Kasey Kahne won the pole for the race and led one lap on his way to a 15th-place finish. Kevin Harvick led a race high of 63 laps before a flat tire and rain relegated him to a 29th-place finish. The race had 17 lead changes among eleven different drivers, as well as five caution flag periods for 38 laps. There were three red flag periods for one hour, 33 minutes and 13 seconds.
This was the 27th career victory for Kurt Busch, third at Michigan International Speedway and first at the track for Stewart-Haas Racing. This win moved Busch to eleventh in the points standings. Chevrolet left Michigan with a 66-point lead over Ford in the manufacturer standings.
Michigan International Speedway (MIS) is a two-mile (3.2-kilometre) moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located off U.S. Freeway 12 on more than 1,400 acres (5.7km2)[13] approximately four-mile (6.4km) south of the village of Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is sometimes known as a "sister track" to Texas World Speedway, and was used as the basis of Auto Club Speedway. The track is owned by International Speedway Corporation (ISC). Michigan International Speedway is recognized as one of motorsports' premier facilities because of its wide racing surface and high banking (by open-wheel standards; the 18-degree banking is modest by stock car standards). Michigan is the fastest track in NASCAR due to its wide, sweeping corners and long straightaways; typical qualifying speeds are in excess of 200mph (320km/h) and corner entry speeds are anywhere from 215 to 220mph (346 to 354km/h) after the 2012 repaving of the track.
The entry list for the Quicken Loans 400 was released on Tuesday, June 9 at 9:09a.m. Eastern time. Forty-four cars were entered for the race. All but the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford driven by Ryan Blaney were entered the week before at Pocono. The only driver swap for this race is the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford that was driven by Mike Bliss.
Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 35.557 and a speed of 202.492mph (325.879km/h).[14] His teammate Kurt Busch slapped the wall exiting turn 2 with 30 minutes remaining in the session and switched to his backup car.[15] "Went down in there and was a little twitchier when it turned in and then it went full on left," Busch radioed to his team after the hit. "Sorry … it's pretty much ruined."[16] Because this change took place prior to qualifying, he was not required to start the race from the rear of the field. The session was shortened due to rain.[17]
Kasey Kahne, seen here in 2012, scored the pole for the race.
Kasey Kahne won the pole with a time of 35.645 and a speed of 201.992mph (325.075km/h).[18] “Our Great Clips Chevrolet has had speed all three runs, so I knew we’d have a shot today, so that was cool,” Kahne said. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a pole. It’s going to be really important. The track is going to change a lot, though, come Sunday, with all the racing going on this weekend and then our practices tomorrow. The track will be a lot different Sunday. So, there will be some passing for sure, but it’s not going to be easy. So, track position will play a big role in being there at the end of the race.”[18] "Kasey [Kahne] put up a little better lap than I did, but it was still a solid run," Kevin Harvick said after qualifying second.[18] “It was a good lap,” said Brad Keselowski after qualifying third. “This is one of our weakness tracks here at Michigan International Speedway. We are working on it and trying to get better. I honestly didn’t think we would qualify this well. We came with some new stuff on the car, which seems to be working. I am proud of everyone at Team Penske, Ford and Roush Yates engines for that.”[18]Brendan Gaughan was the lone driver who failed to qualify for the race.[18]Ryan Blaney qualified fifth for the race.[19] “It's really all you can ask for to be better and better in the three rounds,” Blaney said of the team's qualifying effort. “Everyone did a great job. (Crew chief) Jeremy (Bullins) did a great job of getting us better. It was a good effort for us. We needed it. We're excited about Sunday."[19]
Jeff Gordon was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 36.253 and a speed of 198.604mph (319.622km/h).[21] Halfway through the session, Denny Hamlin spun out on the front stretch and caused minor damage to the front splitter.[21] The team initially decided to roll out the backup car, but chose to fix the primary car rather than starting from the rear of the race.[21]
The race was scheduled to start at 1:16p.m., but the threat of thunderstorms prompted NASCAR to move the start time up ten minutes. Eventually, the race started eight minutes after one. Kasey Kahne led the field to the green flag, but lost the lead to Carl Edwards on the first lap. He passed him to lead the second lap. Edwards went by him again to lead the third lap. The first caution of the race flew on lap 11 for rain in turns 1 and 2. The race was red flagged on lap 13 for rain.[22] After 59 minutes, the red flag was lifted and the field was moved off pit road. After two laps under caution, rain began to fall again in turn 1. The rain started coming down harder all around the track and the field was brought back down pit road again. The race was red flagged a second time on lap 19. It was lifted after 34 minutes.[23]
The race was set to restart on lap 25, but it was called off after Alex Bowman – who made contact with the wall early in the race – left debris on the backstretch. Eventually, the race restarted on lap 29. The second caution of the race flew on lap 41. It was a scheduled competition caution due to overnight rain. Josh Wise opted not to pit and took the lead. He drove down pit road the next lap and handed the lead to Kevin Harvick. Just as the field was lining up for the restart on lap 44, rain began to pour a third time. The field was brought back down pit road and the race was red flagged for the third time. After 36 minutes, the red flag was lifted and the field rolled off pit road.[23]
