Motor Racing Digest

 

Posted by: Dave Thompson, follow @phillyfan17

August 19, 2012

Greg Biffle won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday after leader Jimmie Johnson blew an engine with just six laps remaining in the race.

Johnson, who started the race from the back of the field after an engine change on Saturday, was well on his way to his fourth win of the season before his engine let go. Hendrick Motorsports battled engine problems all weekend with Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart also suffering motor failures.

After Johnson’s engine failed, the caution came out for oil on the track setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Biffle got the jump on Brad Keselowski and Kasey Kahne and managed to hold off Keselowski by 0.416 seconds for his second win of the season.

Kahne finished third with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Marcos Ambrose rounding out the top-five.

“Junior gave me a huge push on the restart,” said Biffle. “I have to thank him for that. I saw Brad laying back like always, and he got a little jump on me. It probably would have been leveled out by turn one.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Johnson after his engine failure. Johnson drove his No. 48 directly to the hauler and exited to the car and headed directly to his motorhome. A dejected Johnson elected not to speak with the media but instead changed clothes and left the track as the race ended.

Pole sitter Mark Martin dominated for most of the first 65 laps before his race day came to a quick and scary end. Bobby Labonte and Juan Pablo Montoya battle resulted in Labonte spinning as race leader Martin closed in on both. Martin’s No. 55 Aaron’s Toyota went sliding off the track and toward pit road. His car crashed violently into the end of a pit road wall at Kahne’s pit box.

Martin’s car was essentially impaled just behind the driver’s seat by the edge of the wall. The impact caused the car to immediately spew fluids on pit road, which emergency workers quickly responded to douse the left rear after flames were spotted beneath the car.

“I really feel that was a freak accident. I’m not sure you can ever completely fix something like that,” said Martin. That was a pretty freak angle that I got it. I’m not sure what you can do. It could have been really back if I would have gotten into the hole a little deeper where it would have caught me in the door instead of the crush area back there.” Martin was able to walk away without injury.

Biffle took advantage of Johnson’s misfortune not only by winning the race, but also taking over the points lead from Johnson. Tony Stewart dropped to ninth-place in the point standings with his 32nd-place finish.

Results of the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway:

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Pts	Bpts	Status	TLd	LLd
1	13	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	201	47	4	RUNNING	3	26
2	19	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Dodge	201	43	1	RUNNING	4	17
3	5	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmers Insurance Chevrolet	201	41		RUNNING
4	22	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet	201	41	1	RUNNING	2	25
5	8	9	Marcos Ambrose	Stanley Ford	201	39		RUNNING
6	2	99	Carl Edwards	Geek Squad Ford	201	39	1	RUNNING	1	1
7	12	15	Clint Bowyer	5-hour Energy Toyota	201	38	1	RUNNING	1	19
8	15	39	Ryan Newman	WIX Chevrolet	201	36		RUNNING
9	10	27	Paul Menard	Menards / Pittsburgh Paints Chevrolet	201	36	1	RUNNING	2	8
10	7	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	201	35	1	RUNNING	2	12
11	21	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Office Toyota	201	34	1	RUNNING	1	1
12	17	22	Sam Hornish Jr.(i)	Shell Pennzoil Dodge	201	0		RUNNING	3	9
13	23	18	Kyle Busch	Interstate Batteries Toyota	201	31		RUNNING
14	24	1	Jamie McMurray	Bass Pro Shops / Mercury Chevrolet	201	30		RUNNING
15	30	93	Travis Kvapil	Burger King / Dr Pepper Toyota	201	29		RUNNING
16	20	29	Kevin Harvick	Jimmy John’s Chevrolet	201	28		RUNNING
17	4	17	Matt Kenseth	Fifth Third Bank Ford	201	28	1	RUNNING	1	5
18	36	38	David Gilliland	Taco Bell Ford	201	26		RUNNING
19	32	31	Jeff Burton	Wheaties Chevrolet	201	25		RUNNING
20	41	43	Aric Almirola	Eckrich Ford	201	24		RUNNING
21	39	10	David Reutimann	TMone.com Chevrolet	200	23		RUNNING
22	28	47	Bobby Labonte	Clorox Toyota	199	22		RUNNING
23	37	34	David Ragan	Long John Silver’s Ford	199	21		RUNNING
24	6	21	Trevor Bayne	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford	199	0		RUNNING
25	9	83	Landon Cassill	Burger King / Dr Pepper Toyota	198	20	1	RUNNING	1	1
26	25	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevrolet	197	18		RUNNING
27	3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s Chevrolet	195	18	1	Engine	4	23
28	11	24	Jeff Gordon	Drive to End Hunger / AARP Chevrolet	167	16		Engine
29	18	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row / Farm American Chevrolet	154	15		RUNNING
30	26	51	Kurt Busch	Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet	135	14		Accident
31	16	20	Joey Logano	The Home Depot Toyota	132	13		RUNNING
32	14	14	Tony Stewart	MOBIL 1 / Office Depot Chevrolet	109	12		Engine
33	40	32	TJ Bell(i)	Southern Pride Trucking / U.S. Chrome Ford	108	0		Transmission
34	31	30	David Stremme	Inception Motorsports Toyota	72	10		Electrical
35	1	55	Mark Martin	Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota	64	11	2	Accident	2	54
36	35	87	Joe Nemechek(i)	AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota	38	0		Rear Gear
37	29	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Ford	36	7		Vibration
38	42	36	Dave Blaney	Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet	34	6		Vibration
39	43	98	Mike Skinner	Phil Parsons Racing Ford	25	5		Electrical
40	34	26	Josh Wise #	MDS Transport Ford	21	4		Suspension
41	38	23	Scott Riggs	North Texas Pipe Chevrolet	20	3		Suspension
42	27	91	Reed Sorenson(i)	Plinker Tactical Toyota	15	0		Overheating
43	33	19	Jason Leffler(i)	Plinker Tactical Ford	14	0		Fuel Pressure