Bowyer’s chance pays off
Clint Bowyer gambled with a two-tire change after the conclusion of Stage 2 and went on to win a rain-shortened FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race was delayed for 21⁄2 hours by rain and was called early at Lap 133 of 200 when another storm cell made the track wet once more. The race was halted with Stewart-Haas Racing claiming the top three spots. Ford cars finished with seven of the top eight spots.
Bowyer, who took two tires on his last stop when nearly every driver took four, was able to beat his competitors off pit road and choose his lane on the front row for the restart. Bowyer led seven of the race’s 133 laps to earn his second win of the season and first ever at Michigan International Speedway.
Teammates Kevin Harvick, who had led the most laps (49), finished second, and Kurt Busch, who started on the pole, came home third.
Busch led the first 46 laps, before Ryan Blaney passed him with 14 laps remaining in the first stage. Blaney would win the first stage and finished eighth. Harvick won the second stage.
The race was one of the best in recent memory at Michigan in part because the threat of rain loomed large throughout the day, increasing the pressure on both drivers and crew chiefs to make the right decisions.
“It took something crazy on a restart to be able to get Kevin,” Bowyer said. “That was a gutsy call. When we went out there on two tires, I looked in the mirror and I was so far ahead of everybody else I was like, ‘Oh man, we are in trouble!’
“The rain came just in enough time. I was trying to hold him off. I was cutting him off and taking his line away pretty bad. If it wasn’t for a win, you wouldn’t be doing that. He was so much faster than me in (Turns) 1 and 2. I got down in 3 and just had to take his line because that bear was coming.
“He almost cleared me off of (Turn 2), and he would have rode off into the sunset again for the 4 car. I was able to just get by him because he left me room and was courteous and a good teammate.”
Kyle Busch finished fourth in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Paul Menard of Eau Claire, Wis., finished fifth in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Matt Kenseth of Cambridge was 33rd.
IndyCar: By the time the race was over late Saturday night, Scott Dixon wasn’t even in the same area code as his competitors.
The Chip Ganassi Racing superstar managed to run away with the DXC Technology 600, finishing more than 4 seconds ahead of runner-up Simon Pagenaud at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
It was Dixon’s third win at Texas, but more importantly it was his 43rd career IndyCar victory.
The win moves him up to No. 3, one victory ahead of Michael Andretti and nine behind Mario Andretti on the all-time list.