Denny Hamlin Climbs Back Aboard the Checkers Express at Michigan

Racin’ with Russ

Denny Hamlin has been struggling all year to get back on track to his winning ways of last season. That turned around on Sunday after taking over the lead late in the Cup race at Michigan to capture his first win of the season and 17th career checkers.

From the start of the race, Kurt Busch led the pack to the green for the third race in a row. It was the Fords of Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards that appeared to be the class of the field.

Each led laps comfortably during the long afternoon, especially the Ford Fusion of Biffle who led the most with 68, just in front of Kyle Busch’s Toyota who led 59.

Late in the race, it looked like Edwards was well poised to grab yet another win.

With just a handful of laps remaining, Hamlin’s crew did an awesome job to get their driver out first, which proved to be a pivotal point in the race. Perhaps the strongest car in the race was Kenseth, who lined up right behind Hamlin at the start but spun his wheels when the green was dropped. Had it not been for a healthy push from teammate Edwards at that point, Kenseth would never have been able to mount any kind of charge.

Kenseth was able to stay close to Hamlin’s Toyota back bumper for the remaining few laps but fell short at the stripe, just ahead of Kyle Busch, a surprised Paul Menard and Edwards.

Notes: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was having a top 10 day for most of the run, until his teammate Mark Martin accidentally ran him into the fence, which later caused the fan favorite to hit the wall again with a puncture and an undeserved 21st place finish. Dale Jr. was none too pleased with his Martin during post race comments.

Five-time champion Jimmie Johnson kicked off his race day with a Lap 8 spin. The Hendrick team car never really got back on track with speed, netting a one lap down 27th place finish, dropping him three spots in the standings to fifth.

The final results now has Edwards 20 points ahead of Kevin Harvick in the big picture. 

Nationwide

Paul Menard’s Chevy may have earned the pole for the Nationwide race at Michigan, but the event proved to be a lesson in how strong Ford Mustangs can run as Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. showed the fast way around the track for most of the event. The race came down to a battle between the two teammates, with Edwards notching his fourth Nationwide win of the season. Stenhouse, Kyle Busch, Menard and returnee Trevor Bayne filled up the top five finishers.

Stenhouse now leads the standings, but by only two points over Elliot Sadler and four over Reed Sorensen.

Open Wheel News

The IndyCar series finally returned to the famed Milwaukee Mile racetrack. Dario Franchitti ran away early, but a resurgent Tony Kanaan took over the lead mid-race. Then Helio Castroneves took the point to set up a possible great three-way battle. That idea went to the wayside when Castroneves suffered a flat with a couple dozen to go, and Kanaan spun into the fence.

That scenario handed the lead and an easy win to Franchitti over Graham Rahal and Oriol Servia. Franchitti and Will Power are now tied atop the points.

From Rumorville

More and more talk is flying around concerning the possibility of Carl Edwards going over to Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota as a fourth team. I know, I know, say it ain’t so. I’m with you, and my little voice says Carl will stick with Roush Fenway Fords when all is said and done.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s weekend started off on a bad note when NASCAR officials confiscated oil pans from each of the three Cup cars, those being Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano. All three engines were pulled, pans changed, but we can expect to hear fines and penalties by Tuesday. By the way, the pans were found to be very heavy, some 20-30 pounds, which would be about six times the normal weight. I can only think the sneaky research guys from Gibbs are playing with a lower center of gravity up front.

That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the results from the lefts and rights at Infineon for the Cupsters and Nationwide action from Road America in Wisconsin, along with more racing news from around the globe.