Matt Kenseth helped Joe Gibbs Racing continue its summer-long dominance of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, winning Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan international Speedway.
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Kenseth, the pole winner, won for the 34th time in his career, leading 146 of 200 laps in the 400-mile race.
The Sprint Cup series heads to Tennessee for the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday.
Martin Truex Jr. lamented his inability to pass, leading to a third-place finish.
Consider that Dillon began the race at the back of the field in Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 because his team was forced to change the engine in his Chevrolet.
On the final restart of the race following a caution that came out with 17 laps to go, Kenseth had Harvick next to him on the front row.
I sat through that snoozer at Indianapolis a few weeks ago when NASCAR debuted its high-drag aero package. “(The latter part of the race) we were able to have a good enough handing car to drive back up through there and everything go good”, the race runner-up said.
“We’re just going to work hard to try to keep it rolling”. He said the team approaches every race with one goal – to win.
Matt Kenseth won at Michigan on Sunday.
“We had to figure out a way to get our track position back”, Dillon said. “I think we should have more grass and it should be taller”. “These are all really big races”.
“I feel like our brands align so perfectly, it’s kind of amazing”, Patrick said. He’d led for only 147 laps all season before dominating this 400-mile race in his No. 20 Toyota. Sure, it can be argued that he was points racing and just playing with the hand he was dealt, but he’s supposed to be Kyle Busch, The man that takes an average day and makes it spectacular! Many drivers after Indy were needing treated for heat-related issues, so NASCAR mandated that of the 14 NACA ducts that take airflow from outside the car and bring it inside to cool the driver, three of them had to be used, because many teams were opting to not use them because they felt it gave an aerodynamic advantage to competitors if they had them open. Now 29th in the standings, Busch leads 30th-place Justin Allgaier by 18 points and 31st-place Cole Whitt by 23. Sunday’s results: Dale Earnhardt Jr., 10th; Kasey Kahne, 15th; Jeff Gordon, 17th; Jimmie Johnson, 39th.
The competition so lackluster Harvick and Brad Keselowski, two former Sprint Cup champions who are rarely shy about sharing an opinion, essentially bit their tongues when asked about the high-drag package.
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Lead Changes: 16 among 8 drivers. “Honestly, the toughest one was with the 3 (of Austin Dillon)”, Kenseth said post-race. “It’s another win going into that first three-race segment in the Chase, so it’s a bonus point or points”.
