2006 Michigan NASCAR Cup Full Race June 18, 2006

always be critical 45 to 50 laps you heard dick bergeron talk about it fuel mileage strategy remember that's what won the race for jeremy mayfield the 19 car here in august chasing the weather two different ways we're chasing to make sure we can get this 400 in but you're chasing also the handling of your race car because of the weather you know what dw i can make changes every pit stop you may have to help me out a little bit like mike pointed out moving that car around to find where it likes to run you know this big wide race track and you can do it a lap and a half before we go green at this somewhat unique d-shaped two-mile super speedway twin to the track in college station texas and much like the one built in california east of los angeles in fontana with a lap and a half before we race we talked to some of the top nextel cup drivers and got their impressions of what you're about to see michigan is is uh definitely a challenge by probably the first lap coming by you're going to see three and four wide down the front stretch it's a racy racetrack because you can run the top you can run the middle and you can run the bottom and it gives you a lot of options if your car's not handling good you can move around and hunt around to find a line that will help your car handle or get through the corners a little bit better before the day's out you're going to see drivers in cars on the very bottom of the track but you're also going to have a guy that's almost scraping the rear bumper on the wall on the outside which is five lanes up from there that's the best part of the race is really is right after restarts man you know you get cars that are in the back they got to get to the front you get three wide it's a lot of a lot of action there's tons of things that go on at michigan that make it so fun to race and to watch originally this event was the 600 mile race the yankee 600. kale yarbrough the first winner here over leroy yarbrough that was back in 1969 the first time nascar came to the irish hills follow up a little bit on what larry was talking about fuel strategy what you're going to see a lot of times mid pack back you're going to come down pit road if you don't do anything but just hook that gas can up and top that tank off because that'll be critical later in the race never pass a chance up to take fuel i don't care if it's but a gallon come in get that gallon because it may make the difference there you can see the difference right there not only in the ambient temperature but as well as the track huge different from friday qualifying especially the practice yesterday but larry i mean i'm serious my day it only makes it better for everybody you don't have to make that many adjustments because you just pick up more grip that's all you do one car will go to the rear brian newman replaced a transmission he had spun in qualifying and was going to start 42nd anyway that was wise on their part then happy father's day to everybody out there how about that sign guys and that's sweet race fans are special aren't they yes they are we're a mile away from the green all of our nascar on fox on board cameras including the pole sitter casey kane top center you should have your favorite driver in there somewhere there's a big unknown for our posts that are casey kane you heard matt yokom talk about it a lot of repairs to that car since he hit the wall in practice yesterday well dw she's going to have more grip you know what more grip means more speed you know what every once in a while you might be five wide down this front straightaway so you better reach up there and pull those belts tight one more time [Music] [Music] the third starter brian vickers car took a while to get up to speed drivers in the outside range had a little advantage to turn 102 and victors drops in behind jimmy johnson and dale jr in fifth kane had no trouble establishing his lead right from the drop of the green no he come off turn two where the last time he came off there it wasn't very pretty right now things are looking pretty good for him though other than that uh orange flame kind of glowing in his mirror right with dale earnhardt jr here in the budweiser car the eight car told his crew in yesterday's practice don't touch it i'm happy with it he's backing it up so far got a challenge for the lead right here guys and gordon gave him turn one on the opening lap and this may be a give back maybe not let's see if gordon holds the lead no gordon's that much quicker mike and i like his race car it's the first time in weeks i've seen his car down against the track sealed off aerodynamically the best i've seen that car all year trouble turn two one car spins down to the bottom it is robbie gordon i i just say i am amazed every time one of these he didn't hit anything every time these guys spin these cars out now they they don't back them up in the fence they save them but what i like about the back stretch at michigan is all that runoff area that's pavement there's no grass even over on the back strip really really slow buddy helps in two ways the car doesn't get upset bouncing through the grass and get air under it and also when you can slide on that asphalt you scrub off speed yeah and the reason they're telling really really slow is they don't want that tire to come apart and tear a fender up or something so limp her back uh look just straight ahead from jeremy mayfield that bright green greenish yellow card just stepped out got down in the corner around she came from michael waltrip first caution of the day out very early in michigan for robbie gordon's spin seems like ever since there's been see greg biffle there in the 16 car as far as a fast lap in practice yesterday pretty much in his own zip code he's moved up four positions since the start of the race from 10th to 6th winner of two of the last three races here getting set for the restart to begin lap seven jeff gordon who has led 18 different michigan races brings them down to the green i think the question for jeff we see him every week now we've seen him do this time and time again out front he can drive away they got to keep him there though or else that's going to be the test to see if he can come through traffic if they get back there later in the day boy look at that 25 car larry he was gassing her up through the middle of the corner brian vickers good run in the middle of the corner one and two jr wisely gives him a little room there because it's a little loose getting into turn three fights back on the outside should have the advantage because you get that momentum off of turn four and there we're seeing that at more and more race tracks where if you can keep that car on the high side on the exit of the corner you carry that speed all the way down straight away talk to some guys this morning i think a lot has to do with the gear rule nascar has you have to run a little bit higher gear than they would normally run so you have to keep it wound up on the high side yeah you hear guys all the time talking about kind of an interesting term roll the corner so that you don't slow the car down with the brakes you just let it roll through there and keep the momentum up momentum racetracks momentum races look at jj yaley way up in that high groove in that green 18. runner-up last night in the bush race in kentucky and he was there right from the drop of the restart green flag trying to climb from 12th where he restarted now fighting for 10th kurt busch working underneath in the two i think that call on the outsides he found that outside groove already surprisingly dirt track racer jj yaley got the high groove working might make the pass thick here mark martin coming with him in the six you know mark really fell back at the start of this race he's qualified up there in the eighth position he fell out of the top ten now he's working his way back as he battles kurt busch in the two car this is a battle for 12. i think there's probably a big sigh of relief down in that nine pit casey kane's team after the damage that car suffered in practice yesterday to see it up there running as well as it is i think that's probably a ray's probably saying we got it right boys third place and you know daryl we've talked a lot about jeff gordon in the 24 car of course he's much further back and points to dale earnhardt jr but i think if dale earnhardt jr the eight group if they can have a good run at this type of racetrack this has been the achilles heel for them i think they will solidify that we are a championship contender guess what it's raining again case carl pick him up down in turn one casey kane led the first lap and jeff gordon has led thereafter let's go down to the pits of the pole sitter matt d w were talking earlier about casey kane that's exactly what he told him under the last shell it says the car is great nice job fixing it he also says that the race track has so much more grip than it did saturday afternoon the front and back of the car really sucked right down into the pavement and he likes how that nine car is steve matt dalernock jr pretty happy with that number eight car he said the car is good getting into the corners a little bit snug in the center and he said i'm sliding the right rear off of turn two but he said on a scale of one to ten he said not even a one just telling you what the race car is doing he likes that race car eleven laps caution for the second time the first one for robbie gordon spin and this one for another rain shower as these clouds continue to drift through and across southern michigan looking out dave blaney's roof cam today back in the 35th position right now you can see the rain hit his own board camera there and i think we're going to go ahead it looks like we're going to see some cars go ahead and pit rope hit pit road and this is what we talked about dick berger these are guys going ahead making adjustments getting that fuel mark martin basically left this decision about whether to pit or not up to pat tyson his crew chief to that looks like almost half the field chosta came in including kyle bush who was running up in the top half dozen and kevin harvick and they're not coming in and putting no rain tires that we don't run right rain tires in the nascar the cars are too heavy the speeds are too high the tracks are too have too much banking they just don't have a tire capable of holding these cars although might we see rain tires next week if necessary on the road course at uh at sonoma i think they kind of forgo that forego that uh that program decided it just wasn't worth fooling with i mean hammond might run rain tires ham i'm gonna run anything mud grip gotta watch that let's go ahead and fix the right side the secret time before tires on fix offender now the frustration steve and matt kentz's voice right there comes from the fact he puts that on the shoulders of the spotter and the crew chief to be taking care of him in part of those situations steve the best thing that could happen is just tell him to stop before that lick that's exactly right larry mack matt ketchup is coming back down pit road in fact the end of that radio transmission he told robbie he said you've got to watch that car for me he said i can't see everything he was telling robbie riser who's atop the pit box watch the oncoming traffic for me now if you're robbie riser you're watching the car your car and you're saying okay go the spotter upstairs is watching the traffic coming in there's just that brief moment in time when you can't get to him to tell him to stop seeing robbie riser matt kenza's crew chief since lester has pitted one pit box in front of kenseth lester was trying to enter his pit as kenseth pulled out into the driver's door when when they dropped the jack on these cars today these guys are sitting here with the engine turn about eight grand and when they drop the jack they pop the clutch they take off like john force so it's pretty hard to wall it up in a short distance and you know this year guys we have seen more problems and mistakes on pit road than i think we've ever seen why because these guys know if they can pick