Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup series point’s race in 143 starts at Michigan Sunday. Earnhardt cruised to victory leading 95 of the 200 laps and winning by five seconds over Tony Stewart. The win came in his 450th career start and at the same race he last won in June of 2008.
After waiting out a rain delay of nearly two hours, the field took the green flag under bright blue skies. Early on, the lead was contested among Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and pole sitter Marcos Ambrose, who took the pole on Saturday with the fastest speed in NASCAR in 25 years, 203.241 miles per hour.
While the trio battled out front, Earnhardt, who started 17th, moved his way through the field and four caution periods, taking the lead for the first time on lap 71. From that point Earnhardt, his Chevy carrying a special Batman-The Dark Knight Rises paint scheme he helped design, was the class of the field. His only challenge came from Stewart who took the lead on a restart on lap 88. Stewart would hold the point until lap 109 when Earnhardt reasserted himself back into the lead. MORE>>>
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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