MICHIGAN RACE REVIEW

Apple of My Eye!

Date: 8-7-2022.
Name of the race: Firekeepers Casino 400. 
Track: Michigan International Speedway.
Laps: 200. 
Pole winner: Bubba Wallace.
Outside pole: Christopher Bell. 
Stage 1 winner: Christopher Bell.
Stage 2 winner: Denny Hamlin.
Stage 3 winner (won the race): Kevin Harvick.
Top 5: Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney. 
FYI: The fourth to last race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular season was held at Michigan International Speedway, and tensions were high leading up to the green flag. Going into the race, there were merely two open playoff spots left for the taking, meaning drivers not locked in yet with a win would be scrambling more and more leading up to the regular season finale at Daytona, and Lord knows you do NOT want to go into Daytona still needing that all important win and a playoff spot. Three major drivers without wins were under the gun going into the race, one being Martin Truex Jr., who after much anticipation announced that he would be back behind the wheel of the number 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry for the 2023 season. Going into this race he still has yet to claim a win at the two-mile track, but in the past has had a somewhat consistent history of finishing in the top ten, and is one of the favorites going into the race. One of the others is still relative young gun Ryan Blaney, who, unlike Truex, has won at Michigan, at the August race the previous year, and is even more consistent than him as well when it comes to finishing and running well at Michigan. He will clearly be a threat to win, and not being locked into the playoffs yet has lit a fire under the team to perform, despite the team's less than stellar qualifying run of 24th vs Truex’s 7th place starting position. But going into this race, you would be hard pressed to find anybody betting on the eventual winner and the biggest surprise driver not locked in yet, that being The Closer, Happy Harvick. Kevin Harvick hasn’t won a race since 2020, and his team Stewart Haas Racing, and heck Ford as a whole haven’t been running all that hot as well compared to the competition. Only Harvick’s biggest and most devoted of fans could honestly say going into Sunday that he would be one of the drivers to beat, considering he has six total wins at the oval track. But these drivers weren’t the only talk of the town. Bubba Wallace and his team 23XI Racing, co-owned by Denny Hamlin, have just won their first ever pole, and are looking dominant as ever for the race, as are Toyota teammates Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch. All goes well when the green flag finally drops after a brief period of rain, as Wallace holds off Busch and Bell and, starts pulling away from the field. On lap 22 the competition yellow came out and gave the drivers an opportunity to pit, causing teams to cook up some interesting pit strategies on tires and fuel. After the restart, the number 15 of J.J. Yeley spun and collected Austin Cindric and Kyle Busch, ending both of their days early. Aric Almirola, Rickey Stenhouse Jr., and Harrison Burton were all collected as well and taken out early. Bell would go on to win the first stage of the race, flexing that Toyota Muscle, as all the Toyota teams would prove to be strong all day. Denny Hamlin would go on to win the second stage as well, looking like it would be Toyota’s race to win going into the 3rd stage. Trackhouse Racing, another new powerhouse team, would be Chevrolet’s heavy lifter for the day, as their other major team in Hendrick Motorsports would have all four of their drivers struggle for most of the day, including points leader Chase Elliott. The two Trackhouse drivers on Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain would lead the race, until Chastain would “make a new friend” in Christopher Bell, causing damage to the 20 car and bringing out the yellow. On the Restart, Kevin Harvick, in the midst of pit cycles with Bubba Wallace hot on his tail, would leave the pits in the lead and would hold his lead for the rest of the race, ending the sixty-five race-long winless streak, punching his tickets to the playoffs. Wallace, running statistically the best race of his career, would have to settle for second, with team owner Denny Hamlin, rallying from an astounding 22nd all the way to 3rd with the absolute fastest car on the track. Blaney would finish merely one position ahead of Truex, putting him in the lead of drivers not locked in. The battle will rage into Richmond, with Truex being the obvious favorite to win and lock himself in, as well as the following week at Watkins Glenn, however, Blaney still has a chance, as he has run well at both tracks before, as well as being a phenomenal superspeedway racer, superspeedways being one of Truex’s Achilles heels. Only time will tell, as the battle to the start of the playoffs continues, who will claim that last spot? Will it be Blaney? Truex? Or someone else?
Next race: Richmond Raceway on Sunday afternoon (8-14-2022).