Greg Biffle won his 18th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, along with his third race at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.
It was the second time that he has won this season and he took over the points lead, with just three races left before the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins.
Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all led multiple laps today with Martin leading the most.
The race featured many different leaders and strategies that effected in the final results of the race, here is a look at how all 43 drivers finished:
- Greg Biffle – Wasn’t a factor early in the race, but his car got stronger and he led 26 laps while he was also was able to be in the right place at the right time for the last caution to hold on for the win.
- Brad Keselowski – Found his way into the top-10 early on and stayed there for most of the day, couldn’t get past Biffle on the Green-White-Checkered finish to take the win.
- Kasey Kahne – Made a very daring move on the final restart of the race, going three wide to find himself finishing third instead of fifth. Never led a lap, but ran down the leaders twice.
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Junior took control of the race after the midpoint, leading several laps, but after Jimmie Johnson passed him, Junior would stay running in the top-five.
- Marcos Ambrose – Ambrose was all over the field. He started eighth, was once as far back as 20th, but he worked with his car and gathered back-to-back top-fives after his win last week.
- Carl Edwards – Edwards was there contending for the win late in the race, running down teammate Biffle who was running down Johnson. It was the final restart that got Edwards though and he slipped from fourth to sixth.
- Clint Bowyer – After Martin had his scary wreck it was the rest of Michael Waltrip Racing’s turn to take over the lead. Bowyer led a majority of the laps in the middle of the race, before fading late.
- Ryan Newman – Newman was feeling under the weather today, but his car wasn’t. After starting 15th Newman stayed in the top-10 for a majority of the day.
- Paul Menard – A quiet day for Menard it was spent near the top-10 after he started 10th. He was able to lead a lap late during a pit cycle and ended up with a top-10.
- Martin Truex Jr. – Truex led early when his teammate, Martin wasn’t. Truex also led after Martin’s wreck, but after the halfway point of the race he stayed in the top-10.
- Denny Hamlin – Hamlin had a relatively quiet day for the former MIS winner. He led a few laps during a green flag pit cycle, but stayed in the top-15 for most of the day.
- Sam Hornish Jr. – Hornish was looking like he might have his first back-to-back top-10’s of his career even a possible back-to-back top-five, but a vibration made him pit with 18 to go and he had to fight to get back in the top-15.
- Kyle Busch – Busch had a quiet day. He started 23rd and ran in the higher 20s/ mid-teens for most of the day and he finished 13th without leading a lap.
- Jamie McMurray – McMurray found himself in the top-10 for much of the first half and middle portion of the race. He faded back to 14th due to pit strategy.
- Travis Kvapil – Recorded BK Racing’s best finish ever in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series today with his 15th place run. He stayed in the top 20’s for much of the race and made pit strategy work for him in the end.
- Kevin Harvick – Stayed near the 20th position for most of the day. Restarted 21st on the last caution and was able to finish in the 16th position. He moved up to eighth in the points standings.
- Matt Kenseth – Kenseth looked like he was going to be a factor late, but then a problem late caused him to pit under the very last caution, taking away his top-five run.
- David Gilliland – Gilliland brought out the first caution of the day when he spun off four, but he was able to keep his car pointed straight the rest of the day and went on to finish 18th.
- Jeff Burton – Made his way up through the pack after starting 31st. He narrowly avoided one wreck early in the day and had a strong top-20 finish.
- Aric Almirola – Almirola was in the top-10 late in the race battling for position, but race strategy got the better of him and he faded to finish 2oth.
- David Reutimann – Was the standby driver for Newman if he needed to leave the car. Newman stayed and Reutimann continued to pilot the No. 10 car to 21st after starting 39th.
- Bobby Labonte – Had an early race spin when he got loose coming off of four. Other than that Labonte kept his car in the mid-20’s for most of the day.
- David Ragan – Finished 23rd after starting back in 37th. Ragan got into the wall early, but all damage was cosmetic. He kept away from the wall and held on for a top-25 finish in the race.
- Trevor Bayne – Had a solid top-10, possibly top-five run going for him, until his left front tire exploded and ripped apart his left front bumper as well. Late pit stops to repair the car caused him to finish 24th.
- Landon Cassill – Dropped a transmission in the race after running in the top-15 for much of the day. He was even able to lead a lap during a green flag pit cycle, before trouble late.
- Juan Pablo Montoya – Montoya was near three different drivers when they wrecked today. He had a flat tire late and was brought to the NASCAR Hauler for running an extra lap while knowing that he had a flat tire, according to twitter reports.
- Jimmie Johnson – It looked like Sunday might just be the day that Johnson finally won at Michighan. After starting in the back for changing engines, Johnson dropped a cylinder followed by an engine failure after leading with just six laps to go.
- Jeff Gordon – Gordon, like Johnson dropped a cylinder in the race and his day was done. He started 11th and stayed in the top-10 until his engine went sour.
- Regan Smith – Smith was running in the mid teens before he got loose and spun into the wall which ended his day and a shot at a third straight top-10.
- Kurt Busch – Bush had a mid-teens run going, but he battled much of the day with radio issues which caused many communication problems in the race. He bounced into the wall and that ended his day.
- Joey Logano – Logano was running in the mid-20’s for most of the day and then he got loose once and smacked the wall. He made it another lap before smacking the wall again and ending his day behind the wall.
- Tony Stewart – Stewart was one of the first cars to have engine problems. His car dropped a cylinder early. He went back out on track a few times, but failed to maintain minimum speed and he was forced to park for the day.
- T.J. Bell – Just after half the race, T.J. Bell went behind the wall for the day and was listed as out because of transmission problems. He started in the 40th position.
- David Stremme – Completed 72 laps around Michigan International Speedway before he pulled his car behind the wall for the day.
- Mark Martin – Was clearly the car to beat in the first quarter of the race. He led 54 of the 200 laps today and led the most of any driver. A spin caused one of the scariest looking wrecks of the season when Martin had a spin down pit road and smacked into an opening in the pit road wall. He was OK, but his car was not.
- Joe Nemechek – Went to the garage for the final time after completing 38 laps. He started in the 35th position.
- Casey Mears – After starting 29th, Mears and crew stayed out on the track for 36 laps before they pulled into the garage where they would finish the race.
- Dave Blaney – Blaney and crew of the No. 36 Chevrolet called it a day after 34 laps out on track.
- Mike Skinner – He started shot-gun on the field in the 43rd position and made his way up to 39th before pulling down pit road and eventually into the garage after 25 laps.
- Josh Wise – Stayed out on track for 21 circuits before his team called it a day and brought him into the garage.
- Scott Riggs – Ran 20 laps around the track before they made the left hand turn into the garage where they stayed for the day.
- Reed Sorenson – After 15 laps on the day, Sorenson pulled into his garage stall where he would finish the day.
- Jason Leffler – The first car out of the race, Leffler pulled into the garage after just 14 laps.