Quicken Loans 400 Race Recap
A great start by Edwards who gets a good push from Kenseth sees him take the lead with the top five currently standing at Edwards, Kenseth, Logano, Biffle and Truex Jr. But Kenseth can’t hold onto second for too long as Logano and Biffle both get by him. It is now Biffle’s turn to be the chaser as he gets by Logano and is now right behind Edwards. For the next few laps Biffle gets alongside Edwards in the turns but can’t make the move stick into the straightaways. With 50 laps to go Biffle finally gets a good drive off turn four as Edwards has a wobble and as the 16 and 99 pass the start finish line it’s the 16 that ever so slightly has his nose in front. Biffle wastes no time in pulling out a big lead and six laps later his lead is over 3 seconds. Further down the pack Johnson is back into the top 10 as green flag stops get under way.
Jun 16, 2013; Brooklyn, MI, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson (48) during the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Luck isn’t on Edwards side though as he comes to pit row for his green flag stop, McMurray blows a tyre to bring out the yellow flags for caution number eight. While Edwards will get his lap back he will be at the back of the lead cars, fortune though has favoured Biffle who was able to get out of pit row before being lapped and will stay out along with Truex Jr and Harvick to lead the race at the restart. Another bad stop for the 48 sees him lose three more places to restart 10th, although the 48 team think they have enough fuel to last until the end while the other teams don’t. On the restart Biffle and Truex Jr go side by side through turns one and two but by the end of the lap the 16 has already established a sizeable gap from second place Truex Jr. Not such a great restart for fourth place Kenseth who gets loose and falls through the field to 13th.
Jun 16, 2013; Brooklyn, MI, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Greg Biffle (16) after winning the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Biffle is comfortably out front from the rest of the pack but the thorn in his side might be coming from Johnson who despite his bad stop is back doing what he does best, carving his way through the field. With 19 laps to go he is back up to third and with nine laps to go he takes second place and is 1.6 seconds behind Biffle. For most drivers nine laps wouldn’t be enough time to chase down the leader but today Johnson is a breed apart from the other drivers. With three laps to go the lead is down to one second but any chance of an amazing comeback is dashed when Johnson gets too high and hits the outside wall. The race stays caution free and with nearly five seconds separating the 16 from new second place Harvick there is nobody to challenge him and Greg Biffle takes his fourth win at MIS as well as getting Ford their 1,000 win.
This was probably the most entertaining race of the season, helped admittedly by the cautions coming out before the race got too strung out. But with the leaders of the race crashing, blowing up or having awful pit calls it meant that the leaders were constantly changing position and nothing was certain. Even with three laps to go there was still a chance that the lead could change one more time. The gen-6 car allowed passing in the pack and although clean air was again king the cautions meant that no one car was dominant. Of course there is no way to replicate this without having forced cautions, which nobody wants but all we can hope for is that we get more of the same at other oval circuits to make everything as exciting as this race was. Next week its time for the road course to make an appearance and absolutely anything can happen there!