Weekend Recap: Michigan

Weekend Recap: Michigan

Nationwide Series: Alliance Truck Parts 250 @ Michigan

The dominance continues.

Joey Logano wrapped up his 5th Nationwide win of 2012 and has now won 4 of the last 6 races in the series. This kept up a furious streak for Logano in recent weeks who also won the Sprint Cup race in Pocono two weeks ago. The race never showcased a clear cut winner, but when it was all said and done, Logano was able to lead a caution filled last run of the race to take the win.

This was the first race at Michigan for the Nationwide Series since the track was repaved last fall and while it showed fast racing at nearly 200mph, the repave also caused the track to have one groove, making it nearly impossible for cars to race on the the outside and inside on the turns which makes passing extremely difficult. Logano was able to fend off these challenges as well as a last ditch effort from runner-up James Buescher who attempted to dive bomb Logano going into Turn 1 on the final lap. 

Due to the lack of a lower groove however, Buescher couldn't get his car to stick and washed up the turn, unable to pass Logano. Kurt Busch, rookie Cole Whitt, and pole sitter of the race Austin Dillon took home 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Former points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. continued to struggle for the third week in a row, this time suffering from engine issues and lost ground to current points leader Elliott Sadler. In fact, Dillon moved up to 2nd in points, dropping Stenhouse Jr. to 3rd with Sam Hornish Jr. in 4th and Whitt in 5th. 

The Nationwide Series heads to Elkhart Lake, WI to the tricky, 11-turn Road America for the first road course race of the season.

Sprint Cup Series: Quicken Loans 400 @ Michigan

The winless streak is over.

Literally, 4 years ago to the weekend was the site of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s last Sprint Cup win at Michigan. He ended that 4 year drought at the same track and the same race, bringing an end to the talk of, "When's Junior going to win another race?" Junior, NASCAR's most popular driver, dominated, leading nearly half of the race and winning by five seconds over runner-up Tony Stewart. 

There was a great deal of controversy heading into the race after the repaved track was allowing the Sprint Cup cars to hit speeds of 220mph, thus making the tires on the cars blister and chip away due to the high speeds. NASCAR made the decision to bring in different sets of tires for the teams to use, tires from the year 2006, which threw a kink into everyone's plans because it drastically changed the handling of the cars. That didn't phase Earnhardt Jr. who earned his second career win for Hendrick Motorsports and the 19th of his career overall. 

Talk is now growing that Earnhardt Jr. will be a serious championship contender this year and there's good reason to believe so. The win helped Junior cut his points deficit to leader Matt Kenseth down to just 4 points and he is the only driver this year to complete every single lap of every race. That consistency paired with the knowledge that he can now win again makes Earnhardt Jr. a scary prospect come time for the Chase.

Kenseth finished 3rd behind Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart, with Greg Biffle finishing 4th and Jimmie Johnson rounding out the top-5. Jeff Gordon also put a temporary hold on his bad luck to finish 6th and put himself back in the top-20 in points, making him eligible for a Wild Card spot now. 

The other talk of the day came from the Joe Gibbs Racing camp, who had all three cars exit the race for various issues. Kyle Busch had engine problems for the third race in a row, an unheard of issue for a team of that caliber. Last week's winner, Joey Logano, got caught up in a wreck with Kasey Kahne and the third Joe Gibbs car, Denny Hamlin, also wrecked and caught fire.

The Series now heads to the 11-turn road course in Sonoma, CA for it's first stop at a road course this season and this race will surely shake up the points.