Michigan Race Review and Analysis

 

Built Ford Tough!  The Nascar Cup Series visited Michigan International Speedway for a nail-biting 23rd race of the 2022 season.  The drought is over, and the 65-race winless streak is over!  Kevin Harvick takes home the checkered flag in Michigan!  This is Harvick’s 58th career win and 1st of the 2022 season.  Harvick now staples his name into the playoff field as number 15 out of the 16 spots. 

(Kevin Harvick in front of the crowd)

In a ground-shaking way, Kevin Harvick in crunch time wins at Michigan.  Prior to today, Harvick hasn’t won since September 19th, 2020 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Since that victorious day, it has been a long, vigorous, and frustrating year and a half for the 22-year Cup Series veteran.  The weight of not winning a race is finally off of Harvick’s shoulders heading into Richmond.  Harvick now passes the spotlight to Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, and Austin Dillon for the battle for the final playoff spot.  Harvick only led 13 laps across the entire season entering today.  The driver of the #4 Busch Light Apple Ford led 38 laps this afternoon. 

Here’s a quick rundown of key moments in today’s race.  Chase Elliott’s #9 team had radio issues, as they tried to communicate with him throughout the first 16 laps of the race.  The team believes the rain earlier in the afternoon, might have been the cause of the effect.  Chase Elliott wheeled his #9 UniFirst Chevrolet to an 11th-place finish.  What was the biggest caution for a wreck on the day, came at lap 26 when J.J. Yeley lost handling on his #15 Rick Ware Racing Ford.  This triggered a huge wreck, as he collected the #2 of Austin Cindric, the #18 of Kyle Busch, the #10 of Aric Almirola, the #47 of Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and the #21 of Harrison Burton. 

(Kevin Harvick and his Daughter Post-Race)

A mistake by Yeley in the middle of turns 1 and 2, took out a lot of fast, and strong cars in today’s 37-car field.  In what was a frightening moment in today’s race, came for Cole Custer.  Custer’s Haas Tooling.com #41 had an oil cooler/liner issue which sparked his car up into flames.  Custer was able to drive the ingulfed car around to his pit stall, as the rough stretch continues for Custer’s 2022 season.  Speaking of mechanical issues, Tyler Reddick saw issues with his Guaranteed Rate Chevrolet as his engine blew.  Reddick finishes 29th, after what was shaping up to be a great afternoon for Richard Childress Racing.  Noah Gragson got up into the wall, as this resulted in his #16 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet breaking a toe-link.  With this next-gen race car, a toe-link is extremely essential to the race car and its function.  Gragson finished 30th for Kaulig Racing.  Christopher Bell brought out the next caution for an aggressive move resulting in him getting hooked into the outside wall.  Bell, with 40 laps to go tried clearing his car in front of Ross Chastain’s #1 AdventHealth Chevrolet.  This ultimately ruined Bell’s day as he finished 26th, just ahead of him is Chastain who finishes 24th.  In what could’ve been a race-turning caution, Daniel Suarez cut a left front tire down with less than 10 laps to go.  Suarez nursed his #99 Worldwide Express Chevrolet around to pit road, as Nascar didn’t throw a caution.  Daniel Suarez in what was a disappointing finish to Trackhouse Racing’s day finishes 25th.  

(Kevin Harvick burns it down)

Let’s go through today’s top-10.  Kevin

Harvick snaps his long awaited win

streak by winning at Michigan for the

6th time in his career.  Bubba Wallace

had an outstanding weekend for 23XI

Racing.  Wallace captured his 1st-

career pole on Saturday for today’s

race in Michigan.  The 6th year 

driver led 22 laps and finished 2nd.  Wallace tried to reel in 

Kevin Harvick, but the gap was too large after Joey Logano 

made it tough on Wallace to get around him for 2nd place.  

When Wallace finally got around Logano, the remaining 

laps were on Harvick’s side as he built a 4-second margin, 

and rode off into the sunset to capture the victory.  Wallace 

comes up just short, as he was dejected in his post-race 

interview.  Denny Hamlin finished 3rd, as adversity 

describes the #11 team’s day.  With 37 laps to

go, the 31st penalty of the year was assessed to Denny 

Hamlin.  Hamlin’s pit crew had too many men over the wall, 

as a crew member attempted to retrieve a tire that was 

uncontrolled.  This sent Hamlin to the back of the pack, this 

didn’t stop Hamlin as he charged back up to 3rd.  Joey 

Logano finished 4th, for Team Penske.  Logano was fast, 

and it showed this afternoon.  Ryan Blaney, teammate to 

Logano, finished 5th for Team Penske.  Blaney had a great 

afternoon, but with one more winner added to the playoffs, 

Blaney must win before September.  Sixth place went to 

Martin Truex Jr., who also must win before the playoffs.  