up one position on pit road that's one less position you've got to try to make up on that race track and i think the other thing that happens too larry is all these pit stops are orchestrated everybody knows what their job is but the ones that really have problems is when all of a sudden something doesn't go right i don't know if they have plan b or not but some of these guys can do planned a no problem but then they get into plan b and they don't know what to do pretty good size pit road here with pretty good size bucks it's really hard to get in trouble here a close call for matt kenseth and bill lester we're under caution [Music] [Applause] [Music] here's where the roush gatiers are running early on in this race not too shabby right there guys this early but that's actually the points as of right now set to go back to green jeff gordon spun the rear tires on that restart daryl as he accelerated yeah with the with the little moisture we've had as damp as it is probably just uh the tires had no heat in them we see that a lot at this type of racetrack on restarts see that a lot when you got about 850 horsepower in second gear that's seventh place oh look at this three wide stanley marlin outside kurt bush on the bottom dj in the middle and when you're that guy of sterling marlin on the outside your whole you're saying please don't push up because i'm coming through right here greg biffle in the 16 car not surprised to see this going on remember fastest in both practice sessions yesterday you go back to the sister racetrack at fontana california pretty much had those boys wore out until the engine let go i'll tell you what he has done an incredible job larry to get himself back in this uh championship chase five races ago is 232 points out of 10th and then five races he's made almost all those up two cars coming hard right behind them jeff burton passed bobby lavonny a lap ago and now labonte gives way to burton and to the 18 car that bobby used to drive jj yaley behind burton you know watching jj yaley in the 18 car even in his interview from kentucky last night in the bush series race he said he just wished his cup car was just a little bit like his bush car i think this could be one of the cars that's been being a beneficiary of this cooler weather more grip fixes some problems casey kane looking back after the lead but those two have company dale jr is in the picture well you just think about larry at 92 degrees can you walk across your driveway barefooted each ouch quickly quickly 70 degrees not too bad i'll run get the paper deer budweiser car dale earnhardt jr you see him right there all over the back bumper casey kane in this nine car that baby's lurking right there is what he's doing [Music] and to update you matt kansas made multiple pit stops they checked the toe in found that that was fine they changed right side tires did a little more patchwork but he's back underway as again kane looks for the lead in the back stretch yeah casey moved up to the high side that time off turn two got a pretty good run off first two it carries all the way down this back stretch looks like jeff really drives this car off in the corner a little deeper than casey kane look at how high they've already moved up the racetrack here just 20 laps into this race scott riggs trying to hold off carl edwards 12th place mark truax there as well good run for martin trex jr had a good qualifying run qualified there in eleventh elearn hart jr's teammate not surprised to see him running good another team that needs a good run say what kane gets off a turn two so much better than jeff does now jeff's a little bit better in three and four seems like cgf fight back on the outside maybe he'll give him room maybe he won't no he won't look at the run dale earnhardt jr and the eight car got on the high side pulls right up to the rear bumper of the 24 car gordon well that's one thing about this turn three one car spins hits the fence it's tony stewart clint foyer gets a piece of him and stewart was caught up in a gaggle of cars and making no forward progress they were racing three wide all around him and it's tony that ends up in the fence tony he he was one of those cars that pitted on that last caution i wonder if he had a problem with larry because he was kind of falling back i don't see any right side tires down battling jeff green jeff green just gets into him that's it that going into turn three here is a difficult place to go in there side by side and here comes blaine or a warrior and he gets a piece of it and as he was sliding down the racetrack a lot of other cars coming at him stewart has brought that car back to the garage for repair you just see right here tony's going down in the corner with 66 of greens under him and they just clip they just touch that's all it takes at 200 miles an hour you just get real loose under somebody going into turn three when you got a call on the outside suck you right into it man it's holy cow and that was not a light hit now stewart has been on the recovery trail from that shoulder injury a couple of weeks ago we'll try to update that story for you first here's steve and dale earnhardt in his pit stall mike he said his car is a little bit free but he likes that he said the only place he needs help is from the center off of turn two matt and later jeff gordon in the top left of your screen air pressure adjustment for gordon the car just a little bit on the tight side meanwhile casey kane the very first pit stop on pit road air pressure adjustment as well his car was good but needed to be a little bit better mike looks like jeff gordon may have wore casey kane on the race off pit road look at ryan newman and that 12 car right there gained 18 position that tells me probably matt borland made the call two right side tires only in fuel looks like about the top dozen cars stayed out but that was cars that pitted the last caution this is exactly what they were looking for tell you one thing they put a fast transmission in that 12 carded at 23 laps how is tony stewart's car and how is tony's shoulder we'll find out when we come back we got to be more efficient available on digital cable want to go to line one to go call 24. all right [Music] the all-new dodge caliber it's anything but cute [Applause] hey tony sorry about spinning [Music] [Music] he must feel like he's got a flat tire or something as we restart the race guys he should be able to get back out without losing a lap as we go green and kurt's younger brother kyle leads kevin harvick casey muirs and jeremy mayfield mike they changed right side tires kurt said he just couldn't trust the fact of whether or not it was a flat so to be safe they changed the right sides but you're right mike it's going to be close but he should be able to stay on the lead laps so certainly kirk would love to see a caution right now meanwhile tony stewart has been under the front fender wielding a sledgehammer and trying to help repair the damage to that home depot chevy on the left-hand side of your screen you see the battle pretty much back there about in the area 15 16 17 like dale earnhardt jr brian vickers working their way back through the field these were all cars that made a pit stop under that caution jimmy johnson and jeff gordon just ahead jeff gordon's car today gets in the corner better than anybody out there he can fly down in the corner now he looks a little tight off and that's hurting him but his car is good getting in [Music] and this is a good test for jeff ford right here we're on our first pit stop this is when these guys seem to be able to haven't been able to get the car where it needs to be you know as we watch kyle bush the five car our leader the only hendrick car that did not qualify in the top five get he's getting those five bonus points for leading the lap remember he's tenth in the points daryl you pointed out in the pre-race 80 bonus points for biffle those bonus points can be so important to these guys boy larry and i tell you that 24 car must be handling pretty good he split the nine in that car that was on the outside and went right around them and hey hey the sun is out where'd that come from watch it watch this larry watch him come off turn 302 over here 40 car there streaming on the outside nine on the inside and jeff says make me room boys i'm coming through i got a good car today shows confidence he has in his race car one pass champion moving up another in the garage tony stewart working on his car dick bergens there and you can pretty well be assured that his shoulder is okay because tony was wielding a very large heavy hammer just moments ago he is under the left front wheel of the car working with various tools the most difficult thing though is in the back we have a frame machine the back end of this car the rear clip is bent and they're going to try to straighten that out as well major damage on tony stewart's number 20 car yeah they have got a lot of work to do you cannot run the kind of speed you need to run here with that rear spoiler and decklid in that configuration stewart came in here fourth in the standings right now he would drop at least two spots now let me tell you it doesn't take many dnfs or finishes like he's gonna have today to get you back there in the in jeopardy of not making that chase because you got so many good guys nibbling away at the top ten and we're halfway through the race to the chase to see who gets to run for the next el cup and there are no mulligans every race counts did gordon get against the wall there all of a sudden that car did it's doing exactly what it does every week all of a sudden just like he dropped it flipped the switch it took off it's taken off pushing and he almost knocked the ball down off too he almost knocked it down off of four looking back from casey kane at matt kenseth in the 17 car and he he was one of the cars that stayed out on that last caution remember it was not that many laps ago he restarted back in 40 seconds damage on pit road somebody hit turned around over there yep somebody hit him a couple of them larry hold on to it hold on to it jj yeah they got hit by i don't know who it was but somebody just turned him darrell it looked like yaley had the lift coming out of turn two because suddenly there was a car right on him and into his back bumper kenny schroeder and the motorcraft forward of the wood brothers let's see let's see if we can see what happened back here there's jalee up on the outside and he gets welled up right here behind the four car of wimmer i believe and the 26 comes up the hill boy robbie gordon the seven just gets by but kenny schroeder in the 21 does not owe joe nemechek in the 01. what happened here the four car kind of gets in jj's way he has to lift and here comes the 26 car mcmurray with nowhere to go but into him and around he goes and these guys they're just along for the ride let's ride with kenny schroeder this won't be any fun this ought to hurt listen to this [Music] hold on to it but hold on to it triple header you know scott wimmer in the four car that checked up he was one of those cars that stayed out on the last caution had a little older tires it just looked like he didn't have to grip some of these cars that had fresher tires had like joe may have come through that without just minor damage he looks like his car is not too bad of shape joe nemechek in the armed army car now here come all the cars that stayed out on the last caution they're hitting pit road steve burns yeah todd barrier's decision larry mack was it's so early in the race let's go ahead and work on that race car now and kevin agreed he said we're kind of in a tough spot here they're a little bit loose so they're gonna make a wedge adjustment and changed four tires by joker kyle bush who hit it under the first caution back on lap 11. now he had made up a number of spots cycled up the lead but the car tight chassis adjustment and air pressure 12.3 seconds for bush mike so we have different agendas on pit stop strategy very early in this race and the hood is up on matt kenseth not sure if this is related to him running into bill lester on pit road or not i