th-place finish at Kentucky.
Bowman is a talent worth watching and hopefully he gets a chance to drive a Hendrick Motorsports machine to showcase his abilities. That won’t happen next week as Gordon will be back in the car for the Southern 500.
Gordon appeases business partners, but Bowman is a positive look to the future where Gordon is merely a nod at the past.
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Winner: Brad Keselowski's Hometown Run
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Michigan doesn’t factor too highly in the NASCAR calendar. The series hits it in June and August. It doesn’t feel important the way some of the other races do.
Don’t tell that to Brad Keselowski.
The Michigan native drove a steady race and was in position to win in the end. He even had a chance to sling below Larson on the final restart, but instead chose to keep pushing Larson into the lead.
“It was a pretty good day, solid execution,” Keselowski told NBCSN after the race. “There was a couple long runs we had good speed, top speed. On short runs, we didn’t have anything for the [No.] 42 and [No.] 24. We had one of those late-race restarts. I gave him the best push I could.”
It was a winning push, and if he felt every bit as desperate for a win as Larson, Keselowski could have taken the low lane and surged past.
“We both took off and cleared the No. 24,” he said. “Another really solid day in Michigan but not the one we desperately want here at Michigan.”
Loser: Chase Elliott's Spun Tires
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Here’s the thing with Elliott: Nobody is more critical of his own performance than he.
Elliott had a winning car for Hendrick Motorsports, but he blew the final restart and allowed Larson and Keselowski to rocket past.
“Just made another mistake. I had two opportunities to get out front there and control the race, and I let Kyle get a better start on me,” Elliott told NBCSN. “I didn’t do my job right. It’s about as simple as that.”
All season, Elliott has denigrated himself when he feels he has made a crucial, race-determining mistake. It could be that Blaney gave Elliott too much of a push on that final restart, but Elliott wasn’t hearing any of it.
“I’ve got to try to do a better job of my restarts,” Elliott said. “It’s unfortunate to let my guys down like that. They bailed me out a few times today and I hate to give it back like that.”
All kinds of HMS big wigs were in the No. 24 pit box, including Gordon and Rick Hendrick.
Elliott finished second for a second time at Michigan and heads to Darlington for the Southern 500 with a 27-point cushion to the good.
“If I didn’t think I can win, I wouldn’t show up the next two weeks,” Elliott added.
Winner: Two 99-Race Losing Streaks Snapped
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Kyle Larson thought his playoff hopes were dashed after Watkins Glen. In that final lap, a top five within reach, the finish line in sight, AJ Allmendinger wrecked Larson and he lost nearly two-dozen points.
“After AJ got into us, I thought we were done at Watkins Glen,” Larson told NBCSN.
Bad luck bit him at Bristol, but Larson proved that rigor and focus could win out in Michigan.
“Man, I was tearing up those last few laps,” Larson told NBCSN. “I could feel that his could finally be it. I’m lucky we didn’t have a caution. We had a lot of work to do after the first third of the race.”
The win snapped a 99-race losing streak for CGR and, as it were, Larson.
“He hung in there with our team,” Chip Ganassi told NBCSN. “We’ve been building over the years, he came on board, the team rallied around him. I can’t say enough about the kid over the last few years. It’s a nice gradual coming up through the pack.”
“It means a lot and for Kyle,” said crew chief Chad Johnston during the NBCSN broadcast. “It’s been a rough few years. We didn’t start the year off like we wanted. Just ultra-proud of these guys. I think you’ll see more to come from Kyle Larson.”
That’s it for Larson.
He’s in the Chase.
He won the race from outside the top 16.
With his speed coming on late in the season, there’s no reason to think he can’t advance into the Contender Round in a few weeks’ time.
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