Bowyer takes a victory in rain-shortened race
BROOKLYN, MICH. — Clint Bowyer raced to his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season when Sunday’s event at Michigan was called early because of rain.
Bowyer beat out Kevin Harvick on a restart to begin the third stage, and then the race went under caution when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. went into the wall. The rain put a stop to the race after 133 of the planned 200 laps on the 2-mile track.
Harvick was second, and pole winner Kurt Busch finished third, completing a sweep of the top three for Stewart-Haas Racing. Kyle Busch was fourth, the lone Toyota near the top in a race dominated by Ford. Four more Fords — Paul Menard, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney — rounded out the top eight.
Blaney won the first stage and Harvick took the second. After the end of the second stage, both Harvick and Bowyer came in to pit road. Bowyer took two tires and had position to the outside of Harvick when the race went back to green. They battled for a bit, and Bowyer ended up with the lead in his No. 14 car.
Kyle Larson, who had won the previous three Cup races at Michigan, finished 28th after spinning onto the grass on lap 85.
The race was delayed by rain at the start. Three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers — Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones — had to start at the back because of inspection failures related to the splitter. Busch made it back into the top five, Hamlin finished 12th and Jones was 15th.
Harvick led a race-high 49 laps and secured his 11th topfive finish in 15 races this season. Bowyer led only eight laps. This was his 10th career victory and first at Michigan.