Event statistics following the 15th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.
Clint Bowyer took his second victory of the season, in a race that was abbreviated by rain after 133 laps, only 13 laps into the final stage. Bowyer – who led only eight laps – and his No. 14 Ford team took two tires on his previous pit stop during the final caution period, which came out for the end of the second stage. Bowyer then held off teammate Kevin Harvick on what would be the final restart, moments before the rain fell. For Bowyer, it marked his second straight victory in which precipitation played a role; he won at Martinsville Speedway in March in a race that was postponed a day due to snow.
Race Statistics
FireKeepers Casino 400
Michigan International Speedway – Brooklyn, Michigan
- Winner (starting position): Clint Bowyer (12th)
- Top Five: Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard,
- Full Results: Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, Aric Almirola, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Alex Bowman, A.J. Allmendinger, Martin Truex Jr., Darrell Wallace Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Ty Dillon, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell, Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez, Gray Gaulding, Landon Cassill, Matt Kenseth, D.J. Kennington, Timmy Hill, Matt DiBenedetto, B.J. McLeod, David Ragan, Garrett Smithley
- Average Speed: 132.723 mph
- Laps Completed: 133
- Race Leaders: 7
- Laps Led: Kevin Harvick (49), Kurt Busch (46), Ryan Blaney (15), Kasey Kahne (11), Clint Bowyer (8), Paul Menard (3), Kyle Larson (1)
- Pole Position: Kurt Busch (203.361 mph; 35.405 seconds)
- Hard Charger: Jamie McMurray (+14; 24th to 10th)
- Margin of Victory: Under Caution/Red Flag
- Car Count: 39
- Cars Entered: 39
- Cars Running at Finish: 37 (of 39; or 95 percent of the field)
- Drivers to Finish on Lead Lap: 29
- Cautions: 8 for 30 laps
- Lead Changes: 9
- Stage Winners: Ryan Blaney (1), Kevin Harvick (2)
- Manufacturer Breakdown: Chevrolet (19); Ford (13); Toyota (7)
- Weather at Start of Race: 64 degrees Fahrenheit, overcast, winds NE 12 mph
- Weather at End of Race: 63 degrees Fahrenheit, showers, winds NE 24 mph
Notes of Interest – Race/Weekend Recap
- This marked the 98th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
- This is Clint Bowyer’s second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2018 season and the 10th of his career. It marked Bowyer’s first victory at Michigan International Speedway.
- Bowyer now has 21 victories in NASCAR’s three national series.
- Bowyer is the 61st driver with at least 10 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victories.
- Bowyer is the fourth driver with multiple victories in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition this season. Kevin Harvick has a season-leading five victories, while Kyle Busch has four and Martin Truex Jr. has two. Austin Dillon and Joey Logano have one win each.
- This is the third different season that Bowyer has multiple wins. Bowyer won a season-high three races in 2012, and also had two wins in 2010. Overall, Bowyer has at least one victory in six different seasons.
- This is Bowyer’s fourth top-three and top-five finish of the season, and the eighth top-10 result of 2018. He has an average finish of 10.73, the fourth best of all drivers this season (behind Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick).
- This is Bowyer’s third career victory on an oval of two miles or more. He won back-to-back fall races at Talladega Superspeedway in 2010 and 2011.
- This is Bowyer’s first Cup Series victory since he turned 39 (birthdate was May 30).
- Bowyer’s victory came from the 12th starting position, the first time a driver has won from 12th this season. It is also the second-furthest back Bowyer has started en route to winning; his worst starting position en route to winning was the 2008 spring race at Richmond International Raceway.
- This is the first time a driver has won a race from the 12th starting position since Kevin Harvick won the 2017 race at Sonoma Raceway.
- This is the second time in four races that a driver won from 12th at Michigan; Kyle Larson won Race 2 at the track in 2016 from 12th. Overall, four races at Michigan have been won from 12th.
- This is the first time this season a race has been cut short due to rain and first time since the 2016 fall race at Texas Motor Speedway.
- This is Bowyer’s second victory with Stewart-Haas Racing, and his second victory with Ford.
- Bowyer led only eight laps, the fewest he’s ever led in a victory in his career. He led only 13 laps in his 2008 spring race victory at Richmond International Raceway.
- Bowyer is the first driver since Kevin Harvick at Kansas Speedway last month to win the race without leading the most laps in that race (Kyle Larson led a race-high 101 laps before finishing fourth).
- Bowyer has finished 24 of his 25 races at Michigan International Speedway; his only retirement was the second race at the track in 2006, when he suffered engine problems with only three laps remaining. Overall, this marked only Bowyer’s second top-five at Michigan.
- In addition to his 10th Cup Series win, Bowyer also now has 68 top fives and 188 top 10s.
- Bowyer has completed the second most laps of a driver this season, at 4,567 laps. He’s completed every lap of a race 10 times this season.
