Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had a frustrating few weeks. After climbing to the top of the point standings, Earnhardt finished outside the lead lap at Watkins Glen and Pocono; this after finishing on the lead lap in the season’s first 20 races.
Last week at the Glen Earnhardt was on his way to a top 10 finish, something that would have been quite an accomplishment considering his record on road courses, but a late race mistake cost him; he came home off the lead lap and out of the points lead after only two weeks.
Earnhardt and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series head back for the second stop of the season at Michigan International Speedway for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400. For Earnhardt it’s an excellent chance to overcome the past weeks frustrations.
In June Earnhardt broke a four year, 143 race winless streak charging to victory here. Earnhardt wants to repeat that victory lane trip and plans to be aggressive Sunday.
“The track has always been fun for me. Even had I not won any races there, it’s just a really fun track,” said Earnhardt. “That’s the kind of race track you hope and pray to build. I think over time the surface will age and we’ll get back to widening up the surface quite a bit.”
With a Chase berth all but locked up, Earnhardt now wants to add race wins to gather the all important bonus points.
“On the way to getting that done, you want to win more races and we were really conservative all year long,” he said. “We feel like that in the position we are in now, we can gamble a lot more.”
Like Earnhardt, Denny Hamlin had a less than memorable finish at the Glen last week. Unlike Earnhardt, Hamlin is far from locked into the Chase. He’s tenth in the standings barely clinging to a spot in the Chase. But Hamlin has won two of the last five races here. In last year’s race, Hamlin suffered mechanical woes that left him laps down and he was caught up in a crash in the June race and will be looking for redemption this week. If Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs team can keep it together, Hamlin should shine Sunday.
Hamlin’s teammate at JGR, Kyle Busch was dominant for most of the race last week at the Glen. He wasn’t able to seal the deal however and lost in the closing laps. He’s the defending winner of this race, but he too had a terrible finish here in June. Busch however is looking to overcome that past adversity and could do so Sunday.
Tony Stewart is also coming off a rotten finish at the Glen. He was second here in June and could easily break a winless streak at Michigan dating back to 2000 Sunday.
Keep an eye on: Matt Kenseth and his Roush-Fenway teammate Greg Biffle finished third and fourth here in June. Once a force here, Fords have not won at Michigan since 2008. Any one of Jack Roush’s cars, including Carl Edwards, could take the checkered flag.
Party Crasher: Michigan is one of five active tracks that Jimmie Johnson has yet to win at (the others are Watkins Glen, Chicagoland, Homestead and Kentucky). Johnson was second in this race last year and fifth in June. With the momentum he and his Hendrick Motorsports team has been on of late, it would be no surprise if Johnson checks MIS off his winless record Sunday.
“We had a really strong car there (at the June race) and I’m excited to go back,” Johnson said. “Late in the race I was running down the leaders and I blistered a right rear tire. But, I understand that a great tire test took place at the track recently and they didn’t see any issues. So I feel like things are fixed and I’m looking forward to going back because I know we’re going to be strong. The way we’ve been running on the ovals and also with our performance at Michigan in the spring, even though we blistered a tire, I really feel like I can win there and make that list one shorter for the tracks we haven’t won on. I really feel this is our best chance ever.”
Bottom Line: 66 of 86 races have been won from a top-10 starting position, including 46 from the first four spots.
The deepest in the field a race winner has started was 32nd, by Mark Martin in the June race of 2009.
NASCAR THIS WEEKEND
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
The Race: Pure Michigan 400
The Place: Michigan International Speedway
The Date: Sunday, Aug. 19
The Time: 1 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN, Noon (ET)
Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
Distance: 400 miles (200 laps)
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES
The Race: NAPA Auto Parts 200
The Place: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
The Date: Saturday, Aug. 18
The Time: 2:30 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN, 2 p.m. (ET)
Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
Distance: 200.46 miles (74 laps)
NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES
The Race: VFW 200
The Place: Michigan International Speedway
The Date: Saturday, Aug. 18
The Time: 12:30 p.m. (ET)
TV: SPEED, Noon (ET)
Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
Distance: 200 miles (100 laps)
For more NASCAR News and NASCAR Commentary, follow me on Twitter and Facebook or visit CupScene.com.
Comments