Second quarter
The race restarted on lap 52. The third caution of the race flew on lap 53 for a single car wreck on the front stretch. Exiting turn 4, Kyle Busch's car snapped loose, turned up the track and pounded the wall.[24] The SAFER barrier he hit was damaged and required repair.[23]
The race restarted on lap 60. A number of cars began hitting pit road around lap 77. Kevin Harvick surrendered the lead to pit on lap 83 and handed the lead to Matt Kenseth. He pitted on lap 85 and handed the lead to Brad Keselowski. He ducked onto pit road the next lap and gave the lead to Kyle Larson. He pitted on lap 88 and handed the lead to Joey Logano. He ran out of fuel on lap 95 and hit pit road. This gave the lead to Danica Patrick. She pitted on lap 97 and the lead cycled back to teammate Harvick.[25]
Second half
Halfway
Harvick gave up the lead to pit on lap 121 and handed it to Dale Earnhardt Jr. He pitted the next lap and it went to Kenseth. He pitted the next lap and handed it to Keselowski. Harvick stopped a second time for a flat right-front tire. Debris in turn 3 brought out the fourth caution of the race on lap 125. That debris came from Harvick's car. Edwards opted not to pit and assumed the lead with rain just three miles out. The gamble failed and he pitted before the restart.[23]
Finish
Kyle Larson led the field to the restart on lap 130. He too failed on his gamble, pitted for gas three laps later and gave the lead to Kurt Busch. “Yeah, we could see weather coming there off of (Turn) 4 and just praying that it would get here in time for me to stay out and be in the lead when the rain did hit,” Larson said. “Hey, I applaud my guys for trying. We are pretty deep in points so we have to take risks like that to make the Chase. I’m happy with the call, just wish the rain would have come three laps sooner.”[26] The fifth caution of the race flew with 64 laps to go for rain. The field was brought down pit road and the race was red flagged for the fourth time with 62 laps to go.[27] Eventually, NASCAR called the race due to darkness being near and no sign of the weather letting up and Kurt Busch scored his 27th career win and third at Michigan, similar to the rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 last year when Aric Almirola scored his first career win at Daytona.[28]
Post-race
Post-race comments
“We’ve got some indicators around lighting, when it gets within a certain mileage we have to work with the track and the track is going to evacuate the grandstands. Even when the sun was shining, it was still raining at 6:30 but post that when the sun came out, there was still lightning in the area, it would have been really challenging to have put fans in that circumstance. We judge it on how much time do we have left – daylight – you don’t have lights in Michigan, and more importantly, what does the weather look like. It takes longer to dry a track as you get later in the afternoon. Once we had to evacuate the grandstands … that put us in a really challenging situation. The fans had stuck it out for a long time and then when you looked at the radar and the possibility of continued lightning and rain, we thought it was the most prudent decision to make at that time to call it a day.’’
“(Crew chief) Tony Gibson led these guys through a back-up car, the pit crew was there giving it its best,” Kurt Busch said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to know what we went through, paced ourselves and found the lead towards the latter part of the race and then the rain came in.”[30] “Yeah, I mean, you just had to wait on the weather to get moved out, wait on them to dry the track,” Earnhardt Jr. said after finishing second. “You know, it didn't give you a whole lot of opportunities to understand your car and know exactly how to adjust your car and what to work on, so we were still dealing with some issues that we wanted to improve when the final shower came.”[30] “We were able to use the strategy to our benefit and come out of here with a top-10 effort and that feels great for this team,” Trevor Bayne said of his season-best finish of ninth. “We have been working hard to get up better results all season and to get this ninth place finish today is a confidence and momentum builder.”[30]
In his weekly Monday appearance on the Sirius XMNASCAR Radio program The Morning Drive, NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Officer Steve O'Donnell explained to Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone the process and reasoning to why the race was called before its scheduled conclusion.[29]
MRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XMNASCAR Radio. Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and five time Michigan winner Rusty Wallace called the race in the booth when the field was racing down the front stretch. Dave Moody called the race from atop a billboard outside of turn 2 when the field was racing through turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley called the race from a platform outside turn 4 when the field was racing through turns 3 and 4. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post worked pit road for MRN.
Note: Only the first sixteen positions are included for the driver standings.
Note
↑ Jeb Burton changed engines after final practice and started the race from the rear of the field.
References
↑ "2015 NASCAR Schedule"(PDF). NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. August 26, 2014. Archived from the original(PDF) on April 4, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
↑ "Points standings"(PDF). Jayski.com. NASCAR Statistics. June 14, 2015. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 23, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
↑ "Manufacturer standings"(PDF). Jayski.com. NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications. June 15, 2015. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 20, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
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