Story By: BRANDON LEE / RFK RACING – BROOKLYN, MI – RFK Racing left Michigan International Speedway with a pair of top-6 finishes Monday as Brad Keselowski earned a 5th-place result, while teammate Chris Buescher fought back for P6.
Like last season’s race at Michigan, inclement weather proved to be an issue at the 2-mile track on raceday. Persistent rains Sunday afternoon allowed only 51 laps to be completed, pushing the remainder of the 200-mile race to Monday.
Inclement weather also cancelled qualifying on Saturday, as the field was determined by NASCAR’s metric. That put the No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford P15 to start, and Buescher’s Fifth Third Bank Ford P18.
6 Recap
Keselowski’s opening laps allowed for an early strategy play on Sunday, as the opening 38 laps ran under green with the No. 6 in 13th. He remained on track in the first caution as the field split strategies. He restarted fifth because of it, and would finish seventh to end stage one (lap 45).
Rain set in at that point, which ultimately suspended activity for the day. When action picked back up Monday, Keselowski found himself on the opposite side of track position, restarting 30th.
He remained on track until lap 103, stretching the pit cycle, inheriting the lead for a pair of laps in the sequence. The yellow was displayed just a few laps later, again opening the door for strategy. Keselowski remained on track, setting him up fourth on the restart with just five laps left in the stage. A yellow ultimately ended the stage, but Keselowski benefitted, finishing fourth, earning more stage points.
From there, Keselowski hardly left the top-5 as just one pit stop remained in the final 75 laps. His came with 39 laps to go from fourth, before a caution reset the field with six laps remaining.
The field attempted one green-white-checkered finish with a caution waving just a lap in, before NASCAR Overtime eventually determined the finish, with Keselowski crossing the stripe fifth.
17 Recap
Buescher and the 17 team were resilient Monday afternoon, overcoming a multi-car crash that warranted extensive repairs, and a drive back through the field.
Rewind to Sunday’s opening 50 laps and Buescher had one of the fastest cars on track, working all the way to third when the field restarted for the shootout to end stage one, where he finished fifth.
Like Keselowski, Buescher restarted Monday deep in the field, firing back off 25th. He was back in the top-15 when the field restarted with 10 laps remaining in stage two, before a multi-car crash at lap 116 occurred. A car behind the initial incident made contact with Buescher and others, causing damage mainly on the left side of Buescher’s machine. After extensive repairs, the team patched up the Fifth Third machine and didn’t lose a lap, putting him back in the pack for the final 70 laps.
From there he began his climb forward, as a two-tire call under the caution with four to go aided his efforts in track position. He lined up ninth on the final restart and fought to sixth, salvaging a solid day despite the earlier crash.
Up Next
Daytona International Speedway hosts the NASCAR Cup Series next weekend with race coverage set for 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday night on NBC, and radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).