nascar 2012 - race 15

Michigan International Speedway




Submitted by Rick A. Talford

NASCAR Enthusiast



BROOKLYN, MICHIGAN - On Saturday afternoon, the Nationwide Series raced at the newly re-paved, two-mile high speed race track. The drivers would be racing at speeds near 200 mph for 125 laps. The Pole Sitter was # 3 Austin Dillon, with # 88 Cole Whitt starting beside him. The first twenty drivers in the qualifying order, broke the speed record set back in 2007.



It did not take long for the first caution, being it came on lap one for # 7 Danica Patrick and # 38 Brad Sweet. They both spun out in separate incidents, but on the same turn. While the cars were checking up, # 54 Kurt Busch was not so lucky, and ended up with front end damage after running into the back end of # 22 Brad Keselowski. A “Competition Caution” then came out on lap 26, due to the new pavement. The third caution came out for # 99 Kenny Wallace, when his engine let go, and began smoking on track. Caution four was for # 38 Sweet spinning out a second time. The fifth caution was for # 7 Patrick spinning, after # 3 Dillon got close enough to her corner panel that it took the air off the rear end, making the rear-end step out. She was running in the eighth position at the time of the spin. On lap 110, # 7 Patrick and # 38 Sweet once again got together while racing for fourteenth position. The seventh caution came out on lap 115 for # 23 Andy Dick and # 29 Josh Richardson. The two cars got tangled up and hit the wall hard. A “Red Flag” was brought out, to clean up the crash.



With less than ten laps to go, it became a shootout. # 20 Joey Lagono outlasted # 30 James Buescher for the fifth victory of the season for Lagono, in the Nationwide Series. The rest of the top ten were: # 54 Kurt Busch, # 88 Cole Whitt, # 3 Austin Dillon, # 20 Michael McDowell, # 12 Sam Hornish Jr., # 22 Brad Keselowski, # 33 Paul Menard, # 11 Brian Scott. Points leader # 2 Elliott Sadler finished in eleventh position.



The next race will be at Road America in Wisconsin, on Saturday at 2 pm on ESPN.







BROOKLYN, MICHIGAN - On Sunday the Sprint Cup Series was able to race their “Quicken Loans 400” at the Michigan Superspeedway. Nineteen of the top qualifiers ran speeds over 200 mph. # 9 Marcus Ambrose ran the fastest lap at 203 mph for the Pole, with # 29 Kevin Harvick starting second. The race started two hours late, due to steady downpours in the morning and at the original start time for the 200 lap event. The race track was repaved and Goodyear changed the tire composite for this race on Saturday, due to many drivers suffering from blistering tires during practices on Friday.



The first caution came out on lap two, when # 51 Kurt Busch spun out. The engine of the # 26 Josh Wise car blew up on lap ten for the second caution of the race. The third (lap 26) and Fourth (lap 51) cautions were pre-set as “Competition Cautions”, due to the heavy rains, and the new tires brought in on Saturday. On lap 81, the fifth caution came out for debris on the track. For the third consecutive week, the # 18 Kyle Busch driven race car had engine failures. He went to the garage and did return to the track, after going many laps down. Caution came out on lap 120 for # 51 Busch a second time, for another spin out by him. The seventh caution came out when # 38 David Gilliland got lose, and slid up the track. # 20 Joey Lagono attempted to get around Gilliland, but was unsuccessful and turned into the wall. Then # 5 Kasey Kahne ran into the rear end of Gilliland, ending his day at the race as well. The final caution came out for a fiery # 11 Denny Hamlin car, as he tried to get down pit road with his damaged race car, it erupted into flames from under the hood. The entire car was riding on what looked like a blanked of flames. As he came to a stop, the firefighters were able to get the car extinguished.



When the checkered flag flew on lap 200, # 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to celebrate another victory at the Michigan International Speedway. This was the site of his last victory, some 143 races ago in 2008. Earnhardt was racing a special painted race car for the upcoming Dark Knight Rises movie. He was not challenged by anyone in the end, having nearly a six second gap to second place # 14 Tony Stewart.



The rest of the top ten were: # 17 Matt Kenseth, # 48 Jimmie Johnson, # 24 Jeff Gordon, # 15 Clint Bowyer, # 42 Jaun Montoya, # 9 Marcus Ambrose and # 29 Kevin Harvick. Kenseth is now the points leader over Earnhardt Jr. by four points.



The next race is at the California Road course in Sonoma on Sunday.