think what they did is on the last pit stop on the last caution they checked the tow out which is basically the location of the front tires that helps the drivability of that car especially into the corner they determine how much it was off now under this caution it looks like the guy leaning over in the hood he's actually taking that tie rod and he's adjusting the toe out nascar next don't come racing on box presented by aol is sponsored by visa go on live life and room as you saw uh jeff green and matt kinsen now jeff gordon i guess not too happy with his hendrick motorsports teammate right behind him the low chevy of jimmy johnson they were doing a lot of side by side racing after that last restart maybe more than you would expect from you want to teammates like this all day long i'll take it all day long buddy i thought we were teaming let's race to get to the front now let's get three wider enchanter again matt get back there in a minute there's chad kanaus jimmy's crew chief i saw on that last restart daryl they were they were three wide all down the front straightaway not one lap but at least two in a row and but you know what i i don't know i agree but i don't understand you know everybody's out there racing and uh jimmy johnson's car is faster than jeff gordon's so jeff if you don't want to race side by side three wide why don't you slow down they're teammates but don't you have to race them just like every other car sure and what happened here he ought to be mad at the 96 tony raines because tony held him up and allowed jimmy to get underneath helping make the pass he and casey kane both so jeff's the one i think i understand jeff's frustrated a little bit maybe but if you don't want to race like that dude get behind me i have a real problem with drivers that get upset because someone's racing that's the whole point you're here to race if you're up there running one and two and you're driving away from the field different story they're in the middle of the pack race in other cars yeah they're not out there by themselves this ain't no picnic we're not on a sunday drive we're racing maybe the point trying to be made is if we were single five we'd be faster than if we're trying to beat each other's fenders in if it was only the two of them i could see his point casey kane leading jeff gordon as we go back to green and complete 35 laps now the top 15 cars all the way from casey cain back to kevin lepage in the 49 they stayed out on this caution i tell you who's worried right now ought to be jd gibbs he's only got one bullet left and that's denny hamlin back there in eighth place just out of our frame there's a jeff going for the lead and he does have a fast car and i'm thinking he's probably more excited than he is upset man i want to run good today and i am if my driver is going to be frustrated about something that's what i want it to be right and you know what the other thing is all in giving jeff gordon all the credit in the world he's excited and he wants to run good tell you what they're on the left you see another chevrolet coming into the picture jeff burton in that 31 car up there battling casey cain and jimmy johnson that's a battle for the fourth position hey larry guess where the last time it was they run that 31 car bristol tennessee with it has a new bike it has a new body on it but it's the bristol car junior gets passed on the inside gets past burton that is vickers right there with them you know we talked to the top of the show about long green runs that's the one thing we've not had yet today and you know i know it's early 36 laps in this race we've been talking all weekend the stranglehold that dodge and ford has had on this racetrack right now six of the top seven are all the bow ties the chevrolets casey kane the only dodge in the top seven right now the last chevrolet to win here is that one right there man 2001. i tell you that nine car now he got some smoke on the hood that thing goes down the straightaway about as good as anything i've ever seen you mentioned joe gibbs with two cars in the garage let's find out about jj hayley's here's steve mike jj yaley still in his race car but there is heavy damage to the front end they've got the portable power tools out the sawzall they're trying to rip the ripping the nose off as we speak and there's substantial damage to the radiator they're gonna have to replace that and jd gibbs standing by looking on as the team brings in a back-up radiator thanks steve their remaining car on track is denny hamlin last week's winner in seven this interstate's got a lot of lanes on it doesn't it these cats oh yes that's the cattle they're high they're low they're in the middle that's what that's why the drivers love this racetrack you got options you're not stuck behind somebody i know we're seeing a little single file racing right here but just a little ways behind this group this is not single file remember this is a lot of the cars that pitted on the last caution like kyle pushing the five-car elliot saddle under 38. this is pretty much a battle basically from about 21st on back look at look at look at this thing go there look at him turn two you mentioned it earlier that's where he's got him he comes off at turn two like he hits the afterburner but then jeff gordon seems to be able to really drive it into turn three and the thing sticks because he runs it up the racetrack then he wins the battle off turn four behind them dale earnhardt jr has been up there in the richard petty groove running just inches from the wall all the way around the corner and of course with some momentum we talk about momentum casey has the momentum off of turn two jeff has a momentum off of turn four and two totally different turns two is tight right there where the nine is right now that's a tight corner come off and turn four it's a sweeper you can let the car run out turn two would be more complimentary to a fairly loose car turn four would be a little more complimentary to a tight car jeff gordon your leader at 41 laps from casey kane jimmy johnson and dale jr [Music] so 240 240 240 i check getting close to him i can't get it off whatever it is keep trying keep an eye keep a close eye on it [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] still out there all by yourself they're behind yeah it hadn't come off yet just be calm and uh just keep working on it try to try to get as close as you can to [Music] them [Music] so 250 250. all right um probably gonna need to fit and get it off there's we'd be the only car lap down if we do it [Applause] two but i don't see any moisture with it [Music] still out there on the top that's your door in the middle at your door still on there just don't burn it up it's over 250 we're probably going to need a pin 252 [Music] yeah we need to get it off before we push all the water out of it [Music] coming this time guys 4700 second gear 4-7 three on the grill you can see it right there he has a piece of plastic this place is notorious for that with the wind blowing around and it takes so very they run such they run the openings in minimum amount dale earnhardt jr moves past jimmy johnson to take over second behind jeff gordon here comes the poll sitter to his pit matt and they're also going to make a chassis adjustment now since they are off hit road losing this track position you can see the crew member make the adjustment clouds coming back over you can feel the temperature dropping again as teams racing to the halfway point then everything else is bonus but the water temperature had climbed over 250 degrees for the pulse center 16.8 seconds for the dodge boys and the problem with casey kane having to make this unscheduled stop we've got cars out there that can go about 30 more laps on fuel so obviously what casey cain the nine group kenny francis needs they need this thing to go green for a while and hopefully they can recover from this next week something completely different we're at infineon raceway sonoma california on the road race course but for now the two-mile super speedway in michigan jeff gordon who started outside pole having it his own way a second and a half up on dale jr here's the race for seventh place carl edwards denny hamlin [Music] cousin carl he's been working his way to the front ever since the drop of the green flag three starts here all top ten finishes in fact he's made his very first career start here in august of 2004 always runs well here just didn't get that good qualifying lap in his car was real loose yeah he failed the launch last night larry they dropped the green flag and something happened to the gearbox and he didn't go anywhere so he had a rough night last night we're working much better today now i want to add to what i said about casey kane in the nine car needing this thing to go a long green run there's a fine line there right now he's the only car a lap down if he gets the caution he gets the free pass but if we have a long green run and our leaders start lapping other cars he could indeed not be the first car lap down if we get a caution so maybe they they would be better to go ahead and get a caution now well the leader is coming off turn two now and the next car is anywhere near getting lapped is coming off turn four almost a half lap so he's gonna be in the cat bird seat for a while right now we still have 37 cars on the lead lap the only car that's officially retired derrick cope in the 74 car jj yelley kenny straight or tony stewart's car is in the garage trying to get repaired and back out on the racetrack what's the other thing larry that nine car now has four fresh tires he may like his lap times daryl about seven tenths of a second quicker than jeff gordon on warned tires right now clint boyer spent some time in the garage but he's back on track in his 0-7 though 26 laps down outside on the very top your door clear we're the only car left down right now and the leader is still about half the lap from laughing [Music] [Music] [Music] coming to the yellow for rain coming to the yellow ferrari it's real good in and off now a little snug in the center just touching right dead center of the line of the nose okay drive hard eat fresh okay this one's for time dale here we go [Applause] 10 4. [Music] lap 46.50 46.50 seconds here [Music] 24 keep on going june you got them tony junior four ten away come left right here five away come on come on right there go go go go clear to the wall go go go third now gordon needed help both on entry and exit track bar to help the entrance which was too tight air pressure to help the exit which was too loose also an air pressure adjustment for jimmy johnson he was loose all the way through the corner chris myers all right time for a quick visa race break you know we had a 45 minute delay before they got things rolling here in michigan adam sandler the grand marshal and the official starter on the pole casey kane who led six laps he was passed early by jeff gordon who has led the most laps in this race but let's look at matt kenton who came into this race closing second in points multiple pit stops he had a brush with bill lester who had damage to his car kenzit fell 20 spots but he's trying to work his way back up two-time nascar champ tony stewart flipped here by jeff green in the 66 car putting him behind the wall and tony steamed that broken shoulder blade okay compared to stewart's car trying to get back in the race moments ago casey kane was running second lap 47. problems on the grill had to pit but just got the lucky pass jeff hammond and this has been a visa race break no matter what it takes life takes visa jeff gordon currently your leader will be back at michigan international speedway you're watching nascar on fox [Music] nice cars off speed wasn't entitled to retain the spot net result kyle gets five bonus points eliot does not and why five bonus points is important to both those guys two completely different agendas the 45's trying to stay in the top 35 the 38's trying to get towards the top ten two different agendas for leading that lap turn two dale jr hunting the lead on jeff gordon june bugs on it baby he said he liked that old car