Kurt Busch masters rain hit Michigan

Kurt Busch has won the rain-shortened Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway as a number of drivers rolled the dice to beat the threatening skies.

The race was stopped four times by red flags for rain. NASCAR declared the race at 138 of 200 laps when a massive storm hit the track.

Under NASCAR rules a race can be declared official once 50% is complete. Michigan does not have a lighting system, meaning darkness was the other factor in declaring the result. In fact only 100 laps were run under full racing green flag conditions.

It was Busch’s second win of the season and 27th of his career. He gave Stewart-Haas Racing its first win at Michigan after scoring his third career victory at the two-mile track.

Busch took the lead on lap 133 when Kyle Larson, who was trying to stretch his fuel as the rain approached simply ran out of time and had to pit for fuel. Five laps later the skies opened and the race was called awarding Busch the victory.

“(Crew chief) Tony Gibson led these guys through a back-up car, the pit crew was there giving it its best,” said Busch.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to know what we went through, paced ourselves and found the lead towards the latter part of the race and then the rain came in.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano rounded out the top five. For Truex Jr. it was his 14th top-10 finish in the season’s first 15 races to tie Richard Petty’s mark in 1969.

Defending champion and points leader, Kevin Harvick, had his time at the front of the field but ended up 36th and two laps down after a puncture.

Kyle Busch took a big hit to his hopes of making the Chase when he slammed into the wall on lap 53.

VIDEO: Rain gamble

VIDEO: Victory Lane

 RESULTS: Quicken Loans 400 – Michigan International Speedway

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MANUFACTURER	STARTING POS.	LAPS	LAPS LED	FINAL STATUS	POINTS	BONUS POINTS
1	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	24	138	6	Running	47	4
2	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	14	138	1	Running	43	1
3	78	Martin Truex Jr	Chevrolet	9	138	0	Running	41	0
4	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	12	138	3	Running	41	1
5	22	Joey Logano	Ford	11	138	7	Running	40	1
6	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	3	138	6	Running	39	1
7	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	25	138	0	Running	37	0
8	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	17	138	0	Running	36	0
9	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	20	138	0	Running	35	0
10	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	32	138	0	Running	34	0
11	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	13	138	0	Running	33	0
12	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	4	138	41	Running	33	1
13	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	27	138	0	Running	31	0
14	33	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	22	138	0	Running	0	0
15	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	1	138	1	Running	30	1
16	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	19	138	2	Running	29	1
17	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	16	138	7	Running	28	1
18	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	23	138	0	Running	26	0
19	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	8	137	0	Running	25	0
20	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	7	137	0	Running	24	0
21	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	6	137	0	Running	23	0
22	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	26	137	0	Running	22	0
23	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	31	137	0	Running	21	0
24	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	5	137	0	Running	0	0
25	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	33	137	0	Running	19	0
26	9	Sam Hornish Jr	Ford	30	137	0	Running	18	0
27	51	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	36	137	0	Running	17	0
28	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	15	137	0	Running	16	0
29	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	2	137	63	Running	17	2
30	46	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	35	137	0	Running	14	0
31	40	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	29	137	0	Running	0	0
32	35	Cole Whitt	Ford	40	137	0	Running	12	0
33	34	Brett Moffitt	Ford	37	137	0	Running	11	0
34	98	Josh Wise	Ford	39	137	1	Running	11	1
35	55	David Ragan	Toyota	18	136	0	Running	9	0
36	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	21	136	0	Running	8	0
37	26	Jeb Burton	Toyota	38	136	0	Running	7	0
38	23	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	41	136	0	Running	0	0
39	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	43	136	0	Running	5	0
40	32	Mike Bliss	Ford	42	136	0	Running	0	0
41	7	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	28	84	0	Running	3	0
42	38	David Gilliland	Ford	34	64	0	Accident	2	0
43	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	10	52	0	Accident	1	0

 

