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Kurt Busch wins the shortened Quicken Loans 400

  • 2015 NASCAR Quicken loans 400, pit stop

After breaking his long winless streak at Pocono, Martin Truex Jr. was hyped up to continue with winning at Michigan International Speedway. After being plagued by red flags and rains, the race ended prematurely on lap 138 with Kurth Busch as the winner. Under a cloudy sky, the race started with pole sitter Kevin Harvick in the lead, but by the end of lap one, he was overtaken by Carl Edwards. However, Edwards was trading places with Kasey Kahne who was determined to win. The tempo was quickly toned down due to a yellow flag on lap 11 because of the rain in Turn 2. Not long after the yellow, the race was red flagged on lap 13.

2015-NASCAR-Quickenloans-400

The skies cleared after a while, and after driers did their job, the race was restarted after an hour at around 2:20PM on lap 14. The cars did a few laps under caution, but went back to he pits on lap 19 because the rain didn’t completely stop. On 3:10PM, the race restarted again, and while still under yellow, Ryan Blaney’s car left debris on the track, prolonging the caution period. The race restarted on lap 29 and Martin Truex Jr. climbed to second, closing down on Carl Edwards. On lap 40, a competition caution flew and drivers could finally refuel their cars. Josh Wise was in the lead during the caution period, and he was replaced by Kevin Harvick who was followed by Dale Jr, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. In the meantime, young gun Alex Bowman got loose and hit the wall and was forced to quit the race. The third red flag flew on lap 45 because of (yes, you have guessed it) rain.

The race restarted under caution around 4:20PM ET, and the green flag went on lap 51. However the yellow went up again on lap 52 when Kyle Busch got loose and crashed into an outside wall while he was battling for fifth with his brother Kurt. That unfortunate event put a shadow on his great XFinity weekend where he made a winning comeback. The green flag flew on lap 59 with Harvick in the lead, followed by Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. David Gilliland had to finish his race early when he hit the wall, but since he made it to the garage, the race was still under green. On lap 81, Kurt Busch made a pit stop and after him, other cars drove to the pits as well, including the leading pack. Matt Kenseth emerged as the leader. After Kenseth went to the pits, the leading position went to Kyle Larson who still didn’t pit. After Larson went to the pits, Joey Logano was in the lead. On lap 95, Logano burned all the fuel, giving the lead to Danica Patrick, fortunately getting to the pits safely. As Patrick went to the pits, Kevin Harvick was back in the lead.

Halfway into the race, Harvick was the first and was followed by Kenseth and Edwards, but Carl has lost speed and was pushed down to eighth by lap 104. Dale Jr. went up to third, and was followed by Kurt Busch and Truex Jr. On lap 120, Truex Jr. went to the pits, as well as Dale Jr. on lap 122. Kenseth and Keselowski were in the lead during the period, and Kevin Harvick had to pit with one tire down. Debris have caused a yellow on lap 125 and Keselowski pitted from the leading position, and after him, it was Edwards who went to the pit lane from the first, leaving Kyle Larson in the lead.

On lap 130, the race was restarted. It was Kurt Busch who overtook Dale Jr. and started hunting Larson. On lap 137, the caution was out because of rain with Kurt Busch in the lead, and the race was eventually red flagged again because of a heavy downpour.

NASCAR officials have called the race official on lap 138 and Kurt Busch was ruled the winner. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was on second, followed by Martin Truex Jr, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano in top five. Brad Keselowski was in front of Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, Trevor Bayne and Clint Bowyer.

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