yesterday don't do anything to it but now watch gordon gets in the corner so well golly that car will get down into the corner especially turn three and four but june's got a little horsepower today he's gonna drive right under him and you don't think these fans are on their feet jeff gordon de la north jr to the two drivers missed the chase last here side by side there's no one sitting down here two of the most popular athletes in the country in all sports junior was just on some major list of the top five athletes in the united states paris pole and so was a jeff gordon jr gives gordon a wave and it may be a wave by bond steve and mike if we get one lap past halfway this race is official listen to what dan earnhardt junior's crew chief tony urey jr told dale junior under caution just so you know dale junior the big storm is probably an hour and a half now we've run an hour and a half for you and if you five laps right here because the remains of that first part of the race so you're going to get up on what that is that that when that weather gets here it'll probably be down for quite a while what's the lapse on this race uh 200 so we got to get the lap 100 to make it a race but uh just kind of giving you a hands up for what what's around the corner what might happen i'll let you know later on the weather changes tragically or anything all righty and what's ironic is halfway as lap 100 that pit stop these guys just made was like 55 they can go right to lap 100 should we not get a caution but they have to put on the green after restarts here this track is so wide things get really exciting for a few laps watch this turn two i tell you that nine car larry he is on a mission to get back to the front that's him up on the high side watch this he does i mean he's in no man's land if somebody pushes up a little bit he's in trouble four wide and he gasses right by him and they all say where'd he come from meanwhile back up front jeff gordon wants the lead once again and i get the feeling as good as his car is if he wants it he'll probably take it eventually well that could have been you know looking at that pass and the other one that's almost like a trade-off i'll leave a lap i'll let you let me leave a lap and i'll let you back in front of me seventh eighth the ninth here hamlin upside of kevin harvick in the 29. but then on the other hand maybe not you know what these guys are having fun they have not had a chance to do this a lot in the last year and a half that's right jeff just sail it off in there on the high side well the corner has three parts and that 24 cars got two of them down pretty pat right now but i'm gonna tell you what why these guys are going at it remember what jeff gordon was so mad at his teammate about a little while ago while this is going on his teammate jimmy johnson as well as carl edwards in the 99 are getting closer and closer there they are right there oh yeah this the worst thing you can do is run side-by-side for a prolonged period of time because it definitely slows you down by about a second guys behind you get a little draft and they come right up to you jeff gordon got the message and he drops in in front of dale jr they're going to try to create a little distance a further note on the elliot sadler situation he had faked toward pit road under caution and gone to pit road and then swerved back out and for that reason nascar judged that he did not maintain pace car speed and position and that's why kyle petty was the leader of that lap under caution and not elliot and i think more so than a fake mic it was all of a sudden realizing hey if we stay out we might can leave five pills lead a lap and get five points third place changes hands is carl edwards marches toward the front and that roush forward yeah i'd say that chevy brigade has got a forward in the future little spoiler dale jr has dropped into second and he's losing a bit of ground at jeff gordon steve he is mike he just told true chief tony harry jr i'm rolling over on the right front and i don't like it now that what he means is and that that that just got that feeling that you know you're using up that right front tire and you don't want to do that at 200 miles an hour paul edwards a 99 car gets a run off turn two he's going to complete the pass at the end of the back stretch and now jimmy johnson and the 48 car will pull right up on the rear bumper of dale earnhardt jr in the eight that we're riding with and that's how quickly it happens mike larry in one turn your car all of a sudden gets a feel in it that you do not like and you know what it is and there's only one cure and that's to slow down a little bit until we can do something about it [Music] so junior fades from the lead to fourth place next car behind him is biffle and then jeff burton oh got a car round off a turn two guys turn two is that ketchup it is just got sucked around over there don't think anybody got into it caution is out four times bro [Music] hey just routine spun out four tires four tires guys on the inside of uh scott riggs who will wiggle there going around the outside here's matt in the middle i think he just gets in there where the yeah it just sucks the back of the car around tony reigns in the 96. why daryl what does that mean it's side draft the draft to air off the car that you're trying to pass is coming over and getting a hold of your car and trying to pull it into that outside car and it just pulls your takes air off your spoiler and pulls you around as it does it and i know as apprehensive as we are about the car tomorrow darrell had a long talk with brett beaudine this morning who's who drives the pace car who's it did a lot of the development work of the car tomorrow he said that's one thing that that car really has a lot of is the side force that you don't lose because of that wing when you get beside a car like that today today there will be a free pass it is clint boyer he will go from being 30 laps down to only 29 as the free pass is awarded to the first lapped car in the running order but you gotta admit that if you're 30 laps down at least something good happens yeah 29 looks good i'm only 29 down now you're seeing steve la tart right there i think what steve is doing the crew chief for jeff gordon he was almost looking down at jimmy johnson's crew chief chad canel saying what are you going to do i think since it's been 12 laps since these guys were on pit road you're going to see them coming as they are but i think you'll see a lot of two tire stops here dick berger maybe even some fuel only well they were talking about a two-tire stop for jeff burton who four laps ago keyed the radio and simply told his crew three acting octaves up to steve dayler jr is going to get just right side tires they want half a pound on the right rear right rear hand signals back and forth between the 24 and 48 piece letter told canals they were going to go with four tires chassis adjustment already for gordon they continue working on the bounds of his car jimmy johnson his car was way too tight on exit 48 close battle off hey road with his teammate mike joy and i believe matt two of the ganassi cars may have gambled on two tires casey mears and reed sorensen out there with that lead pack and you can see it right there reed sorenson the 41 car casey mears in the 42 how quick their time is that shows they did a little less than the other teams a lot of different strategies in play [Music] at this time pass it to the right on everything ready [Music] 45 in the mirror on the start [Music] [Music] [Music] great flag left rear clear um a lot of three wide racing as jimmy johnson tries to come through bobby labonte's been strong today and casey kane the pull sitter on the comeback kevin harvick at 12th place one car we need to make a note of had been in the top 10 most of this race kyle bush in the five on that last pit stop too fast exiting speeding until in the longest line restarted in 37th he has now worked his way up five positions to 32nd [Music] new face up front the biff greg biffle in that jack roush forward winner of what two of the last three races here and look where he has moved in the point since the drop of the green flag as denny hamlin backs up a spot and kyle busch falls back two positions based on his position at the moment now multiple pit stops for matt kenseth who now sits a lap down steve yeah mike it's been a rough day for the former nextel cup champion he was trying to avoid tony raine and felt like reigns wasn't giving him enough room he actually the 17 of matt kenseth ran into the 12 of ryan newman making contact that's what caused him to spin out matt pulling a number of different crew chiefs this morning steve they all pointed to the 16 of greg biffle as the car that would be the rabbit today the guy they expected to jump out front and they were all going to have to chase judging by the lap tracker system that all the teams use to gauge where their car is over a number of laps during final practice now they haven't had a lot of long runs and that's where biffle's car was so stout and final practice they've been tweaking you with air pressure hoping for what we're starting to have now looks like a long run thanks matt you see his crew chief doug richard there when he won here in august of 2004 that's about the time that doug richard came on board that's when this group i think made their statement you know what we're going to go up there and we're going to be championship contenders yeah he's had two wins in the last three races here being pretty hard to bet against him he obviously knows something about this place [Music] right now biffle holds the lead of six tenths of a second over dale jr and that lead is growing nascar next [Music] [Music] so [Music] so clear [Music] [Music] both of these cars on that last caution they were cars that elected to go with two right side tires not that many laps on the tires to begin with and get their cars out there in that clean air and it's working right now and that is what the manufacturers came to see a chevy ford battle and if you're a chevy team with a lot of support leading at michigan is a big deal if you're a fourteen or any other teams but leading here in front of all the execs they were a dead tie across the start finish line that time greg before delaware jr difference delta in their lap right then 0.000 dead heat [Music] trouble for tony raines and the dlp hdtv car he's got a flat left rear tire and you can see it's ripped the quarter panel and that brings out a caution it's the seventh one today here's why and i think that was definitely a caution that matt kenseth and the 17 was looking for the only car lap down he'll now get the free pass he'll be back on the lead lap that will put 38 cars on the lead lap just 20 laps shy of halfway it's incredible how kensin's days can go some days it's just out there and you only know he's there and he ends up in the top three or four today he's been he's been in a lot of trouble here's a team that's coming off its best finish of the season 16th tough break just do less the right sides are up right and the reason fleet lopez the crew chief is saying that right now tony reigns is still on the lead lap so if they can get on the pit road just get the left side tires change where he can get back out there get caught up then they couldn't come back and change right but most importantly fix that damage especially you see on the left front and he should easily be able to do this because the field's just now in turn three hope they got a flat tire jack handy that's the way it's supposed to work right there roger pace car between turns three and four they'll have plenty of time okay go go go and reigns will stay on the lead lap and then come back in to get his right side tires dale earnhardt jr the leader second time he's led today for a total of four laps and like the pied piper he's going to bring everyone but brian vickers on to pit road dick well the 31 car jeff burton has a piece of trash at the grill that was a concern of theirs they're going to put four tires on it this time last time they pitted they just took too tired so a bit of a