Michigan Int'l Speedway - Carfax 250
RACE WINNER: DENNY HAMLIN
Brian Vickers: 6th (started 2nd)
- After starting on the outside pole, it was very obvious that Brian had a great car! When the green flew it didn’t take him long to take the lead – he blew by Greg Biffle and showed his muscle. In all he would end up leading 19 laps, but a problem in the pits was the 10 team’s downfall. The crew was having issues putting fuel into the car, causing long pit stops that would kill all of Brian’s hard-earned track position. It was disappointing because he was the best car on the racetrack.
- Quotes:
“We had a great car. We messed up and gave the race away in the pits. We had a slow pit stop - we came in first and came out 35th the first stop, and we didn't get all the gas in the car. The caution came out and we worked our way back up to second - we had to pit and went to the back again. That pretty much did us in. The race was green from that point forward. We charged as hard as we could and we were the fastest car on the race track for most of the race - we just lost too much ground starting at the back and we couldn't make it up. I'm proud of my crew - they gave me a fast car. I appreciate the opportunity to drive this car. We had a car to win - we should have won this race - we just beat ourselves. We had a good stable car. We were really, really good compared to most guys on the long runs. I really believe we could have won this race.”
Casey Mears: 9th (started 13th)
- Yet another great run for the National Guard team! He had a pretty quiet, steady day.
David Reutimann: 16th (started 14th)
- Poor David! He had a really good car and began to show it quickly as he started passing cars on Lap 1 – but then bad luck hit. David Gilliland in the 25 moved up the racetrack coming off the corner just as David was sticking his nose beside his right rear quarter panel. Gilliland never seemed to know David was there, and David let off too late. The incident resulted in a big hole on the Dream Machine’s “headlight” and a killer of handling. Despite the mishap David hung on to finish in the Top 20, which I’ll take because it could have been a lot worse and it could have been a wreck. He gained on Carl Edwards, but was passed by Kevin Harvick for 2nd by a handful of points.
-Quotes:
“It sucked. The 25 (David Gilliland) ran over us about four laps into it like we weren't even there. I was on the outside of him and just killed the front of the car. From that point on we lost all our track position. It was tight on exit and from that point on - our race was over before it even began.”
Other Notes:
- Michigan Busch races seem to bring out the worst in Carl Edwards! On Lap 26 an ill-handling 60 car slipped up a little bit, backing into Reed Sorenson, who had little time to react. Contact was made and Carl spun, thankfully not hitting anything else (although he lost a lap). The situation was a racing incident, but Carl let his anger get to him and drove down pit road to wave at Reed’s crew (like it was their fault), and then in his post-wreck interview he spouted off about the wreck and insulted Reed (he never called him by name, but whether he didn’t know who was in the 41 or he was alluding to Reed’s insignificance, I don’t know). Whoa Carl, chill. You would have probably finished like crap anyway, because your car was crap!
Brian Vickers: 6th (started 2nd)
- After starting on the outside pole, it was very obvious that Brian had a great car! When the green flew it didn’t take him long to take the lead – he blew by Greg Biffle and showed his muscle. In all he would end up leading 19 laps, but a problem in the pits was the 10 team’s downfall. The crew was having issues putting fuel into the car, causing long pit stops that would kill all of Brian’s hard-earned track position. It was disappointing because he was the best car on the racetrack.
- Quotes:
“We had a great car. We messed up and gave the race away in the pits. We had a slow pit stop - we came in first and came out 35th the first stop, and we didn't get all the gas in the car. The caution came out and we worked our way back up to second - we had to pit and went to the back again. That pretty much did us in. The race was green from that point forward. We charged as hard as we could and we were the fastest car on the race track for most of the race - we just lost too much ground starting at the back and we couldn't make it up. I'm proud of my crew - they gave me a fast car. I appreciate the opportunity to drive this car. We had a car to win - we should have won this race - we just beat ourselves. We had a good stable car. We were really, really good compared to most guys on the long runs. I really believe we could have won this race.”
Casey Mears: 9th (started 13th)
- Yet another great run for the National Guard team! He had a pretty quiet, steady day.
David Reutimann: 16th (started 14th)
- Poor David! He had a really good car and began to show it quickly as he started passing cars on Lap 1 – but then bad luck hit. David Gilliland in the 25 moved up the racetrack coming off the corner just as David was sticking his nose beside his right rear quarter panel. Gilliland never seemed to know David was there, and David let off too late. The incident resulted in a big hole on the Dream Machine’s “headlight” and a killer of handling. Despite the mishap David hung on to finish in the Top 20, which I’ll take because it could have been a lot worse and it could have been a wreck. He gained on Carl Edwards, but was passed by Kevin Harvick for 2nd by a handful of points.
-Quotes:
“It sucked. The 25 (David Gilliland) ran over us about four laps into it like we weren't even there. I was on the outside of him and just killed the front of the car. From that point on we lost all our track position. It was tight on exit and from that point on - our race was over before it even began.”
Other Notes:
- Michigan Busch races seem to bring out the worst in Carl Edwards! On Lap 26 an ill-handling 60 car slipped up a little bit, backing into Reed Sorenson, who had little time to react. Contact was made and Carl spun, thankfully not hitting anything else (although he lost a lap). The situation was a racing incident, but Carl let his anger get to him and drove down pit road to wave at Reed’s crew (like it was their fault), and then in his post-wreck interview he spouted off about the wreck and insulted Reed (he never called him by name, but whether he didn’t know who was in the 41 or he was alluding to Reed’s insignificance, I don’t know). Whoa Carl, chill. You would have probably finished like crap anyway, because your car was crap!