Truex Jr. is projected to be strong as we head into next 

weekend at Richmond Raceway.  Seventh place went to 

Kyle Larson, if it weren’t for a speeding penalty on lap 125, 

Larson could’ve won this race.  Eighth place went to Erik 

Jones of Petty GMS Motorsports.  Still fresh off of a 

multiyear extension with the famous organization, Jones 

ran well at his home track. The Byron, 

Michigan native must win during the next three weeks to 

make the playoffs.  Alex Bowman, who’s had

a dreadful finish rebounded to finish 9th.  Bowman qualified 

30th on Saturday, but finally found stride later in today’s 

race for a top-10.  To round out the top-10, in 10th was the 

19 year-old Ty Gibbs.  Gibbs stayed out of trouble, after 

winning the Xfinity Series race at Michigan on Saturday. 

Gibbs has continued to produce for 23XI Racing in 

substitution for Kurt Busch.  His success and

development is potentially setting himself up for a Cup 

Series opportunity with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023, 

but if not, definitely 2024. 

(Kevin Harvick Post-Race)

Honorable mentions go out to Chase Elliott in 11th, William 

Byron in 12th, and Austin Dillon in 13th.  The deserving 

spotlight goes out to six drivers.  Ty Dillon, who’s currently 

in search of a 2023 Nascar ride stayed out of trouble all 

afternoon.  Dillon finished 14th for Petty GMS Motorsports.  

Even though Dillon will get the boot after the championship 

race at Phoenix Raceway in November, here in Michigan is 

something to be proud of.  The second honorable mention 

goes out to Brad Keselowski.  Keselowski, who has been 

down, and still recovering from his massive penalty after the 

March Atlanta race finished15th.  Keselowski, also a 

Michigan native hailing out of Rochester Hills, Michigan 

pulled through in what was a solid afternoon for RFK 

Racing.  Watch out for Keselowski down in Daytona as

RFK Racing’s best set of tracks includes Daytona 

International Speedway.  The second driver at RFK

Racing is Chris Buescher.  Buescher finished right behind 

his boss, and co-team owner Brad

Keselowski in 16th.  Buescher has always been good at 

Michigan, as that showed this afternoon in

the Irish hills.  Justin Haley finished 17th for Kaulig Racing.  

In his first full-time season for Kaulig

Racing, Haley is having an underrated 2022 season.  Haley 

has shown up at the end of races, and recorded his 14th 

top-20 this season.  Expect a big leap for the 23 year-old 

Haley heading into the 2023 season.  In what was his first 

career Nascar Cup Series start, Austin Hill brought home 

his #33 Chevrolet in 18th.  He may be older than most, 

coming driver out of the lower series, but this 28 year-old 

driver for Richard Childress Racing may take over the #8 

car after the 2023 Cup Series season entering 2024.  Hill 

has had an impressive first year full-time in the Xfinity 

Series.  The final shoutout goes to Corey LaJoie for Spire 

Motorsports.  LaJoie brings home another top-20 in his 

2022 campaign.  Lookout for LaJoie in Daytona to be fast.

(The Playoff Standings Post-Michigan)

In my opinion, today was great.  Kevin Harvick finally broke through for his 1st win in nearly two years.  This is the 8th year in a row a blue oval Ford has won the Cup Series race in its home state of Michigan.  Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing were fast all weekend long.  New faces were inside the top-15 this afternoon.  Also, this next-gen car continues to produce, and has saved the intermediate venues on the schedule.  Michigan was a track that has fluctuated in recent years, today that wasn’t the case.  We now add one more driver, to make it now 15 drivers locked in with a win.  We have three races to go, with one spot left.  We’ll see what happens next, as we head into Richmond.  Taking all action into consideration, I'd rate today's action a 9.6 out of 10.

Virginia is for lovers, and it’s the great dominion state!  For the second, and final time in this 2022 season, the Nascar Cup Series will head to Richmond Raceway.  Located in Richmond, Virginia, this 0.75-mile track produces some premier short track racing.  In what is the final short track of the regular season for the Cup Series, get ready for an action-packed showdown.  The Xfinity Series will have the weekend off, they’ll return at Watkins Glen.  The Camping World Truck Series and the Nascar Cup Series will make the trip to Richmond.  Practice and qualifying for the Truck Series will start at 3:00pm ET on FS1 on Saturday.  The Worldwide Express 250 for Carrier Appreciation, which is the second race of the Truck Series playoffs kicks off at 8:00pm ET Saturday night on FS1.  The Cup Series will have practice and qualifying at 5:05pm ET only on USA Network Saturday evening.  The Federated Auto Parts 400 will kick off at 3:00pm ET Sunday, August 14th only on USA Network.  

( All images credited to https://www.foxsports.com/nascar/cup-series.)

For next week's race information please view the link down below:

https://www.richmondraceway.com/