different strategy dick dale in our junior in last time they just took right side tire this time four tires for the budweiser chevy junior said the car had gotten a little bit tight with just two tires matt 19 laps on the left side tires for biffle you can see them making the chassis adjustment he says he's almost wrecking that in turns one and two the 41 of swords is away air pressure adjusted for the 99 of edwards his car had been tight and the 48 beats everybody off hit road mike one of dale jarrett's crewman with a slight limp after getting brushed back by reed sorensen the target car leaving the pit right behind jared brian vickers stays on track and does not pit nor does mike skinner everyone else on the lead lap has been to pit road [Music] somebody else talk to me [Music] here alright we'll hit that to go [Music] here [Music] caught up there it's funny how you remember what your dad always said [Music] brett and dave pull the hood pin kirk you're going to make sure that rubber's tightening good we're going to close up the right front shot yep yep and then we'll hit the gasket one to go this time one to go chris i'll turn the wheel far to the left if you want to get the right front there yeah i just don't want to do that with one to go let's just get this quick stuff done in the back we've also got that rubber on the right front we haven't run yet [Music] now good you're good you're all good watch your feet face cars and two [Music] 400. [Music] so come to the game come to the green this time pass it to the right line on his tires and he's got a bunch of good race cars behind him the one thing he will have going for at least when we get to restart is clean air we've seen what clean air can do but that's a tall order with some good race cars likes behind him boy that car sure looks a lot better than it did last time we saw it on the racetrack tony stewart is back on track he is 61 laps down i don't believe it's going to take long for these guys to kind of just smoke on by the number 25 if anything this guy to the south is looking lighter not darker so we'll see how this plays out we're 16 laps to halfway 116 to the finish as jeff gordon gets a long side of casey kane and johnson wants the lead from his teammate you see the 25 is playing the weather card but he's playing it with old tires these guys are playing the weather card with new tires they're going to get out there they want to go too because they know the rain may be nearby if brian had had a few friends that stayed out with him could have been a different story but all these guys behind him like johnson biffle and now carl edwards in the 99 they have a lot fresher tires than brian vickers i think one of the things that's encouraging in creating some of these stay out situations though is this a much harder tire than we've had here in the past it's a little more durable it'll do better on the long run and it'll last a little bit longer there you see reed sorenson in the 41 car one of our rookies up there in the seventh position but look at casey kane in the nine less than 40 laps ago he was on pit road under green a lap down here he is back in the top ten speaking of the ganassi cars right behind jeff gordon you see casey mears in that 42 car up there in the top ten casey mears will move on next season he'll drive the hendrick number 25. the car that right now leads this race from carl edwards you've got to love this racetrack to only have 18 degrees of banking right from the drop of the green flag look at the different grooves these guys are running off the corner and down the straightaway pitbull had to get out of the gas a little bit he started to push when he did junior went by on the outside and jeff burton went by on the inside that was a big three wide that was a sandwich worthy of subway right there burton's still on the bottom and still coming sorensen and gordon right behind him and casey kane right behind them that's what i talked about this track being a little aggravating you got a fast car but you get amongst these other cars it's hard to pass it's hard to get away from them sometimes you get held up forever let's get a little update on some of this mid-race strategy is during the caution we listened into jimmy johnson's team the rain is 15 miles away if you hold off until the rain comes he's gonna have to get past vickers and carl edwards who wants the lead out of four carl edwards in the 99 he's been so much better through the middle of the corner than brian vickers in the 25 so he's going to take the lead here just 12 laps shy of halfway but we talked about it at the top of the show key to winning this race chasing the weather that's what a lot of these guys are doing right now two big factors as we watch sorenson try to deal with the 29 of harvick the nine of kane and the 42 of his teammate casey mears one is the rain and the other is daylight central michigan is on the western end of the eastern time zone it is light here till about 9 45 at night so even if the sky opens up it won't be very quick to pull the plug well this guy opened up right there for the nine car he got to run on the outside and man he squeezed between the wall and casey uh reed shorts in there and shot by on both that nine car larry is coming back to the front with a vengeance and what a weekend they've had set on the pole on friday hit the wall in practice yesterday major repairs of this car this is the same car he has won those other three races with this year overheating there about 40 45 laps ago now he's back into the top ten trying to march back to the front casey cain into nine you know this thus far his day isn't all that different from that of denny hamlin one week ago at pocono hamlin led 49 of the first 50 laps conor tyre spun to the infield and had a lot of ground to make up did and won the race [Music] kane's our leading dodge charger in the race mirrors and sorensen close behind and what he's been working on what they've been trying to help him with he's trying to get him to where he's a little better in three and four he seems to be excellent exiting turn two he loses a little ground to most these guys down here but they look like they've really helped him because he's looking to the outside of jeff burton is he gonna be able to squeeze in there makes it out there still out there and that was literally the outside there were there was no more asphalt up there it was wall made a couple of passes like that kind of raise the hair up on your neck how about it nick what they say about burp ah no rear grip no rear grip on car 31. and obviously what that means is when he puts the throttle down goes through the corner the rears wanting to slide around and be loose with it and cousin carl in this 99 car carl edwards he has checked out the one and a quarter second lead over brian vickers in the 25 car carl's making up for last night larry had a bad night last night first car out of the race he want to do some racing remember half a dozen down there but pretty good by myself remember half a dozen or so years ago when jeff burton was rain man and every time it was like mother nature was his biggest fan every time it would rain burton would win watching these two teammates brian vickers in the 25 jimmy johnson in the 48 car right now these guys are battling for the third position but i've been keeping an eye on their other teammate kyle bush in the five car remember when we restarted back on lap 70 he had to restart at the tail in the longest line because of speeding he has now made his way all the way back up to the 17th position he just went by mark martin in the sixth so he's on his way back to the front just drives by ryan newman and the 12 as well and watching kyle he spent most of his day just like that running right down against the yellow line at the bottom of the racetrack hasn't much ventured up and tried the upper grooves third place biffle makes the pass carl edwards out in front as we're six laps from halfway in michigan you're watching nascar on fox [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] somebody else really coming back here to bug in about a second second two chances back [Music] [Music] different than it was still clear inside okay got it player so [Music] we'll pick you up by mobile queen 5000 the official lubricants of nascar it's seriously tough oil by dlp picture technology from texas instruments and by coca-cola thanks for drinking [Music] over greg biffle we're nearing the halfway point lap 100 going 400 miles here in michigan nascar on fox and happy father's day to all the dads out there watching and for jeff gordon who is coming off the hardest wreck of his career he passed the poll sitter casey kaine gordon's led the most laps today at 50. casey kane running second jeff had some problems debris on the grill yeah he had to stop early because the car was overheating because all that debris you see right underneath the nose on that charger he was a lap down but now he's worked his way back up to fifth and how about this lap 60 dale earnhardt jr in the eight card taking the lead from jeff gordon two of the most recognized names in sports they traded first place for a while matt kenseth last 67 spins out from 40th to 18th remember he came in second in points has had an up and down day quite a few problems but right now the roush forwards jeff are leading the way at casey kane as we said up to fifth working his way back towards the front passing jimmy johnson looks like by now he's going to go to fourth chris and he goes on the high side one more time he likes the rim ride around this racetrack and his car's working really well up high worth mentioning to tony stewart way back on lap 22 clipped by jeff green still out of the race he came in fourth in points we've had seven cautions the record for this racetrack is nine some of that probably caused by the rain delay the slick track as we get a look at the aggressive driving and the way the points look to the moment well to the moment we still see jimmy johnson out front matt kinsey still lost a little bit of ground to him but he's still hanging there in second place but you'll notice casey kane is up to third and tony stewart is following completely out of the top five he has just come back on the trap though track i should say repairing his car and we are officially halfway in this race let's rejoin daryl larry and mike that produces that produces a sigh of relief all up and down fit road that will get this racing today it's a long haul to california out north of san francisco to sonoma next week greg biffle the fastest car on the racetrack he is about two tenths quicker than carl edwards matt back on lap 95 mike greg mitchell keyed his mic and told his spotter joel he says school is about to be in session he's knocked off about one second the distance between himself and his teammate carl edwards now edward spotter bobby hudson is telling carl exactly where bibble is running and catching him on the racetrack so carl can try to adjust his line to biffle that last lap biffle was about a tenth of a second quicker the previous lap two tenths faster i know we're watching greg biffle here in the 16 car running second but this right here i've been watching this battle this is a battle for kent jeff burton the 31 kirk bush in the two remember kurt busch back on lap 25 as the field took the green for a restart had a flat tire he was all the way back in 40th position daryl you and i've been watching this car he just keeps getting better and better and he's pretty good on long runs yeah he is that's a wheel of an improvement they put that old magic spring rubber in the left rear sound like and that tightened him up and the way to the races he went and there's a there's my buddy there and he'll be feeling his cheerios today go bobby bobby labonte in the 43 car the penny car now he's been a top dozen car all day long been quietly hanging around there in the top 12. he's been good all weekend long no good in practice remember he started this race up in the fifth position here he is battling kurt bush and two for the 11th position there's a little racing going on here eighth place