By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Post-race review and analysis from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Who Won?
Kevin Harvick. This race was rarely in doubt, with Harvick leading the way throughout and showing pace that his fellow competitors couldn’t match. Even late tire strategy from Austin Dillon wasn’t enough to overcome the Stewart-Haas Racing ace’s speed.
Who Claimed the Stages?
Kevin Harvick. Again, no one could match his pace. The 2014 champ was the one to beat this weekend, leading 108 of 200 laps and winning both stages.
Top Stories
Father-Son Weekend
When you win as much as Kevin Harvick has this season, it can be a challenge for any one victory to prove more special than the others. But it’s safe to say Michigan International Speedway ranked high among Harvick’s seven 2018 triumphs.
Why?
Because he was able to celebrate with his son, six-year-old Keelan Harvick.
They rode together in the car, posed together in victory lane and even took questions from the media together.
“It was pretty cool today,” Harvick said. “We got to go celebrate together. He’s been with me for the last three weeks, so we’ve had a big time. It’s pretty cool to look over there on your victory lap and see your six-year-old in the passenger seat and being able to enjoy it with you.
“That was definitely way up there on the bucket list of things that you didn’t expect.
Even Keelan chimed in, saying “it was fun to enjoy that moment.”
The father-son victory bonding came at the end of a full weekend the pair spent together. With wife and mother Delana Harvick at home with daughter Piper Grace Harvick, Kevin brought Keelan to the track for a weekend alone.
Their time together wasn’t without its incidents – Kevin noted that Keelan crashed a golf cart into a pine tree. “All’s we could see were the golf bags sticking out of the back of the tree,” he said. “I had to go in and dig him out. They got a little racy down the fairway.”
But in the end the weekend of “unapproved mom moments” ended with memories the 42-year-old father can cherish for the rest of his days.
Though he may have some questions to answer from Delana later this week.
“We’ve learned to ask for forgiveness later,” Harvick joked. “It works a lot better that way.”
Harvick’s seventh win places him atop the Cup Series wins list, and the seven playoff points gained give him a new high mark of 45 bonus points. He and points leader Kyle Busch would enter tied for the overall lead with 55 playoff points if the postseason were to begin today.
Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing Find Hope
When Sunday’s race at Michigan neared the end of Stage 2, the top trio of drivers atop the charts were a familiar group – Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Busch. In that moment it appeared obvious that one of the three would win, and even after Truex fell back Harvick and Busch seemed to be in control.
But in the third stage something peculiar happened – another challenger arose.
It wasn’t Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano or even three-time Michigan winner Kyle Larson.
It was Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon.
Dillon earned a postseason bid with a controversial win at the start of the season, surging to the checkered flag of ‘The Great American Race’ after contact with leader Aric Almirola sent the Stewart-Haas Racing newcomer around on the last lap.
The victory pushed Dillon into the postseason from the start of the year, and he claimed in victory lane that it could be the start of a strong year for Richard Childress Racing (RCR).
RCR’s season prior to Michigan had proven to be the opposite. A struggle from Dillon had seen him snag only two top 10s in the ensuing 21 races, and even consistent teammate Ryan Newman entered Michigan well outside of the playoff field with just six top 10s.
Richard Childress’ team had a guaranteed playoff spot with Dillon. But the organization had few other signs of hope with the postseason drawing near.
That is, until Sunday.
Dillon was a consistent contender through the second half of the race. He passed Busch clean, challenged Harvick and even shot ahead of the 2014 champion briefly after a late two-tire stop – a moment he wished he could have back.
“I wish I would have been able to get my trackbar a little higher coming off of pit road,” Dillon admitted. “Because maybe I could have blocked him a little bit longer. I got tight when I came out in front of him into (Turns) 1 & 2, and he was pretty free at that time. If I could have capitalized on the balance of my race car, maybe I could have gotten in front of him and had some clean air.”
Though he couldn’t hold Harvick off, Dillon slotted firmly in second through the closing laps. Only an intense vibration through the final two laps would drop the fifth-year driver back, and he still managed to hold on for a fourth-place finish.
The run was Dillon’s best outside of restrictor-plate racing since Darlington Raceway in 2017. It stemmed the bleeding of a disappointing regular season, and gave Dillon something he desperately needed with three races remaining before the playoffs.
Hope.
“Awesome racing Harvick there at the end in our Camaro,” he said. “It just feels great when we’ve been struggling all year long since Daytona. To have a top-five run like that’s huge.