- This is Stewart-Haas Racing’s series-leading seventh Cup Series victory of the season. Kevin Harvick has five wins and Clint Bowyer has two. It is SHR’s second win at Michigan; the team also won with Kurt Busch in the first race of 2015, which was also a race-shortened race (and the last abbreviated Cup Series race at Michigan).
- This is Ford’s series-leading eighth Cup Series victory of the season and 36th victory at Michigan (first since Joey Logano in the first race of 2016). The victory at Michigan ended Chevrolet’s three-race winning streak, all with Kyle Larson behind the wheel.
- Bowyer’s teammate, Kevin Harvick, finished second, his series-leading 11th top-five and 12th top-10 result (tied with Kyle Busch and Joey Logano for most top 10s). Harvick, the series-leader with five wins, has finished in the top five in five of the last six races, the Coca Cola 600 the only exception (when he finished last). Harvick’s 9.33 average finish is the third best among drivers this season.
- Harvick led a race-high 49 laps, the fifth time this season he’s led the most laps in a race. He’s led 10 races (tied with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano for most this season), for a series-leading 958 laps, and is one of two drivers to lead laps in each of the last two races (Ryan Blaney is the other). That is more than he led all of last season (850 through 36 races in 2017).
- Harvick now has 179 top fives and 319 top 10s in his Cup Series career.
- Kurt Busch finished third, giving Stewart-Haas Racing its first-ever sweep of the top three positions in a Cup Series race. It also marked the first time a team earned the top three spots since Roush Racing finished 1-2-3 in the 2008 fall race at Dover international Speedway (Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards).
- On the season, Busch has three top fives (all in the last six races) and eight top 10s.
- Busch led 46 laps, the second-most of a driver to lead the race. It marked the first time he’s led at Michigan since he led six laps in the first Michigan race of 2015, when he won. He’s led 263 laps on the season, the most he’s led in a season since 2015 (788 laps led).
- Busch finished on the lead lap for the seventh consecutive race, which leads all drivers. He’s finished every race on the lead lap since the race at Richmond International Raceway.
- Busch earned his second pole of the season (Texas spring), third at Michigan (first since first race of 2011) and 24th of his career. His 46 laps led were the most he’s led as a polesitter since the 2016 spring race at Atlanta Motor Speedway (led 62 laps).
- Kyle Busch finished fourth, earning his 10th top-five of the season and 12th top 10 of 2018. Kyle Busch – driving the highest-finishing Toyota – has an average finish of 7.33, the best among all drivers in 2018.
- Paul Menard finished a season-best finish, his best result driving for Wood Brothers Racing. It marked the team’s best result since Ryan Blaney finished third in the 2017 fall race at Kansas Speedway.
- The next three drivers all came from Team Penske. Brad Keselowski finished sixth, earning his ninth top 10 of the season and third in a row. Keselowski’s nine top 10s are the most of any driver without a victory this season (tied with Kyle Larson).
- Joey Logano finished seventh, his 12th top-10 finish of the season. He maintains the second-best average finish this season of all drivers, at 8.07.
- Logano has completed the most laps of any driver this season, with 4,593 out of 4,595, and is tied with Kyle Busch for most races completing every lap (13 out of 15).
- Ryan Blaney was eighth, his eighth top 10 of 2018. Blaney led 15 laps, the first laps he’s led at Michigan, to push his total to 444 laps led on the season, the third most of any driver in the series. He has led more laps of any driver without a victory so far in 2018.
- Blaney was the seventh Ford driver in the top eight finishers.
- Chase Elliott finished ninth in the highest-finishing Chevrolet in the race. Elliott has seven top 10s on the season.
- Jamie McMurray finished 10th, his third top 10 of 2018. McMurray climbed a race-high 14 positions after starting 24th, making him the 10th driver this season to advance the most positions from start to finish in a race.
- Aric Almirola finished 11th, ensuring all four Stewart-Haas Racing cars finished in the top 11.
- Ross Chastain and Corey LaJoie, who finished 26th and 27th respectively, completed their first races on the lead lap this season. It was Chastain’s first in 14 races in 2018 and LaJoie’s first in seven races this season.
- Kyle Larson’s bid for four consecutive victories ended after an early-race spin; he went on to finish 28th.
- Garrett Smithley, in his Cup Series debut, started and finished 39th, retiring after one lap due to transmission problems. Smithley was the seventh driver to make his Cup Series debut in 2018.
- A total of seven drivers led the race, and traded the lead a total of nine times.
- A total of 31 drivers finished on the lead lap, the most of any race this season.
- A total of 19 drivers improved on their starting position in the race.
- A total of 35 cars finished the race, tying the season-best mark, also set March 26 at Martinsville Speedway.
- The next Cup Series race will be Sunday, June 24, with the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway in California.
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