Kurt Busch Wins Rain-Shortened Race at Michigan

Credit: USA Today

BROOKLYN, MI - RIS - Kurt Busch had the right strategy and came away with a win when rain shortened the NASCAR Sprint Cup Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.  The race, which was halted four times for rain from pop up showers, finally ended at Lap 138.  Busch led the last six laps--the only laps he led all day,

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second when NASCAR red-flagged the event for the fourth time. Martin Truex Jr. was credited with third, followed by Matt Kenseth and Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski.
 
The victory was Busch’s second of the season. He won for the third time at Michigan and for the 27th time in his career.
 
"It's an unbelievable feeling to know what we went through, paced ourselves, and found the lead toward the latter part of the race when the rain came in," Busch said in Victory Lane."You know what’s more special about this? Winning in Chevrolet's backyard. That’s what's most important about winning in Michigan, so thanks to Chevrolet."
 
That his team had put in extra hours to ready a backup car after Busch hit the wall in Friday’s opening practice was not lost on the winning driver.
 
"Yeah, you have to get down and dirty," Busch said. "You have to really roll up your sleeves, get your elbows dirty, and put the work into it. And (crew chief) Tony Gibson makes these guys work a little extra hard."
  
 In the closing laps with rain on the way,  Kyle Larson's gas-mileage gamble came up short and Larson's Chevrolet was forced to pit road for fuel just as a storm cell was advancing toward the speedway. He was leading at the time, but shortly after hit pitted for fuel, the skies opened up.
  
Busch had pushed Larson to the lead after a restart on Lap 130, but Larson hadn’t gotten fuel since Lap 88, and crew chief Chris Heroy was gambling that the rain would arrive before Larson ran out of gas. As it turned out, the rain came three laps too late for Heroy's strategy to bear fruit.
 
The heavy thunderstorm arrived on Lap 136, forcing NASCAR to throw a caution and then to red-flag the race for the fourth time two laps later, with Busch out front.
 
Busch also got an unintended assist from teammate Kevin Harvick, who led 63 laps (most of any driver) in the race’s dominant car.
 
Harvick held a lead of roughly four seconds when he brought his No. 4 Chevrolet to pit road on Lap 120, but the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion had to return to his pit stall two laps later because of a flat right front tire. Harvick lost two laps in the process and was 29th when NASCAR called the race shortly after 6 p.m.
 
Earnhardt was on the inside beside Larson for the final restart, but the push from Busch propelled Larson to his short-lived lead, and Busch followed to the outside of Earnhardt's car.
 
"When it came to the restarts, we didn't take off as well as the 41," Earnhardt said. "We saw the same thing at Charlotte, the 78 (Truex) and the 41 take off real good.  We were just kind of tight waiting on the front to work, don't have the good speed that they have the first three or four laps, and that was the difference today, and the 4 (Harvick) having the trouble he had. He had the field covered."
 
If luck was on Kurt Busch's side on Sunday, the same can't be said for brot Kyle Busch,  whose car slipped on damp asphalt in Turn 3 and shot into the outside wall to bring out the third caution on Lap 52. In what may be the decisive blow to his prospects of making the Chase after missing the first 11 races because of injuries sustained at Daytona in February, Busch finished 43rd.  The younger Busch must finish in the top 30 in points and win a race to qualify for the championship run.

Unofficial results: 47th Annual Quicken Loans 400

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Lap, Pts, BPts, TLd, LLd, Status
1) 24, Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet, 138, 47, 4, 1, 6, Running
2) 14, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 AMP Energy Chevrolet, 138, 43, 1, 1, 1, Running
3) 9, Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet, 138, 41, , , , Running
4) 12, Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota, 138, 41, 1, 2, 3, Running
5) 11, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 138, 40, 1, 1, 7, Running
6) 3, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 138, 39, 1, 2, 6, Running
7) 25, Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald's Chevrolet, 138, 37, , , , Running
8) 17, Paul Menard, No. 27 Moen/Menards Chevrolet, 138, 36, , , , Running
9) 20, Trevor Bayne, No. 6 AdvoCare Ford, 138, 35, , , , Running
10) 32, Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Chrry5HrEnrgy/SpecialOprtnsWarriorFndtn Toyota, 138, 34, , , , Running
11) 13, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, 138, 33, , , , Running
12) 4, Carl Edwards, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota, 138, 33, 1, 3, 41, Running
13) 27, Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 138, 31, , , , Running
14) 22, Ty Dillon(i), No. 33 Nexium 24Hr Chevrolet, 138, 0, , , , Running
15) 1, Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet, 138, 30, 1, 1, 1, Running
16) 19, Danica Patrick, No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet, 138, 29, 1, 1, 2, Running
17) 16, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, 138, 28, 1, 2, 7, Running
18) 23, Ryan Newman, No. 31 Quicken Loans Chevrolet, 138, 26, , , , Running
19) 8, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, 137, 25, , , , Running
20) 7, Austin Dillon, No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet, 137, 24, , , , Running
21) 6, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Panasonic Chevrolet, 137, 23, , , , Running
22) 26, Aric Almirola, No. 43 Smithfield Ford, 137, 22, , , , Running
23) 31, AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger/Hungry Jack Chevrolet, 137, 21, , , , Running
24) 5, Ryan Blaney(i), No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 137, 0, , , , Running
25) 33, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 137, 19, , , , Running
26) 30, Sam Hornish Jr., No. 9 Medallion Bank Ford, 137, 18, , , , Running
27) 36, Justin Allgaier, No. 51 Switch Hitch Chevrolet, 137, 17, , , , Running
28) 15, Tony Stewart, No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, 137, 16, , , , Running
29) 2, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John's Chevrolet, 137, 17, 2, 2, 63, Running
30) 35, Michael Annett, No. 46 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 137, 14, , , , Running
31) 29, Landon Cassill(i), No. 40 CarsForSale.com Chevrolet, 137, 0, , , , Running
32) 40, Cole Whitt, No. 35 Speed Stick Ford, 137, 12, , , , Running
33) 37, Brett Moffitt #, No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford, 137, 11, , , , Running
34) 39, Josh Wise, No. 98 Ford, 137, 11, 1, 1, 1, Running
35) 18, David Ragan, No. 55 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, 136, 9, , , , Running
36) 21, Greg Biffle, No. 16 Safety-Kleen Ford, 136, 8, , , , Running
37) 38, Jeb Burton #, No. 26 Maxim Toyota, 136, 7, , , , Running
38) 41, JJ Yeley(i), No. 23 Dr Pepper Toyota, 136, 0, , , , Running
39) 43, Matt DiBenedetto #, No. 83 Burger King Toyota, 136, 5, , , , Running
40) 42, Mike Bliss(i), No. 32 Skuttle Tight/CorvetteParts.net Ford, 136, 0, , , , Running
41) 28, Alex Bowman, No. 7 Racing-Rewards.com Chevrolet, 84, 3, , , , Running
42) 34, David Gilliland, No. 38 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 64, 2, , , , Accident
43) 10, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Crispy Toyota, 52, 1, , , , Accident

# = Rookie
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led.
Average Speed: 116.688 MPH
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 21 Mins, 55 Secs.
Margin of Victory: Caution
Lead Changes: 17 among 11 drivers
Cautions: 5 for 38 laps

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the midle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2015, Issue 6, Posted 9:03 PM, 06.14.2015