“I put ourselves as the second-place car today for sure, and if the (No.) 4 makes a mistake today, we’re there to capitalize.”
Dillon’s speed on Sunday came as a surprise to the field, but it wasn’t unprecedented. As a then-sophomore in the Cup Series, Dillon put together another fourth-place run after leading laps.
Michigan has also served as a gauge for playoff potential in the past, with teams testing their changes in an effort to showcase what they have in Michigan’s manufacturer hub ahead of a postseason push. But Dillon wasn’t sure if that was the case for his team on Sunday. He instead felt they’d finally capitalized on speed shown early in the weekend with a fitting result at the end.
“We’ve had spurts of speed in qualifying the last couple big mile-and-a-halves,” he said. “When you do that, you should be able to keep that speed from practice into race time. We haven’t been able to do it, and today we did.
“I don’t know if we hit something yesterday in practice, that the car balance kind of kept the same speed that it did in qualifying, which is nice. The pit crew did a great job, everybody had a solid day. This was what we really needed.”
Now that they’ve proven their capability of delivering a strong run, Dillon and the No. 3 team have their sights set on accomplishing the feat wit consistency. That’s what it will take to mount a serious charge when the playoffs begin in four weeks.
“Top-10 consistency, and the ability to win races is there,” Dillon said. “Anybody that runs in the top five on a given basis has a chance to win, and we’ve got to do that more often going into the playoffs. That would be the key, is to really focus on consistency as a team, as a group working together.”
Brad Keselowski Returns to Form
Brad Keselowski was forced to swallow another close defeat at his home track on Sunday, finishing second to Harvick after passing Dillon on the penultimate lap.
The Michigander chose to look for the positives in another heartbreaking loss after the race.
“It’s just going to make me appreciate when we do win here,” he said. “I know it’s coming, and I’ve got to believe if we keep knocking on the door, eventually it’s going to fall in. I don’t know any better way to knock on the door than finishing second.”
Disappointment aside, Sunday’s run was an important one for Keselowski and the No. 2 Team Penske team. For the first time in two months, the 2012 champion looked up to the task of contending for a spot in the Championship 4 when the playoffs begin.
Keselowski has yet to win this season, but in the year’s early stages he appeared up to the task. The 34-year-old finished runner-up in the second race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and he rose as high as fourth in the standings with a slew of top-five and top-10 runs.
The summer months hadn’t been as kind to Keselowski prior to Michigan. In the seven races between his home track’s two dates, Keselowski had more finishes outside of the top 30 (three) than inside of the top 10 (two).
He was rarely a threat to win, and the consistent struggles dropped Keselowski to seventh in the standings, with fewer playoff points to run for.
Finishing second isn’t something a Penske driver celebrates often. But after the summer he’d endured prior, Keselowski was grateful to deliver a complete performance.
“The last few week’s we’ve had some pretty big struggles, finishing out races with breakdowns and letdowns and all of the above,” he said. “It’s nice to just be able to have a clean race, or mostly clean. We did have one loose wheel. But mostly clean race, and to be able to kind of get the finish we deserve, that’s
important.”
The issue of the Big Three’s dominance still remains, though Keselowski claimed that he doesn’t “know if I’ve really put a lot of thought into that.”
But before he can even consider trying to topple the Big Three, or even making a run at the fourth Championship 4 spot with them, Keselowski needed to have a run to prove he had the pace and capability.
Sunday provided that. The next goal is a trip to victory lane.
“I don’t think you can guarantee on being able to point your way through,” Keselowski said of the playoffs. “You can really only point your way through to the third round. You really can’t count on pointing your way through to the fourth round, unless you have all the bonus points, which we don’t.
“With that in mind, we’re going to have to deliver and make results and win races, and I think that’s what the sport is about at the end of the day.”
Other Notes
- In the midst of what was otherwise a fairly standard Michigan affair, Ty Dillon endured a freak accident. The younger Dillon brother was battling for position on Lap 133 when he ran over a large piece of metal that appeared to be a battery. The contact ruined Dillon’s No. 13 Chevrolet, sending him into the outside wall and forcing a lengthy yellow to clean up debris and fluids. Thankfully, it at least gave Dillon the opportunity to make a rather unique sponsor plug.
- Michigan just wasn’t the track for Martin Truex Jr. this season. In their last 13 starts Truex and Furniture Row Racing have just three finishes outside of the top four. Two of those have come at Michigan – an 18th-place run after Michael Waltrip infamously fell on his car in June, and a quiet 14th-place effort on Sunday after his early spin with William Byron.