harvick inside of the car that did not stop on the last caution brian vickers yeah the problem daryl with brian vickers in the 25 he's only about eight or nine laps away from having to make a green flag stop because he did stay out yeah those older tires are going to prevail for a little while against the new ones but once they go away you're in big trouble the way i see it vickers should have to pitch somewhere around that 113-115 everyone else that pitted on lap 81 they should be able to go somewhere between 126 128 129 right in there kurt bush continues moving toward the front he just took tenth away from jackson right there kurt slit up in front of jeff and jeff cut back under him and let's go to jeff burton's pit dick well jeff burton's car was really good at the very beginning of this race mike not so good right now he's told the crew that the car is very inconsistent the biggest description he has had the most clear description is it's free in then it goes tight then the back end won't bite tries to slide around coming off the corner so lots of problems with jeff burton's car they're going to need to make a bunch of adjustments on the next pit stop to pick it little steve following the two car of kurt busch you see the 43 battle between the 41 and the 31. kurt busch is concerned right now is that he's running a little bit hot he's asked the crew to clean the grill the next time they stop just a little bit hot on the two car and remember that's what happened to casey kane in the nine car you heard chris myers just talking about it while ago got paper on that grill the wind's picking up we're getting a report of that and it really starts blowing a lot of debris around this racetrack and the place it ends up is on the noses of these cars the funny thing larry is that wasn't stuck to kane's grill because as the car rolled to a halt all those rappers fell off of course they won't fall off at 190 miles an hour oh not unless he can get that nose right up against the car in front of him and then it'll take the air off the nose and it'll fall off carl edwards in the 99 car he's up here still leading this thing and matt he has almost a second half lead over his teammate greg biffle in the 16th peter raindrops call oh [Music] still green matt and you heard his spotter and weatherman bobby hudson telling him keeping him abreast of the weather and we are starting to feel some raindrops his car has settled in he's trying to run the exact same line down in one and two as biffle because they felt like that's where he was losing most of his time to the 16 of biffle they were even down in three and four and i'm sure as we're feeling those raindrops the guy that's just beating his leg right now lance mcgrew crew chief of brian vickers back there in the ninth position remember he stayed out because of anticipating rain but as we just mentioned probably five to seven laps until he'll have to make a green flag stop we can just you just can't take a chance nascar can't once enough drivers start to complain we gotta have a yellow because with all the oil and as thick as a track can be with a little water on it you're in big trouble what usually happens is the lead driver radios it's raining it's raining the second place driver goes no no it's fine at least until i catch him well you take a pole and you know they're pretty smart over there they know the ones that they can uh believe and the ones they don't need to listen to a piece of rubber debris blew up a car ran over it and got it out of harm's way looked like just a piece of tape or tire but i think about everybody in the field just about hit this piece of debris well it's just a lot of rubber it's what it is uh they run over that stuff sometime and gets a big wad of it built up in the fender well of the car and it'll fall out caution is out now in turn four and then turn one and kyle petty left rear tire down that's part of that debris [Music] and the sigh relief is from lance mcgrew and brian vickers about five laps away from having to make a green flag pit stop trouble for kyle petty puts us under caution for the eighth time today [Music] nascar nextel cup racing on fox presented by aol is sponsored i think it does i think it's going to blow off of turn two i don't think or blow off the turn four [Music] one down right here just get the rotate lose all four tires guys make it a good one that's right on the other side of that grand man you see it [Music] [Music] you're not the only one who depends on [Music] the eight's gonna peel off right here put on the break control kills germs for straight out straight up straight now straight out through more than one solenoid [Music] i couldn't tell he remains out on track edwards earnhardt jr biffle and kane so most of the leaders go with just four tires here and i think the reason if we shouldn't fight weather this pit stop here will put them within one stop of making it to the end i think that's reason almost everyone except for reed swords in the 41 car you can see gained 11 position won the battle off pit road went with two tires on that car let's update those pit stops beginning with matt greg before has won two of the last three races here at mis made an air pressure adjustment fighting a grip issue needing more grip just like his teammate carl edwards who's never finished out of the top 10 here looking for another good run to steve burns thank you matt daler hart jr saying he just wanted to rotate benner turn better through the center of the corner so they made an air pressure adjustment they put half a bound pound in the right front and took a round of bite out of the right rear dick well i'm working up near turn four and i gotta tell you it's nice here we haven't felt any rain at all for a very long time car 31 burton came in they made a wedge adjustment to that car fired far at it put fuel in it made some air pressure adjustments in the four tires let's go up to mike thanks to kevin lepage stayed out on track to lead a lap he becomes the ninth different leader on the day we'll go down to jeff hammond for a state farm safety report we're always talking about we're always talking about how we protect the drivers you know fire suits roll cages what about protecting the engine let's take a look here filters all filters that happen to circulate through the oil system and keep all the little debris out of the inside of the engine or even an air filter all the air that comes in through down into the carburetor the dust and debris off the race track that can damage the inside of the cylinders or whatever these air filters just like you'd find on your passenger car help protect these racing engines again the inside of an oil filter where all the debris as it comes through the circulation of the oil it can filter out the little micro particles that can damage the bearings and hurt the inside of the crank case itself all of these things are designed for one thing and one thing in mind is the longevity of your engine so if you've got a good filtration system it'll not only protect your race engine it'll help protect your car that you drive every day guys thanks jeff now case or rather kevin lepage stayed out to lead a lap and now makes his pit stop michael waltrip stayed out with him but walter did not get to lead a lap he pitted with lepage and the cars many laps down with damage also on pit road clint moyer j.j hayley and tony stewart out and back into the race here is today's all-state good hands driver casey kane show you why traffic jam here they're three wide they're going to be four wide no matter just almost bank it off the wall drive on around the outside and make a clean pass on behalf of casey allstate will donate a thousand dollar scholarship to the urban youth racing school from allstate official insurance sponsor of nascar we've got 36 cars on the lead lap right now here at lap 114 with 86 to go kyle petty daryl and i kind of questioned what he was doing but he stayed out on the apron until he had enough time to get the pit road to get that those tires changed and kyle actually stayed on the lead lap right now he's back in 35th but larry the car on the screen the 41 car if uh no tires was a good strategy to get to the ring i think two tires might not be a bad strategy to try to get to the ring long as you got a good handling race car his car has been up there in the top 10 close to the top 10 most of the race sorensen was 11th when he pitted he is now the leader he had a tough night last night in the bush race in kentucky crashed twice the second one putting him out of the race but he leads now with 85 laps to go as we go back to green there's no question as you look back over our grandstand here it's getting darker and darker and i know these crew chiefs are looking at it too and they're saying if you got them use them see right there over 160 miles per hour building speed through turd one and two going over the back straight away ride with kevin harvick here in the 29 car right now battling jeff gordon kirk bush he's in the ninth position right now outside corner he's been pretty solid all day long but you know as we looked at kurt bush in the two cars we've got a battle for the lead right now four tires versus two car tires casey kane and the nine on the outside of reed swords down the back stretch i'm sure casey came with his new red wheels he will prevail yeah like those red wheels [Music] and just as last week denny hamlin had problems and had to fight his way back to the front casey kane does the same today didn't take him near as long to get back to the front on this big wide two-mile speedway just update the fans that may have just joined us remember casey kane the nine car started on the pole had a practice crash yesterday major repairs to that car and lap 47 had to make an unscheduled green flag stop for overheating and here at 117 he has taken the lead back after all of that i'll tell you what once he gets that bad boy out front kane in the nine carl edwards and greg biffle better step it up a notch because he is going to be on the move greg biffle in the 16 car drives the outside of dale earnhardt junior in the eight trying to follow reed sourcing in the 41 car [Music] dale jr is a smart racer guys i mean he races just ever he doesn't want to overdo it he races you as hard as he needs to but if you're better than he is he'll get out of your way seen him give that hand out the left side window a couple of times today down the back straightaway and i think he's just basically telling that driver you know thanks for racing me smart here i'm faster than you and you told me where to go buy you thank you hand signals people just don't realize how we just wave and give each other so many hand signals and there's biffle and dale jr all the way down on the apron which is perfectly legal here there are no outer bounds a lot of guys swoop down there late in the race trying to break the draft or the concentration of the guy behind them what watch this it's perfectly legal you get a real strong run off the corner like biffle did now you're going to drop down and get the draft off of dale jr's car the eight they go down on the apron it's perfectly legal there's no out of bounds shorter route i mean you run down the hill to get to the apron and then you come back up in front of the car you're trying to pass two weeks when we're in daytona pepsi 400 will be illegal but as you said no out of bounds here 80 laps to go casey kane out in front right now kane is the fastest car on the speedway can he win from the pole again stay [Music] tuned 80 85 behind you [Music] inside 11 inside [Music] still outside outside [Applause] outside [Music] clear [Music] still outside outside [Music] starting to get a little rain up here outside outside clear outside precautions out caution's out cautions out get to autozone they have everything to help you keep your [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] say it again todd i think we should stay out right here we can make you know one more stop to the end without stopping you got your brake blowers and your beef blowers on all that right everything's on all right as bill lester