Matt Kenseth enjoyed himself in Michigan win, but few others did
If you’re a fan of the good ol’ days of NASCAR, boy, did you love Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Let’s be clear: when we say “good ol’ days,” we’re not talking about the beer-drinking, hell-raising, fists-flying days of men like Earnhardt, Petty, Waltrip and the like. No, we’re talking about the days where one car was dominant, only a couple others even had a prayer of sniffing the lead, cars spread out like a high-speed parade, and passing for the lead was an urban legend.
Matt Kenseth won the race, and he deserves all the credit for that. Kenseth held the pole and led 146 of the race’s 200 laps, and every element of the afternoon clicked in his favor. But it’ll be far more important for the remainder of the regular season to consider the day’s losers.
Start with the new rules package that NASCAR brought back for this particular race. Just as with Indianapolis several weeks ago, spoiler height was increased from six to nine inches, with other tweaks around the car. The intent was to improve downforce; the result wasn’t quite so pretty.
Brad Keselowski called it almost precisely on Twitter before the race:
He was dead-on. Temperatures inside the car topped 150 degrees; for comparison purposes, 149 degrees is the temperature necessary to fry an egg. Dale Earnhardt Jr. offered a bit more perspective:
Restarts were paramount; the only opportunity anyone had to catch the leader, whoever that was, came during one of the relatively infrequent cautions. In this, Kenseth excelled. Austin Dillon, Carl Edwards, and Kevin Harvick were the only true competitors for Kenseth, but no one could hang with the Dollar General #20 for very long.
Drivers toed the party line when talking about the new package, but it’s not hard to read between the lines on these quotes:
A few other drivers on the afternoon warrant mentioning. Kyle Busch continued his assault on the sport with a relentless charge from last place (thanks to a car change) to the front. Busch pulled off the first sneaky-smart move of the race, dropping four seconds back as the green flag flew. He knew the new rules package could cause problems in pack racing, and sure enough, David Ragan spun in the second turn of the race. Busch can’t afford to be caught up in any early wrecks; his Chase hopes remain fragile even with four wins because of the need to remain in the top 30.
Two other drivers spun without assistance from others: Tony Stewart on lap 136 and Jimmie Johnson on lap 183. The spin further hampered Stewart’s flickering Chase hopes, while Johnson’s 48 team continues to look tentative, uncertain, and not at all championship-caliber.
Worst luck of the day belonged to Clint Bowyer, who bounced off both the outside and inside walls on lap 126, damaging both his suspension and his chances of making the Chase. Bowyer finished the race in 41st, leaving him in 16th place and just 23 points ahead of Aric Almirola. Bowyer is now vulnerable to any victory by a driver who hasn’t yet won a race, and will spend the last three races of the regular season with a tense grip on the wheel.
Next up: Bristol, which is often good for curing what ails NASCAR, then Darlington and Richmond to close out the regular season. Going to be a dramatic few weeks, but the drivers have to be hoping they get more opportunities to run up front than they did on Sunday.
____
Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
And keep up with Jay over on Facebook, too.
