Chevrolet win slips when Toyota pushes Ford to hometown glory
NASCAR CUP MICHIGAN (USA) 22 AUGUST ROUND 25/36
Ryan Blaney ended up extending Ford’s dominance at Michigan International Speedway last weekend but only after an unintended assist from a Toyota driver.
Chevrolet’s Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and William Byron dominated much of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race, leading 156 of the 200 laps. But on a restart with eight laps to go, Blaney’s Penske Ford lined up on the inside alongside leader Byron and got a huge shove from behind by Toyota’s Kyle Busch.
The move shot Blaney well out ahead of the rest of the field and he spent the final two laps warding off challenges from Larson and Byron to claim the win by 0.077 seconds – the closest finish at the track since the advent of electronic scoring in NASCAR.
The victory pushed Ford’s winning streak at its home circuit to seven in a row.
“We were going to be fourth and the front row was open,” said Blaney. “You have to take the front row. It gave us a shot to win the race and Kyle [Busch] gave us a really good push to get us clear into Turn 1 and then I was playing defence. We were wideopen. Especially with Larson and William laying back and trying to get runs. That made it tough. It was cool to persevere all day. We didn’t start off very good, but we worked on it all day and found ourselves in a spot to capitalise on it at the end.”
The win is Blaney’s second of the season and sixth of his career. He is one of 15 drivers locked in the 16-driver playoff field. The final spot will be decided this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.