STANDINGS

POS	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	DNF
1	Kevin Harvick	576	Leader	15	2	10	13	0
2	Martin Truex Jr	561	-15	15	1	5	14	0
3	Joey Logano	520	-56	15	1	8	11	0
4	Dale Earnhardt Jr	508	-68	15	1	8	9	1
5	Jimmie Johnson	506	-70	15	4	9	10	0
6	Brad Keselowski	480	-96	15	1	3	9	1
7	Jamie McMurray	464	-112	15	0	2	7	1
8	Matt Kenseth	456	-120	15	1	5	9	1
9	Kasey Kahne	447	-129	15	0	2	5	1
10	Jeff Gordon	434	-142	15	0	2	8	1
11	Kurt Busch	426	-150	12	2	5	7	0
12	Paul Menard	421	-155	15	0	2	4	1
13	Denny Hamlin	412	-164	15	1	3	6	1
14	Carl Edwards	401	-175	15	1	1	2	0
15	Aric Almirola	401	-175	15	0	1	1	1
16	Ryan Newman	400	-176	15	0	4	8	1
17	Clint Bowyer	388	-188	15	0	0	4	0
18	Kyle Larson	361	-215	14	0	1	5	2
19	Danica Patrick	357	-219	15	0	0	2	0
20	Greg Biffle	351	-225	15	0	1	2	0
21	Casey Mears	339	-237	15	0	0	1	1
22	AJ Allmendinger	321	-255	15	0	0	2	3
23	Austin Dillon	314	-262	15	0	0	1	2
24	David Ragan	299	-277	15	0	1	1	1
25	Sam Hornish Jr	273	-303	15	0	0	1	1
26	Tony Stewart	269	-307	15	0	0	1	3
27	Trevor Bayne	263	-313	15	0	0	1	1
28	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	262	-314	15	0	1	1	1
29	David Gilliland	262	-314	15	0	0	0	1
30	Justin Allgaier	251	-325	15	0	0	1	3
31	Cole Whitt	239	-337	15	0	0	0	1
32	Brett Moffitt	215	-361	13	0	0	1	0
33	Alex Bowman	195	-381	14	0	0	0	2
34	Michael Annett	176	-400	15	0	0	0	1
35	Josh Wise	155	-421	14	0	0	1	3
36	Matt DiBenedetto	148	-428	12	0	0	0	0
37	Michael McDowell	101	-475	7	0	0	0	0
38	Jeb Burton	85	-491	11	0	0	0	2
39	Kyle Busch	78	-498	4	0	0	1	2
40	Alex Kennedy	48	-528	6	0	0	0	0
41	Bobby Labonte	38	-538	2	0	0	0	0
42	Brian Vickers	32	-544	2	0	0	0	0
43	Michael Waltrip	26	-550	2	0	0	0	0
44	Reed Sorenson	22	-554	2	0	0	0	0
45	Mike Wallace	8	-568	1	0	0	0	0
46	Ron Hornaday Jr	2	-574	1	0	0	0	1
47	Ryan Blaney	0	-576	6	0	1	1	3
48	Brian Scott	0	-576	4	0	0	0	2
49	Ty Dillon	0	-576	4	0	0	0	0
50	J.J. Yeley	0	-576	14	0	0	0	2
51	Regan Smith	0	-576	4	0	0	0	0
52	Chase Elliott	0	-576	3	0	0	0	0
53	Matt Crafton	0	-576	1	0	0	0	0
54	Johnny Sauter	0	-576	1	0	0	0	0
55	Chris Buescher	0	-576	5	0	0	0	0
56	Landon Cassill	0	-576	15	0	0	0	4
57	Brendan Gaughan	0	-576	7	0	0	0	2
58	Mike Bliss	0	-576	8	0	0	0	0
59	Joe Nemechek	0	-576	1	0	0	0	0
60	Travis Kvapil	0	-576	1	0	0	0	0
61	Joey Gase	0	-576	2	0	0	0	1
62	Jeff Green	0	-576	1	0	0	0	0
63	Erik Jones	0	-576	1	0	0	0	0
64	Tanner Berryhill	0	-576	0	0	0	0	0
65	Justin Marks	0	-576	0	0	0	0	0