was pulling into the pit just in front of him a lot of uh front-end repair on kenza's car ensued but he's fought his way back then he got up against tony raines and spun and had to fight his way back yet again he did get one free pass to get back on the lead lap and now he's climbed into the top 15. that wasn't that many laps ago that he spun out that was back on lap 66 and here we've got mark martin and a few cars pitting here but i think most of the cars stayed out i'm sure right now there's a mad scramble looking at the different weather maps and weather channels yeah mark was back in 20th spots it's not a big surprise that he would come to pitt road [Music] joe nemechek's team at work mark done and out of there so evidently these teams don't feel that this is going to be a sustained reign that will be able to get this race restarted be some good stuff if we do because that's pretty smart to come in right now get those tires of course this pit stop here should we go back to green flag racing and i think we will this still will not get you to the end so i think that's a lot what the guys up front were thinking we got a little bit of flirting with rain we can't make it to the end if we pit here so let's just stay out on the 19 here this has been going on about every caution they've had the hood up on the winner from the august race here last year jeremy mayfield the 19 so they've been making repairs on this car almost every time the caution has been out dick bergeron well the problem is principally handling on the number 18 car of jeremy mayfield they even have adjusted the camber on the car in an earlier pit stop i mean you see the mechanics coming back with big wrenches that's not a good sign of a car that's handling well he has run in the back of the pack all day this has to be so frustrating for for ray everham i'm sure as it has been all year long again jeremy may feel you know making the chase the last two years he's sitting way back in the points and right now the nine car casey kane with three wins up there leading this race here's a look at kane mayfield is still on the lead lap last car on the lead lap only two cars out of the race kenny schroeder and derek cope as we go down to chris and jeff for a visa race break all right thanks mike a quick recap we started 45 minutes late because of the rain casey kane the pole sitter but on lap 22 tony stewart nudged by jeff green's going about 175 miles per hour tony fourth in points had to go behind the wall and steamed but got out to help repair his car and 70 laps down they did get the 20 car back on the track the two-time nascar champ meanwhile dale earnhardt jr jeff gordon had 50 of the first 100 laps of this race but junior who's led just three taking the lead here leading three laps on father's day we've had 10 leaders 17 lead changes including casey kane who at one point was a lap down because of the debris on the grill but has worked his way back up to lead this race he is ahead of carl edwards with 74 laps to go and this has been a visa race break no matter what it takes remember jeff that life takes a visa and this track takes another caution we have our ninth caution flag that actually ties the record for michigan of course three of those have had to do with rain at different times in the race so that's the question now we've heard some of the crew chiefs talk about guessing when the rain is coming or more rain with storm clouds what's the thinking at this stage of the race right now i think everybody's thinking track position unless you've got a real ill handling race car we saw a couple cars come down pit road they knew they needed to work on it to kind of move up through the ranks but guys who are up front you believe one thing they'll be staying up front and really watching this radar to make sure that they don't come down pit road inadvertently and give up a win jimmy johnson who came in as the points leader although that lead shrinking kenseth was making it a close race mike documented some of matt kenz's problems earlier and the one thing i want you to notice right now looking at tony urey jr they're talking they're looking uh i mean all these crew chiefs right now are trying to get as much information where's the rain out how far is it how much rain are we going to have are we going to go back green if we do is any more rain coming in behind that that will help determine what you're going to do to your car and how hard your driver is going to run here i mean this is going to start putting a lot of pressure on a lot of these teams but we are past halfway as the rain hits in here in states it will be an official race and remember as you get a look at ray everingham and of course he has the lead car with casey kane that there are no lights of course it stays light out until about 9 30 or 10 this time of year in this part of michigan but you have dark clouds rolling in dark clouds rolling but we just hit heard a minute ago we will be getting ready to go back to green so the track must be clearing off and again that's what everybody's kind of watching it looks like there's rain off in the distance and let's see how kind of things uh play out now some irish eyes are smiling in the irish hills casey kane leads carl edwards and dale earnhardt jr under caution 73 laps to go here in michigan well i went to coming pretty decent now so french says it's coming down heavier but he hasn't lost the track yet it's just blacker though maybe that's just the rubber yeah i don't understand why it's not raining right now but it's gonna rain pretty good it's all around us right now they're going to bring you down pet road this time i just lost my right ear again i think it must be touching like a broken wire that touches walk out there nobody walks with purchase of q synthetic oil or oil change one two three one two three four five so so we can i'll be down greg y'all got everything you need down there yes thank you let's make some crash wrapped out here where's that crash rap out of the generator over there razor blade razor blade uh in that little tool tray in there on the side that red box oh he was having a decent run now he's 27th bobby labonte who we talked about a little bit there before that caution he's back in 28th so those guys elected to come in the pits and who knows might not have been such a good idea well that'll happen at a place that's as wide as this when you have such frequent cautions nine ties the record and you still have 37 cars on the lead lap so you make the wrong choice you go a long way back there's a young man right there that we've really not he's not been in a position that we've said a whole lot about in in the fedex uniform denny hamlin our winner and bud poll winner from pocono but right now i think this is the type of day he was looking for here at michigan they have struggled their car has been loose all weekend long his two teammates have been in trouble j.j yale and tony stewart but right now denny hamlin sitting in 12th remember he moved in the top 10 points last week denny may be one of those guys that says let it rain boys he's letting us he's letting his smile be his umbrella after that win at pocono casey mears there messing around with his future team mate dump a little water on him which i don't think he'll notice that's right we mentioned briefly earlier that brian vickers announced that he is leaving the number 25 team he's going to go out on his own we don't know what his plans are as of yet for 2007 and that seat did not grow cold when rick hendrick announced that casey mears would come on board and drive the 25 beginning in 2007. but you know back to casey mears right now he's sitting in the seventh position if he can hold on to this top ten he started the season off with three consecutive top 10 finishes right up there actually in the top five in points and he has not had a top 10 since then so this would be a pretty good day for him most of the cars pulled onto pit road to the red flag one of them went straight to the garage to steve burns and mike tony uh just got out of the race car tony you guys are officially out what happened on the racetrack and how tough is this for you well i mean it's not what we wanted by any means but uh you know just got clipped in the left rear you know it wasn't anything intentional by any means uh just uh you know jeff was a little eager probably we we weren't we weren't even really running that hard i mean we were just kind of taking our time and uh you know just every time we got too wide it gave jeff a run but um you know jake came jeff pulled up beside me on the caution kind of asked if everything's alright i told him we're cool so uh you know jeff's a great guy him and i've always got along good and there's uh you know it's just racing you know it's no big deal tony we saw you swinging the hammer is the shoulder blade okay man i was sitting there talking to the guys can you imagine what the uh the bill for jd gibbs is gonna be when he gets uh the invoice from greg zipidelli and myself for fabrication work i mean our hourly rate's not cheap so it's uh it's fine i mean i i'll be honest i mean i feel really good uh don't feel good about the day obviously but uh you know physically i feel great so just look forward to sending them next week glad you're i will see you next week nick jeff green was the other party involved in that incident with tony stewart and i have briefed jeff green on what tony stewart has had to say in that interview you were walking back with greg zipidelli stewart's crew chief what did you say to him i just apologize i mean i don't drive that away and i just got in a little bit over my head and my car pushed and uh tony held his line and i got up into him i hated i you know i wasn't doing that well anybody that way and tony's a good friend of mine and i know he's racing for that championship and that top 10 and our best buy chevy is really good at that point and uh just probably a little eager like he said i guess so uh just apologize to those guys all those guys on that 20 car they they deserve better and my guys do too so i just made a mistake today well it's amazing how tempers cooled down i was listening to tony stewart just after that incident that he was absolutely furious but he's calmed down with a little bit of time and all seems to be forgiven matt and greg biffle winner two of the last three races here at michigan now usually you just kill them down in three and four but today it's down in one and two what's wrong with three and four uh just just a little bit tight down there you know and and uh i was getting it there at the end you know it's over driving the corner a little bit because what this racetrack is so different at both ends but um it's really good one and two and usually i'm pretty good down three and four but i just needed a hot sunny day you know my car shines in that kind of racetrack where it's slick and after about 15 laps the tires get slick and and off my race car goes so this is bad news for me these cold temperatures and bunch in the field up caution after caution but uh i tell you the guys are doing a good job we've adjusted on it some and uh you know just uh just wish it wouldn't rain i know next week you've got a big production going on with a charity thing that's very special to you yeah we're announcing a sponsor for our pet calendar next week in sonoma uh we're really excited about that and uh you know just uh we got a raffle going on windbifflesbike.com it's a chopper custom built chopper for uh raffle we're gonna give it away in phoenix and raising money for the while the pets and animals so that's real exciting i want to say hi to my dad i know he's watching happy father's day to all the fathers out there watching today big picture wise this is a great points day for you yeah it really is i was asking where the 5 and 11 were there when it was raining like this because it's going to take a while to dry this racetrack unfortunately i think i have a car i can win with here and uh it just breaks my heart that it's going to rain if it has stayed green for you know two tire runs green flag cycle i think i could have had