The NASCAR Pure Michigan 400 as it happened

BROOKLYN, MI - AUGUST 16: Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Freight Toyota, lead the field during parade laps before the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 16, 2015 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)
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BROOKLYN, MI - AUGUST 16:  Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Freight Toyota, lead the field during parade laps before the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 16, 2015 in Brooklyn, Michigan.  (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)
BROOKLYN, MI – AUGUST 16: Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Freight Toyota, lead the field during parade laps before the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 16, 2015 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)

Two weeks ago Matt Kenseth was the surprise winner at Pocono as the leaders ran out of fuel on the final lap. Sunday Kenseth was the driver to beat as he led a race high 146 of the 200 laps to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.  No one had anything for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver as Kenseth cruised to his 34th career win. Here’s how it all went down Sunday at Michigan.

Kenseth led the field to the green from his first career pole at Michigan but David Ragan spun entering turn 1 has the field exited turn 2 bringing the first caution of the day out. Kenseth had taken the lead while Jimmie Johnson slid into second, Denny Hamlin was third, Joey Logano fourth.

The green came back out on lap 6.  Kenseth was able to break away to a clear lead, Johnson went to second, Hamlin third, as Carl Edwards fought Logano for fourth.  By lap 10, Kenseth was just starting to stretch his lead out when caution two came out for debris on the backstretch.  The debris was from the 98 of Timmy Hill who had delayed the start of the race after laying down oil; an oil drain pan was left under the car when he returned to the track and popped out on the backstretch. MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. 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.