NASCAR Cup Series

The window of opportunity continues to decrease for drivers vying for positions in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with Atlanta Motor Speedway’s Oral-B USA 500 NASCAR weekend one race closer.

Race fans will have the opportunity to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. up close and then cheer him on from great seats on the front stretch with the Dale Jr. Offer for the Goody’s® Headache Relief Shot® 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

With an impassioned driver’s meeting speech by Carl Edwards urging safety and throttling back during cautions at such a high-speed track, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 45th annual Pure Michigan 400.

Richard Childress Racing teammates Paul Menard, Ryan Newman and Austin Dillon finished fourth, 11th and 22nd, respectively.

Jeff Gordon made the right move when it counted on the final restart of the Pure Michigan 400 to score his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) victory of 2014 and third career win at Michigan International Speedway (MIS).

Clint Bowyer (sixth) and Denny Hamlin (seventh) registered top-10 finishes in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Michigan International Speedway. Jeff Gordon was the race-winner.

On a restart with 17 laps to go, Jeff Gordon kept even with Joey Logano on the restart and was able to clear him off of turn two to take the lead. From there, Gordon would hold off Logano's attempt to pass him with 16 laps to go before cruising away from the field for the victory. It marks Gordon's third victory of the 2014 season and the 91st victory of his Sprint Cup Series career.

Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet SS – Race Winner - It's been 13 years since you've been to victory lane here at Michigan. You had to ask where it was. On the restarts: “It wasn’t easy. It’s never easy to win at any of these tracks, especially when aerodynamics and track position mean so much. I thought we learned a lot the last time we were here on track position."

The summer of 2014 will go down as not being “Michigan Nice” to Martin Truex Jr. and the single-car Furniture Row Racing team.

Today, AJ Allmendinger officially clinched a coveted spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup after finishing 13th in the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway in his No. 47 Kingsford Charcoal Chevrolet SS.