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.
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.
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.
Stay in your damn car. Jennifer Jo Cobb did not during Friday’s truck race, leaving the confines of the cab to direct a little displeasure after being wrecked. On Sunday, Trevor Bayne got wrecked and headed onto to the apron to voice his displeasure.
Jimmie Johnson. Four wins in 2015. Ten wins at Dover. Seventy-four wins over the course of his career, just two shy of Dale Earnhardt’s total. Six championships. Gee, I wonder if he might ever make the Hall of Fame?
In addition to trying to conquer the Monster Mile, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is doing his own version of the Dover double down by also trying to conquer autism.
The trophy features Miles the Monster, a sharp-toothed, red-eyed stone creature hoisting the winner’s car in the air in an apparent prelude to dashing it into dust. Imagine what happens to the guy who finishes dead last.
We begin with Monaco, tune into Indianapolis for the matinee, then spend the evening in Charlotte in our 600-mile feature. While we go in concerned about cars running into a house or into a harbor overseas, or find the wall and flipping down the track in Indiana, our biggest concern for the folks with fenders is that they might not be able to pass the leader in North Carolina.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you give it away. Denny Hamlin won the All-Star event Saturday night, but Brad Keselowski and his team handed it over.
