NASCAR: Five Lessons Learned From The Pure Michigan 400

Michigan Is How Oval Track Racing Should Be

Michigan is slightly bigger than the cookie cutter tracks in NASCAR, coming in at 2 miles as compared to the 1.5 mile tracks we see so much of.

It isn’t as big as a track like Pocono, or even the Super Speedways like Daytona and Talladega, but the Pure Michigan 400 proved that you don’t need a ton of cautions to make a race exciting, and even typical oval shaped tracks can still see different leaders throughout the race.

Drivers were going over 200 miles per hour, and the few cautions that came out during the race proved to be critical. Joey Logano for example, led the race early from the pole but struggled so much on restarts during cautions that he went toward the back and was never able to make it back to the front to race for the lead.

The 200 Lap race also didn’t’ drag on forever. It had a good pace to keep the race interesting and was just long enough to see several different leaders throughout the race.

Michigan was a great example of how NASCAR is finally making changes in the right direction with the aero package used at these types of tracks. Racing shouldn’t be just about one car getting out in front and dominating the entire race.

Instead it should be about speed, lapped traffic impacting the leader, solid pit stops and getting a good restart on each caution.

Michigan had all of these things and was one of the best oval track races this season.

Next: The New Era