Motor Racing Digest

 

Posted by: Dave Thompson, follow @phillyfan17

June 19, 2012

WINNERS

Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Earnhardt and his fans finally got that long-awaited victory on Sunday at Michigan.  If you are part of Junior Nation, this will be a week of celebration and plenty of talk about the sports most popular driver. For those fans that do not cheer for Earnhardt, this is going to be a long week with nearly everything discussed focused on Earnhardt. It has been over four years, and 143 races since he last won, but equally significant is he has established himself as a serious contender for the championship.

Jeff Gordon – Gordon now becomes the only Hendrick Motorsports driver without a win in 2012. Maybe this week at Sonoma he finally wins and improves his chances of making the Chase. His sixth-place finish is his best finish since April. Gordon lost the handling on his car late in the race, but at one point had battled Earnhardt for the lead.

Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing – Juan Pablo Montoya has struggled all season, but matched his season best finish with an eight-place performance on Sunday. The top-10 finish is just his second of the 2012 season. Jamie McMurray had his best finish at Michigan since joining EGR in 2010, he finished 14th.

LOSERS

Joe Gibbs Racing – Without question, JGR had the worse day of any organization on Sunday. Kyle Busch blew an engine for the third consecutive race. Joey Logano, last week’s winner at Pocono, was involved in a race-ending wreck on Lap 127. Just seven laps later, Denny Hamlin lost control of his car, spun and wrecked then caught fire as the car limped to pit road. The disastrous day saw the JGR cars finish 32nd (Busch), 34th (Hamlin) and 35th (Logano).

Kasey Kahne – All three of his teammates finished in the top-six on Sunday, but for the second consecutive week, Kahne had a poor finish. Kahne was caught in the Logano wreck and was unable to return. He finished 33rd and remains on the outside looking in to make the Chase.

Trevor Bayne – Michigan was Bayne’s sixth Cup race of the season and his worst finish in 2012. He qualified well and started the race seventh, but only seven laps into the race, he blew and engine. He finished dead last for his first DNF of the season.