a pretty good lead now he started today 27 markers out of the top 10 in the championship standings if the race does not restart he will leave here unofficially in the top ten mike now we know that one thing and greg biffle and his crew chief doug richard is known for besides running up front at nextdale cup races is subway commercials they just shot a new commercial greg threw 34 subway sandwiches in doug richards face before they got the shot they wanted you don't think doug richard is a good sport i know that's why those crew chiefs get the big money i know somebody that he hammond and i could do that i mean you see the deal we did with the pie would he take 34 pies though would he be that good of a sport it takes him about that long to catch on that you're throwing pictures hey you know why tony's not upset think about where we're going next week and who is the defending champion a little road racing with tony stewart as the defending champion you got that right and uh i love that do you see that happy father's day on a little crumbled up quarter panel they got a sense of humor about it getting dark here we've had the threat of rain all afternoon that's casey kane the camera's following him it is official and that's your winner casey kane walking in the rain pulling his hair back and let's take you back if we could so casey kane your winner here in michigan rain shortened 129 laps fifth when he again wins from the pole four of his uh victories have come from the pole i think right now he's definitely singing in the rain as far as he's concerned because look he's not got an umbrella he's not worried about anything his day is kind of like this kind of fallen right where he needed to on that last pit stop the most opportune time the guy with click on his car the movie adam sandler who is the grand marshal got things started today for us in michigan gentlemen start you're get quick with the cars adam york grand marshall after a 45-minute delay to the start of the race because the rain thing's a little slick for robbie gordon spins out to bring out the first caution problem in the pits all day for a number of drivers matt kenseth who came in second in points multiple pit stops gentle brush with bill lester who was in this race lester's car suffering some damage kenseth later worked himself back up into the top 15 but more problems with him in a moment lap 22 tony stewart who came in fourth in points incidental causing accidental results jeff green tony steen behind the garage sat out for 70 laps helped out to get back in set a union violation but officially out of the race just as the rain came on the red flag came out meanwhile gibbs racing struggling with one of six rookies in the race that's jj yaley with a rough hit four drivers involved in this mishap and kenzith trying to maintain his comeback spinning out falling further back kansas would work his way back up to 13th when this race was called jeff gordon led 50 of the first 100 laps he started on the front row but there was a brief moment in the retro card dale earnhardt jr on father's day taking the lead led three laps on this day and as jeff pointed out hung in there currently running third but off pit road moments ago taking two tires casey kane and the evert ham dodge edges his way back out and ahead of carl edwards and dale earnhardt jr wins the rain shortened race here in michigan if you don't believe that sometimes the races are won or lost off pit road you take a look at that replay you get a pretty good idea as good a job as casey did his crew came through when it counted let's check in for some thoughts from daryl larry and mike casey kane is only the second driver to win at michigan from the pole in the last 21 races here jeff gordon won this race five years ago from the poll and this becomes the third rain shortened race here august of 69 and june of 74 are the only prior races to fall victim to rain tell you one thing i'd sleep with that race car fourth win if i was casey kane i wouldn't let that thing out of my sight but daryl you've been talking about it all day long even in the pre-race i think the big smiles besides from this nine group will come from the eight group dale earnhardt jr that group finished third led this race and we watched him while ago jeff gordon in the 24 car now we're headed to a road course now we're headed to daytona and that 24 group pretty solid but congratulations to reed sorenson jimmy elliot in the 41 car you see it right there finished fifth his first career top five next del cup finish and who would have believed strategy played a little party well his teammates not far behind right there in seven casey mirrors as well so good day for ganassi and they needed that because they really struggled at times so casey kane will go to victory lane his fourth win of 2006 leading the league and his fifth career win in 87 starts it's the fourth time he has won from the poll spread post race show you're watching nascar on fox from michigan it's all over casey kane winning the rain shortened event here and let's head down to i guess what is a victory fountain in the garage area and our steve burns steve yeah it's a makeshift winter circle chris myers casey kane what a great recovery by you and your race team getting up into the wall and happy hour yesterday what does it feel like to win here in michigan oh it's uh it's pretty crazy really to win in the rain you know be in the right spot there at the end but we did have the best car you know if there was uh there was a lot of good cars but we fought our way back to the front the guys built rebuilt my car from from yesterday and uh just pretty cool to get our dodge to there's your aw dot charger back in victory lane okay so you said you had the best car pretty confident if we had gone 200 laps you would have been there at the end well i know we would have challenged for it you know i know carl greg you know the hindered cars were good there's a few of them that were really good and we were one of them at that point in time so we would have challenged for it but um either way we won and uh i happy father's day my dad's here first time he's been here for an exhale cup win for me and all the fathers out there just a great weekend and um just proud man i'm excited i can't believe we won in the rain congratulations on your fourth win at 2006 we go to dick bergeron with junior third place have you ever had a stranger third place finished today yeah i'm sure i have uh let's take the early all that strange we had a great car and uh on that run right there we weren't good enough to win but we had a car earlier in the race it was good enough to win i asked them to tighten it up and they tightened it up a little bit too much so uh but it is late and uh we've got a lot of things get get done get home get to doing but uh so we'll take a third place real happy i've never really had a good car here that good anyways so we're really really excited about coming back here in a month or so we're excited about seeing you at sonoma next weekend thank you congratulations matt a great big picture day for carl edwards but it's always a gamble when you're battling the rain yeah big pictures i always tell people i want a big picture of victory lane you know that's what i'd like but um first of all happy father's day to my dad and all the other fathers out there had a great race man office depot ford was really good and my pit crew i mean coming back from the the debacle there at uh pocono to have great pit stops and i guess casey beat us out by about a foot and congratulations to him they did a great job and i know you and a number of other people were commenting about how close that battle was up here road yeah i know well when i started to realize how uh pivotal that was going to be and as far as the outcome of the race i i said i'd really like to see that tape and they showed it and he definitely beat us and um you know it's a good point today but man i want to get that first win for wally and all the guys and uh heck but it was still a blast had a good time carl edwards second here at michigan and he's never finished out of the top 10 at mis these are the unofficial race results though casey kane your winner jeff gordon winding up a for reed sorensen best career finish greg biffle up there sixth straight top ten we take a look right there also casey mears a strong run by him and even jeff gordon like he was on his way back up through the field but he had a little bit of a problem another strong run by jeff burton and there you look and see denny hamlin who won last week up in 12. brian vickers setting up 17th to dale jarrett 20th couple of drivers who will be changing positions for next year at least to driving teams jamie mcmurray yeah a little bit bobby bobby had things going his way but right there toward the end he liked mark martin i think came down pit road gave up some track position and then range kind of got got them in trouble bill lester winding up 32nd an improvement over where he finished in atlanta when he wound up 38th j.j yaley part of the mishap of gibbs racing or the unfortunate day and as we round it out tony stewart third finish of 40th or worse this season having problems since lap 22. the rain continues to fall but casey kane will leave here a winner in michigan don't leave us we have a lot more to cover nice to have you with us for nascar on fox and speaking of matt kins if you just talked about him remember we talked at the top of the show about chasing the weather here's a car that had damage on pit road he spun out he fought his way back to 13th and with jimmy johnson finishing six what could have been a disastrous day he only gave up 26 more points to the 48 car still only sitting 74 points behind that leader jimmy johnson we come back here in august as we continue the race to the chase here are the points you see biffles moved into the top ten uh displacing kyle busch denny hamlin there in ninth jimmy johnson picked up ahead of his lead yeah just a little bit i know it today was a great day and these guys are looking forward to coming back here in about a month and a half but you know what i'm looking forward to pour the wine and cut the cheese boys road racing i'll pour the wine thanks all right i'll cut the cheese i figured you would let's show you what's coming up ahead on nascar on fox next week fox goes west to wine country oh big mess that's ugly right there jeff gordon will come off turn 12 and score his eighth rope course checkered flag 20th career for tony stewart then we go under the lights in daytona usa jeff gordon's dupont pepsi chevy is going to win the pepsi 400. join fox for a usa birthday bash at america's most famous track it's the pepsi saturday night july 1st right here on fox tony stewart won both of those races last year the pepsi 400 and the road course at infineon raceway in the wine country jeff we have 11 races to go to the chase for the championship and uh jeff gordon right now is just on the fringe on the outside looking in well i think right now going into sonoma next week we ought to see a really fierce battle between jeff gordon and tony stewart as far as that as far as that track is concerned but we also can't forget when we go to the road course we got road course aces coming out like boris said ron fellows so we're gonna have some exciting racing next next week out there in california and casey kane the only driver with four wins this year making a statement that he'll be a part of the championship chase on father's day his father kelly got him interested in racing as a youngster he owns sprint cars raced in washington his dad actually built a dirt track in a field and they lived on a farm to help him race and casey kane making it pay off for his dad promotional consideration provided by these fine people and it was lap 117 when casey of the 129 complete laps took over for good even though he started out on the pole this rain shortened race final

Channel: Racins Fun

Views: 366

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 52qbqx7Xd04

Length: 133min 46sec (8026 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 28 2021