NASCAR In Michigan: Denny Hamlin Wins Heluva Good! 400

Coming into this weekend’s race at Michigan International Raceway, most in the garage figured the Roush Fenway Racing Fords as the cars to beat in Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400. Those guesses were correct, but Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 11 team was able to do just that.

The No. 11 crew won the race off pit road on the final stop of the day and their driver Denny Hamlin was able to get a great restart to beat Matt Kenseth for the win.

Carl Edwards more than doubled his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points lead on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, finishing fifth while his nearest competitors faltered.

Jimmie Johnson had been just seven points behind Edwards heading into Michigan, but fell three spots to fifth place after a 27th-place finish.

Although Jimmie Johnson was able to make up ground on points leader Carl Edwards last weekend in Pocono, it was all erased Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Qualifying in the 21st spot, Johnson’s day only got worse when the No. 48 spun exiting the second turn just nine laps into the race. Although the car did not make contact with the wall or another driver, the incident ground the sway bar off the right front of the car.

Kyle Busch says he wasn’t sick to his stomach during Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway, but rather was plagued by chest pains and breathing issues.

“I don’t know what it was,” he said after finishing third and leading 59 laps. “Just a center chest pain I had early in the race. It was really hard to breathe. Couldn’t tell you what it was – I’ve never felt that before.”

As the laps wound down it appeared Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 from Michigan International Speedway was going to come down to a fuel mileage race. With Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth battling for the race lead and saving fuel, the entire complexion of the race changed when Dale Earnhardt Jr. hit the wall and brought out the caution flag with eight laps to go.

When the field headed to pit road for the much needed fuel, Hamlin’s No. 11 pit crew sent him out with the race lead. Getting a great restart, Hamlin was able to hold off a hard-charging Kenseth to score his first victory of the season.

It’s time for 400 miles at Michigan International Speedway, and no one can be sure what the day holds.

Will we see one of Michigan’s infamous fuel-mileage races? Will a Roush Fenway Racing car dominate the day? Or perhaps will we see a surprise winner, like Regan Smith at Darlington?

Back when Dale Earnhardt Jr. was winning races all the time, he’d be driving along in the top five and notice the competition around him. And if there happened to be a so-so driver who was having a better-than-average day, Earnhardt Jr. would race the guy harder.

“You’re like, ‘Man, I don’t want to get beat by you. You don’t typically out-run me, so I don’t want to get beat by you today,’” Earnhardt Jr. said.

One of the only kinks in the armor that has shown on the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team over the past two seasons has been the over-the-wall crew pitting the car.

During last year’s Chase, crew chief Chad Knaus made the call to use teammate Jeff Gordon’s pit crew halfway through the race at Texas. During the off-season Knaus restructured the majority of the crew, something that has been an ongoing process thus far in 2011.

It’s going to be a busy weekend here at Michigan International Speedway, with a NASCAR Nationwide Series/Sprint Cup doubleheader.

As a reminder, Friday is a practice day at Michigan and qualifying for both Sprint Cup and Nationwide isn’t until Saturday.

This weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to the rolling hills of Michigan for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan Speedway. An historic track that produces two- and three-wide racing, Michigan International Raceway is known for its long sweeping corners and green flag racing.

The 2-mile D-shaped oval is typically a proving ground for Roush Fenway Racing, eager to prove itself to Ford Motor Company in nearby Detroit. Leading the points with Carl Edwards, the Ford brigade will be searching their first Michigan victory since Edwards’ win in 2008.