It had been 65 races since Kevin Harvick was able to live up to one of his nicknames, “The Closer,” and take come a checkered flag. That changed in the FireKeepers Casino 400 Sunday (8/7).
The race at Michigan International Speedway was delayed by more than an hour due to rain. That meant the track would be green for the drivers and teams when it got started. Cars would handle a little different from practice and qualifying the day before.
The race started similar to practice though with the Toyotas of Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin looking like the fastest on the track and leading the field. In fact, Christopher Bell was the winner of stage one and Denny Hamlin was the winner of stage two.
However, other cars were improving and finding their way to the front. That included the Chevrolets of Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain. In all there were 10 drivers that exchanged the lead 15 times.
Kevin Harvick in his #4 Ford kept moving forward in the field. He has had great success at Michigan International Speedway having won five times at the track including four of the last six races there. Kevin was able to gain control of the race by grabbing the lead during the pit stops following the race’s seventh and final caution period.
When the race re-started Kevin raced out to the lead. He was able to not only hold it, but also stretch that lead out to have a margin of victory of more than three seconds. This is his sixth win in the Cup Series at Michigan. It is his first win of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. Kevin becomes the 15th different winner of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Pole sitter Bubba Wallace was able to finish in second-place. Denny Hamlin took home third. Joey Logano finished in fourth with Ryan Blaney rounding out the top five. See the complete race results for the FireKeepers Casino 400 here.
Following the race at Michigan International Speedway the top five in the point standings remain the same: Chase Elliott (1), Ryan Blaney (2), Ross Chastain (3), Martin Truex Jr. (4) and Kyle Larson (5). However, the Playoff outlook is different since two of those five do not have a win. Check out the NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
With Kevin Harvick’s win, it leaves just one spot available in the 16-driver post-season field to fill based on points. Ryan Blaney currently holds that spot. That puts Martin Truex Jr. just below the cutline by -19 points. If another driver that has not won yet this year wins in the next three races, there will be no spots for drivers based on points alone. That is definite possibility since those final three races are at a short track, a road course and a super speedway. All three are tracks that anything can happen on and anybody can win on.
This weekend’s race is the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway Sunday, August 14th.
By: Buck Stevens
