LifeLock 400 Race Review

Michigan International Speedway -- 06/14/2009

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Monday Jun 15 2009 5:08pm

I normally try to see the best in every NASCAR race, but up until the fuel mileage drama in the final laps, Sunday’s Michigan race was just plain dull.

Jimmie Johnson led 146 of 200 laps, most of the significant lead changes took place on pit road, and the race ended with the two dominant cars running out of gas as Mark Martin, who never led a lap, zipped by for the win.

Johnson had started the race in third behind a front row of Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch, but took the lead on lap 9. He led every green flag lap from that point until lap 154, sometimes stretching his lead over the field to more than seven seconds.

David Stremme’s single-car spin on lap 150 put the race under caution, and Greg Biffle, who’d been running second much of the day, got off pit road ahead of Johnson and took the lead.

Biffle then led the next 40 or so laps until lap 195, when Johnson powered back around Biffle. The two battled for the lead knowing that they were stretching the limits of the fuel window.

Johnson ran out of gas on the white flag and Biffle went by, but he would run out as well. As a result, Biffle finished the race in fifth, Johnson fell all the way back to 22nd, and Mark Martin capitalized on their misfortune for the win.

“I always, always come up short on the gas mileage thing. I always have. If you look at the stats, I've lost 25 and won two probably on it. I just don't have the luck for it,` said Martin after the win, his third in 15 Cup races this year. `I saw the pace they were wanting to run, and I started saving from the third lap. After I got my track position, I started trying to save and the car worked perfectly to save fuel. I was in a position that I could. It was important to me to finish this race.”

Following Martin across the finish line was Jeff Gordon, who was in a backup car after losing an engine in practice Friday. Denny Hamlin finished third, Carl Edwards, fourth, and Biffle, fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 was Juan Pablo Montoya (6), Tony Stewart (7), Kurt Busch (8), polesitter Brian Vickers (9), and Clint Bowyer (10).

Johnson and Biffle were the only drivers to lead more than ten laps in the race. Kyle Busch led nine laps after starting on the outside pole, but finished 13th.

There were only three cautions in the entire 200 laps – two for debris and one for the Stremme spin. A total of 22 cars finished on the lead lap, with Johnson the last car on the lead lap and Ryan Newman the first one lap down. Five cars did not finish the race.

As a result of their top-10 finishes, but Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon maintained their 1-2 standing in the points. Jimmie Johnson held on to third, thanks in part to the bonus points he accrued Sunday.

The biggest mover up in points was Mark Martin, who climbed five spots in the points to eighth. Matt Kenseth, who finished 20th, fell three spots to 11th. Martin supplanted David Reutimann in the top 12, as Reutimann, who finished 19th, fell to 13th in points.

Other notable finishes included Dale Earnhardt Jr., 14th, Joey Logano, 25th, Jeff Burton, 26th, and Martin Truex Jr., 36th.

This week, the series heads to Sonoma for the first road course race of the season. Look for the standard road course ‘ringers’ to sit in for some struggling teams this weekend. Kyle Busch won here last year from a 30th-place start, leading 78 of 112 laps.

Please check back later in the week for our race preview.

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