After a day-long rain delay, the race finished in a great battle between the two fastest cars on the track, as it should be. Chris Buescher backed up last week’s win at Richmond with a stout performance holding off Martin Truex, Jr. who arguably had the fastest car all day. But as we all know, the fastest car doesn’t always win.
Lap after lap, Truex used just about every trick in the book to pass Buescher even getting side by side a couple of times. But Buescher held his ground and forced Truex to make the mistake, which he did. A slight bobble as he drove it hard into the corner was the only real mistake Truex made and it was enough for Buescher to give Ford its ninth win at Michigan.
On Sunday before the rain fell, Christopher Bell led the field to green only to spin out in a parade of spinouts. Bell and team managed to repair his car good enough to finish P13. Kyle Busch was the first to spin out after minor contact with Ryan Blaney. It really wasn’t Blaney’s fault as Busch was inside and whoops, got loose, chasing his car up the track and into Blaney. Busch was not a happy camper in his post-spin interview.
Nor was Chase Elliott who also spun out and wrecked his car. I do have to say that the “reporter” questions are pretty questionable and it is obvious that the same questions have already been asked and answered, perhaps before the race, or once too often. I would get irritated too.
So even before the rain starts to postpone the race until Monday, Busch, Elliott and William Byron are all out and the polesitter is struggling.
Stage 1 saw MTJ just barely edging out Bubba Wallace (P18) and beating Daniel Suarez (P6) in Stage 2. Brad Keselowski (P4) was Top 5 in both Stages to further put RFK in position for the playoffs. That is quite the turnaround for the organization.
Things of note: Jimmie Johnson, Noah Gragson and quit reminding me I have to win to get in
Jimmie Johnson was a first ballot inductees into the HOF but was not a unanimous choice. What? You may not like Jimmie Johnson (i.e. king of the 1.5 mile cookie cutter track) but you can’t deny that he is only the third driver to win seven championships. I don’t know who didn’t vote for him but c’mon. Really?
Noah Gragson has been indefinitely suspended by Legacy Motorsports due to a very inappropriate Twitter post. I think Noah forgot where his responsibilities lie in what was probably a quick repost that received little forethought and put his ignorance on full display. I am sure he’ll be back in a racecar at some point but it might take a year. Just ask Kyle Larson.
Chase Elliott is in a win or go home position now. It’s been pretty obvious this isn’t the same championship caliber team but do ya think Chase is sick of being asked about it? And it is going to come up again at Indianapolis. Sure, Chase has been good on road courses but Indy is just OK and he is rated 6th among drivers with an average finish of P10. He is currently P22 in points and 55 points behind Ty Gibbs in P16. If I were Chase, I’d be avoiding be track media for the next few weeks.
Next up: Indianapolis
This used to be a track that many drivers considered hallowed racing grounds. And it was a much ballyhooed NASCAR event for years even when the racing wasn’t all that good for fans in spite of big TV boards to follow the race on the back stretch that few could see. Now it is a “road course” and not that great of one. But it is what it is and the drivers will race on it and more than likely, it will be very hot and humid.
AJ Allmendinger won the inaugural road course vent and Tyler Reddick is the defending race winner. Allmendinger should be able to compete for the win if not a Top 10 finish. And yeah, Reddick is a contender although he and his team have to put together a mistake free race. Yeah, he also leads all drivers in laps led at this course by a wide margin.
It will be interesting to see what RFK brings to the track this week. The organization is on a tear but Indy is an unforgiving course in any configuration.
Ryan Blaney is second in laps led with P2 and P26 finishes. Not awe inspiring.
Austin Cindric has P2 and P9 finishes. Bubba Wallace P5 and P13.
There were 9 cars out due to accidents in 2021 and 6 last year.
So Indy, as usual, is a hit it or miss it track. It will be fun to see what this car does on this configuration and who brings the right set up to take advantage of it.
Keep the shiny side up!
Read more from Chuck Abrams here.
(Photo: RFK Racing Press Release)
