Behind the Wall: Pit Road Week 23: Michigan

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 23

By Richard Tix

Another year at Michigan International Speedway has passed. I have been going to the August race at MIS since 2006 and this is the first year I actually got to witness Jeff Gordon win a race in person. As always my trip to MIS was an enjoyable one.

In person, the racing at MIS this year was actually very exciting. A lot of times MIS tend to end up being a fuel milage race, which is even tougher to watch when you are at the track (compared to TV). This year the race started off with a string of cautions, followed by some long green flag runs to speed up the race, and then ending with a flurry of fantastic late restarts.

Those late restarts were the highlight of the day (as far as racing is concerned). Jeff Gordon holding his ground and fighting off Joey Logano will guys like Kevin Harvick and Paul Menard came charging in late. I would have to say, as far as the racing is concerned, this years race was in the top 3 of the MIS races I have attended since 2006.

Full 2014 Pure Michigan 400 results

Pit Road Power Rankings: Week 23 (Week 22)

Jeff Gordon (LW-4)- JG now has back to back Poles (WG and MIS) and notched his third win of 2014 at the Pure Michigan 400. Gordon is also the Sprint Cup points leader (by two over Dale Jr) and has the top spot in the Chase standings with just 3 races left.
Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-1)- Tough losing the #1 spot after finishing 5th, but Gordon deserves it with how impressive he has been. Nothing to take away from Jr though, 2014 has been an outstanding season for him so far.
Kevin Harvick (LW-2)- Harvick is like Jr, only moving down because Gordon jumped up with the win. Harvick now has 4 straight top 10's (two of them were 2nd place finishes).
Joey Logano (LW-8)- JoLo had the car to beat most of the day at MIS but Gordon hung around like a puppy dog, and in the end took over up front. To me it just seemed like JoLo got caught in traffic and lost that "clean air" his car liked so much early in the race.
Denny Hamlin (LW-6)- MIS was a step back in the right direction for DH. He didn't have a great day but did end up finishing 7th, but also got into a debate with Jr on how he has to drive against him.
Greg Biffle (LW-9)- Man, when Biffle was pushed to the edge of missing the Chase he turned it on. He has three straight top 10 finishes to help him in points towards the Chase, but will it be enough or does he need a win?
Kasey Kahne (LW-5)- Things are starting to get close around the 14th-17th spot in the standings and Kahne is in the hot spot. His 16th place finish at MIS wasn't Chase ending, but Biffle did finish 10th and gained a bit more room. Kahne will need some quality finishes and possibly even a win to get in, maybe Atlanta?
Brad Keselowski (LW-10)- BK had a string of poor finishes after his hot streak and now maybe he will get back on a hot streak after an 8th place finish. That 8th place finish came after he ran top 5 most of the day and then hit the wall late. Impressive that he brought that car in top 10.
Matt Kenseth (LW-3)- Up, down, up, down. That's Kenseth as of late, yet he still holds the 5th spot in the standings and a spot on points into the Chase.
Clint Bowyer (LW-NR)- Bowyer has a spot on points as of right now and has been running just well enough to keep that spot, but one new 2014 winner would change all of that. On a high note, he finished 6th on Sunday.
Ryan Newman (LW-12)- In 23 races Newman has finished on the lead lap all but 5 times (two of them were Daytona). He may not be dominating, but he is finding quality finishes that look like they will get him into the Chase.
Jimmie Johnson (LW-NR)- Not ranked last week because of a stretch of terrible luck, JJ gets the last spot because he finished 9th while using a vise grips to try and shift gears. BK impressed by bringing his car home top 10, but just as impressive was JJ's top 10.

Dropping out: Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson

Just Missed: Jamie McMurray, AJ Allmendinger and Marcus Ambrose

Honorable Mention: Marcus Ambrose (12th) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr (15th)

While I was in Michigan I didn't do a great job asking on Twitter who you guys thought would win. However, I still ended up with 4 fans who predicted Jeff Gordon our of about 13. So, a good number of you are either good guessers or just know something the others don't. So, its taken all year but this section will now be labeled the "Winners Circle."

Winners Circle