- They didn’t deliver the triumphant victory of the prior week, but Chevrolet showed quiet improvement again in Michigan. Dillon was a legitimate contender for the win, and Watkins Glen International winner Chase Elliott finished ninth. There’s still a long way to go, but the Bowtie Brigade continue to show potential to grow.
- At the same track that saw his Cup debut end after just one lap for reasons outside of his control, Garrett Smithley delivered the best performance of his young Cup career on Sunday. Smithley quietly marched on to a 32nd-place finish in the Irish Hills – four spots better than the 36th-place run he had at Kentucky Speedway.
Bearden Breakdown: Consumers Energy 400
By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Post-race review and analysis from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Who Won?
Kevin Harvick. This race was rarely in doubt, with Harvick leading the way throughout and showing pace that his fellow competitors couldn’t match. Even late tire strategy from Austin Dillon wasn’t enough to overcome the Stewart-Haas Racing ace’s speed.
Who Claimed the Stages?
Kevin Harvick. Again, no one could match his pace. The 2014 champ was the one to beat this weekend, leading 108 of 200 laps and winning both stages.
Top Stories
Father-Son Weekend
When you win as much as Kevin Harvick has this season, it can be a challenge for any one victory to prove more special than the others. But it’s safe to say Michigan International Speedway ranked high among Harvick’s seven 2018 triumphs.
Why?
Because he was able to celebrate with his son, six-year-old Keelan Harvick.
They rode together in the car, posed together in victory lane and even took questions from the media together.
“It was pretty cool today,” Harvick said. “We got to go celebrate together. He’s been with me for the last three weeks, so we’ve had a big time. It’s pretty cool to look over there on your victory lap and see your six-year-old in the passenger seat and being able to enjoy it with you.
“That was definitely way up there on the bucket list of things that you didn’t expect.
Even Keelan chimed in, saying “it was fun to enjoy that moment.”
The father-son victory bonding came at the end of a full weekend the pair spent together. With wife and mother Delana Harvick at home with daughter Piper Grace Harvick, Kevin brought Keelan to the track for a weekend alone.
Their time together wasn’t without its incidents – Kevin noted that Keelan crashed a golf cart into a pine tree. “All’s we could see were the golf bags sticking out of the back of the tree,” he said. “I had to go in and dig him out. They got a little racy down the fairway.”
But in the end the weekend of “unapproved mom moments” ended with memories the 42-year-old father can cherish for the rest of his days.
Though he may have some questions to answer from Delana later this week.
“We’ve learned to ask for forgiveness later,” Harvick joked. “It works a lot better that way.”
Harvick’s seventh win places him atop the Cup Series wins list, and the seven playoff points gained give him a new high mark of 45 bonus points. He and points leader Kyle Busch would enter tied for the overall lead with 55 playoff points if the postseason were to begin today.
Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing Find Hope
When Sunday’s race at Michigan neared the end of Stage 2, the top trio of drivers atop the charts were a familiar group – Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Busch. In that moment it appeared obvious that one of the three would win, and even after Truex fell back Harvick and Busch seemed to be in control.
But in the third stage something peculiar happened – another challenger arose.
It wasn’t Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano or even three-time Michigan winner Kyle Larson.
It was Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon.
Dillon earned a postseason bid with a controversial win at the start of the season, surging to the checkered flag of ‘The Great American Race’ after contact with leader Aric Almirola sent the Stewart-Haas Racing newcomer around on the last lap.
The victory pushed Dillon into the postseason from the start of the year, and he claimed in victory lane that it could be the start of a strong year for Richard Childress Racing (RCR).
RCR’s season prior to Michigan had proven to be the opposite. A struggle from Dillon had seen him snag only two top 10s in the ensuing 21 races, and even consistent teammate Ryan Newman entered Michigan well outside of the playoff field with just six top 10s.
Richard Childress’ team had a guaranteed playoff spot with Dillon. But the organization had few other signs of hope with the postseason drawing near.
That is, until Sunday.
Dillon was a consistent contender through the second half of the race. He passed Busch clean, challenged Harvick and even shot ahead of the 2014 champion briefly after a late two-tire stop – a moment he wished he could have back.
“I wish I would have been able to get my trackbar a little higher coming off of pit road,” Dillon admitted. “Because maybe I could have blocked him a little bit longer. I got tight when I came out in front of him into (Turns) 1 & 2, and he was pretty free at that time. If I could have capitalized on the balance of my race car, maybe I could have gotten in front of him and had some clean air.”
