Rain. Just bloody lovely. Who, outside of California, really needed the wet stuff all that bad? When Alfred, Lord Tennyson said, “Bright and fierce and fickle is the South, And dark and true and tender is the North,” he obviously was not talking about the rains of Michigan. Those black clouds still managed to tease one driver into dreams of winning delights, just before breaking his heart.
In a day of fits and starts, drops and stops, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 47th annual Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Darlington Raceway is a rare gem in today’s NASCAR because it is unlike any other track on the circuit. It was built on land that once grew cotton and peanuts and shaped around a minnow pond, giving it a unique design and producing NASCAR’s first paved superspeedway.
You need a multi-car operation in order to be successful. At least, that seems to be the prevailing wisdom of the day, but just do not let Barney Visser and his Furniture Row team in on it. Other teams might not like what they would see.
Jimmie Johnson: Fresh off a win at Dover, Johnson finished third in the Axalta 400 at Pocono, his ninth top-five of the year. He is third in the Sprint Cup points standings, 78 out of first.
Three drivers. When it came to the story of the Pocono race, only three mattered. You probably wanted to know who led the race for the opening few laps, and that would have been Carl Edwards. He finished 15th. For the rest of the way, it was down to two names, right down to the final lap; Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick. No one else much mattered on Sunday.
But this victory was about so much more than mere numbers. Its significance transcends breaking a losing streak, leading the most laps or cementing his standing in the Chase. This was about beating the odds, both professionally and personally.
In a peculiar race at Pocono, filled with shifting and unexpected bumps, here is what else was surprising and not surprising in the 34th annual Axalta We Paint Winners 400.
This week, I’m going with Dale Earnhardt Jr. The driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet is coming off a sweep of this track last year, winning both this race and the August race. He was fast in Friday practice, running fourth, and with his Talladega win, he can now afford to gamble a little bit to get a second win this season.
The 24-year-old Riggs from Bahama, North Carolina, rallied from a slow pit service, only to scrub the wall, cut a right-front tire, plummet to 19th in the final running order and face a 37-point deficit following the second Chase event of the 2026 Truck season.
