After being postponed due to rain for two straight days, NASCAR finally ran its Nextel Cup race in Michigan today.  Kurt Busch survived a 3-lap green-white-checkers shootout to finish his domination of the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan  International Speedway. Martin Truex Jr. finished second, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Dave Blaney.

He was so strong all day, he easily held off Martin Truex, Jr. in the green-white-checkered finish, which added three laps to the scheduled 200 lap race.  It was his third career win for car owner Roger Penske.

Carl Edwards, Brian Vickers, Bobby Labonte, and Tony Stewart completed the first ten finishers.

“For all the fans to be here on a Tuesday – I’m sure some of them might not have a job when they show up for work tomorrow morning,” Busch said. “There’s some diehard fans in this area and I’m sure Roger (Penske, team owner) knew that when he bought this place (in 1973). The heart that NASCAR fans have and their drive to be out here and give up a little family time or whatever it might have been, to see them here at the track was incredible. And to have a great finish like we did, going all the way to a green-white-checkered, the fans got their money’s worth.

“To just get the race under way was a relief. It was a smooth and steady day for us. We had to race some guys hard to move forward. All of the restarts at the end challenged me to be at my best,” Busch continued.

Michigan Speedway has lead a charmed life in terms of race-day weather. Two funnel clouds in the past 15 years have bypassed the crowded MIS grounds without more than a scare, and rain hadn't postponed a race in 30 years. This weekend, the law of averages caught up with MIS, with solid rain starting on Saturday afternoon and continuing until early Tuesday morning. NASCAR had the track dried by the scheduled 10:00 start time, but they couldn't burn off the fog. After trying to run under yellow flag conditions for 12 laps, they called the cars into the pits when the spotters couldn't see the cars when they were in turn 3.

When the race resumed a half an hour later, Greg Biffle took the early lead. Interrupted only by a spin by Juan Pablo Montoya, Biffle looked strong for the first 30 laps. However, when the competition caution flew at lap 30, he was shuffled back in the pack, and suffered from a loose car for the rest of the day. He spun on lap 197, and finished 19th.

The early racing featured a single-groove race track, and that groove was against the wall. After the competition caution, the cars started moving down the track, but for most of the cars, the high line was the groove to take. Last June, Martin Truex Jr. ran within inches of the wall, and he lurked all day until a decision late in the race put him into position to win the race. Ultimately he was no match for Kurt Busch, and finished 2nd for the second race in a row.

The June Michigan race was an early bright spot for Toyota teams, and for a while it looked like Toyota might have the car to beat today. Brian Vickers moved to second by lap 34, and took the lead on lap 62. Vickers finished the race in 8th place, while fellow Toyota driver Dave Blaney finished in 6th. Michael Waltrip spun on lap 93, and the front of the car was removed by Joe Nemechek, relegating Waltrip to a 40th place finish. David Reutimann finishing 23rd, 1 lap down.

On lap 88, the DEI car of Mark Martin started smoking heavily. The car was obviously under power, but just as obviously losing oil. Martin's car was repaired and sent back onto the track for a few laps, but finished in 42nd place. DEI engine woes continued when Paul Menard's engine started smoking on lap 165, forcing him to retire as well.

Starting around lap 135, Kurt Busch started a domination that reminded everyone of Pocono two weeks ago. Settling into another long-green flag Michigan race, it was obvious that unless bad luck hit, or a mistake was made, Kurt was the guy to beat.

Bad luck certainly hit Jeff Gordon. In spite of having a solid top-5 car, one of the “shark fins” that run along the edge of the back window (along the C pillar) came loose. NASCAR mandated that it be fixed, but it was obviously reattached wrong. Starting on lap 171, Gordon chased a very ill-handling car. Finally, on lap 191, he slid in front of a charging Matt Kenseth, and was punted into the muddy infield. Gordon finished 27th, Kenseth 4th.

Busch was cruising in the lead with nine laps remaining when Jeff Gordon spun out when he was tagged in the back by Kenseth.

“I don’t blame Matt for that,” Gordon said, who finished 27th after running in the top five most of the day. “My car was very loose, slid up the track and I saw Matt in my mirror and tried to get out of his way, but he had too much momentum.”

When the green flag fell with 7 laps to go, Kurt Busch set sail, obviously the car to beat. However, Biffle's spin on lap 199 (actually, technically, lap 200) set up a green-white-checkers dash. It didn't matter -- Busch's car jumped into a 3-4 car length lead and was never challenged.

The NASCAR crews have a quick turnaround this week, since the action starts in Bristol tomorrow night. In fact, fans are already camping at Bristol, and were said to be watching this race in their campers. Many NASCAR employees are traveling straight to Bristol, with a swing to California Speedway the week after that.

Jeff Gordon continues to lead in the points standings. Dale Earnhardt remains in 13th place, out of the Chase if it started today, in spite of a 12th place finish today. Ryan Newman is virtually tied with Earnhardt in 14th place, only eight points behind.

Results

* Denotes Rookie

Feedback can be sent to feedback@autoracing1.com