Though he couldn’t hold Harvick off, Dillon slotted firmly in second through the closing laps. Only an intense vibration through the final two laps would drop the fifth-year driver back, and he still managed to hold on for a fourth-place finish.
The run was Dillon’s best outside of restrictor-plate racing since Darlington Raceway in 2017. It stemmed the bleeding of a disappointing regular season, and gave Dillon something he desperately needed with three races remaining before the playoffs.
Hope.
“Awesome racing Harvick there at the end in our Camaro,” he said. “It just feels great when we’ve been struggling all year long since Daytona. To have a top-five run like that’s huge.
“I put ourselves as the second-place car today for sure, and if the (No.) 4 makes a mistake today, we’re there to capitalize.”
Dillon’s speed on Sunday came as a surprise to the field, but it wasn’t unprecedented. As a then-sophomore in the Cup Series, Dillon put together another fourth-place run after leading laps.
Michigan has also served as a gauge for playoff potential in the past, with teams testing their changes in an effort to showcase what they have in Michigan’s manufacturer hub ahead of a postseason push. But Dillon wasn’t sure if that was the case for his team on Sunday. He instead felt they’d finally capitalized on speed shown early in the weekend with a fitting result at the end.
“We’ve had spurts of speed in qualifying the last couple big mile-and-a-halves,” he said. “When you do that, you should be able to keep that speed from practice into race time. We haven’t been able to do it, and today we did.
“I don’t know if we hit something yesterday in practice, that the car balance kind of kept the same speed that it did in qualifying, which is nice. The pit crew did a great job, everybody had a solid day. This was what we really needed.”
Now that they’ve proven their capability of delivering a strong run, Dillon and the No. 3 team have their sights set on accomplishing the feat wit consistency. That’s what it will take to mount a serious charge when the playoffs begin in four weeks.
“Top-10 consistency, and the ability to win races is there,” Dillon said. “Anybody that runs in the top five on a given basis has a chance to win, and we’ve got to do that more often going into the playoffs. That would be the key, is to really focus on consistency as a team, as a group working together.”
Brad Keselowski Returns to Form
Brad Keselowski was forced to swallow another close defeat at his home track on Sunday, finishing second to Harvick after passing Dillon on the penultimate lap.
The Michigander chose to look for the positives in another heartbreaking loss after the race.
“It’s just going to make me appreciate when we do win here,” he said. “I know it’s coming, and I’ve got to believe if we keep knocking on the door, eventually it’s going to fall in. I don’t know any better way to knock on the door than finishing second.”
Disappointment aside, Sunday’s run was an important one for Keselowski and the No. 2 Team Penske team. For the first time in two months, the 2012 champion looked up to the task of contending for a spot in the Championship 4 when the playoffs begin.
Keselowski has yet to win this season, but in the year’s early stages he appeared up to the task. The 34-year-old finished runner-up in the second race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and he rose as high as fourth in the standings with a slew of top-five and top-10 runs.
The summer months hadn’t been as kind to Keselowski prior to Michigan. In the seven races between his home track’s two dates, Keselowski had more finishes outside of the top 30 (three) than inside of the top 10 (two).
He was rarely a threat to win, and the consistent struggles dropped Keselowski to seventh in the standings, with fewer playoff points to run for.
Finishing second isn’t something a Penske driver celebrates often. But after the summer he’d endured prior, Keselowski was grateful to deliver a complete performance.
“The last few week’s we’ve had some pretty big struggles, finishing out races with breakdowns and letdowns and all of the above,” he said. “It’s nice to just be able to have a clean race, or mostly clean. We did have one loose wheel. But mostly clean race, and to be able to kind of get the finish we deserve, that’s
important.”
The issue of the Big Three’s dominance still remains, though Keselowski claimed that he doesn’t “know if I’ve really put a lot of thought into that.”
But before he can even consider trying to topple the Big Three, or even making a run at the fourth Championship 4 spot with them, Keselowski needed to have a run to prove he had the pace and capability.
Sunday provided that. The next goal is a trip to victory lane.
“I don’t think you can guarantee on being able to point your way through,” Keselowski said of the playoffs. “You can really only point your way through to the third round. You really can’t count on pointing your way through to the fourth round, unless you have all the bonus points, which we don’t.
“With that in mind, we’re going to have to deliver and make results and win races, and I think that’s what the sport is about at the end of the day.”
Other Notes