First I would like to congratulate the Fans of Dale Earnhardt Junior for Juniors victory. I know I an hard on these fans and most of us knew it was a matter of time for Junior to win and he now has. The monkey is off is back at least for another 76 races (LOL) So enjoy your victory and celebrate because it was a long time coming.
Now for Mikey and Michigan. Well, do to qualifying being rained out Mikey was guaranteed to be in the field and he started 38th. At the drop of the green flag I was worried because here he was complaining how loose the car was and it was undriveable. Then he moved to the top of the track and started to pass cars at an average of about 1 a lap for the first 30 laps. In fact he lead a lap prior to the first pit stop. Mikey ran consistently in the top 20 all day and after a pit stop he would fall to about 18th and then start climbing to the front. At one point he was a solid 12th and again moving up. When the caution with around 50 laps to go that is where he started to run into problems.
Bobby Kennedy told Mikey he was about 2 laps short of fuel and that Mikey needed to conserve. Well Mikey started to back down his lap times but the problem became clear that the other cars that were pitting for fuel and tires were catching Mikey and passing him while he was still conserving fuel. When Sam Hornish spun with 3 laps remaining Mikey was still in 18th position so he didn't gain anything saving fuel, in fact he probably hurt his position, So in my mind it was a bad call, good thought thinking they could gain a top 10 but a bad call in the end.
Well when the caution came out it was 4 tires and fuel for the 55. Mikey came out in the 18th position and was ready to fly. At the drop of the green flag I guess the racing was going strong, anyway when the caution came out TNT showed the 10 sliding around and then I heard Mikey say it wasn't Patrick's fault. Apparently, the 1 car of Martin Truex Junior got real loose and checked up and Mikey was right behind he checked up and the 10 hit him in the rear spinning both cars out. So Mikey ended up finishing 23rd. That is how his luck has run Mikey had a car capable of finishing in the top 10 and a questionable call by the pit crew and bad luck once again kept him from getting the finish he deserved.
But the good news is he is back in the top 35 and doesn't have to worry about qualifying at Infenion. I know a lot of folks are saying it curtains for Mikey at the road course, after all he put Terry in the car last year. But he put Terry in the car because he wanted to guarantee the car made the race and Terry is not bad on a road course. But here is his stats and I have a good feeling he will do well again this week.
18 Starts, 1 Top 5, 7 Top 10's Average start 20th, Average Finish 15.9
So to count him out is playing against the odds.
The biggest concern this week for MWR is how the 00 will do, He is only 7 points ahead of the 66 who is bringing in a ringer to run the race in Max Pappis. It would be great if Max didn't qualify and Scott Riggs did in the 70, to me it would be fitting for that to happen. David while he didn't have a good run at Michigan is in 28th and in real good position of staying out of the go or go homers.
Heres' to MWR and hopefully a very successful run for all 3 cars at Infenion.