Race Results

NASCAR Cup Series

FireKeepers Casino 400

Michigan International Speedway

August 7th, 2022

Race #23 of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Season

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Laps Scheduled: 200
Miles Raced : 400.0
Time of Race : 02 Hours 54 minutes 08 seconds
Average Speed: 137.825 mph
Margin of Victory : 02.903 seconds
Cautions: 7
Caution Laps: 36
Lead Changes: 15
Cars in Race : 37
Finished On Lead Lap: 22 (59%)

Kevin Harvick celebrates after winning — Brooklyn, Michigan - August 7th, 2022: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light Apple #BuschelOfBusch Ford, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Photo by Sean Gardner | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	16	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	43	40	3	5	200	38	1	8	0	Running
2	1	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	35	35	0	0	200	22	2	0	0	Running
3	9	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	53	34	19	1	200	38	3	2	1	Running
4	4	22	Joey Logano	Ford	36	33	3	0	200	0	0	9	10	Running
5	24	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	32	32	0	0	200	0	0	0	0	Running
6	7	19	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	38	31	7	0	200	0	0	4	0	Running
7	8	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	38	30	8	0	200	0	0	0	3	Running
8	10	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	42	29	13	0	200	5	1	3	6	Running
9	30	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	31	28	3	0	200	0	0	0	8	Running
10	11	45	Ty Gibbs	Toyota	0	0	0	0	200	2	1	0	0	Running
11	13	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	26	26	0	0	200	0	0	0	0	Running
12	20	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	31	25	6	0	200	0	0	7	9	Running
13	26	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	28	24	4	0	200	0	0	0	7	Running
14	25	42	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	23	23	0	0	200	0	0	0	0	Running
15	33	6	Brad Keselowski	Ford	28	22	6	0	200	0	0	0	5	Running
16	19	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	27	21	6	0	200	1	1	5	0	Running
17	21	31	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	20	20	0	0	200	0	0	0	0	Running
18	31	33	Austin Hill	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	200	0	0	0	0	Running
19	32	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	18	18	0	0	200	0	0	0	0	Running
20	23	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	18	17	1	0	200	0	0	10	0	Running
21	35	77	Josh Bilicki	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	200	0	0	0	0	Running
22	34	51	Cody Ware	Ford	15	15	0	0	200	0	0	0	0	Running
23	36	78	BJ McLeod	Ford	0	0	0	0	199	1	1	0	0	Running
24	22	1	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	18	13	5	0	199	29	1	6	0	Running
25	15	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	21	12	9	0	198	33	2	0	2	Running
26	2	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	28	11	17	1	193	31	3	1	4	Accident
27	37	38	Todd Gilliland	Ford	10	10	0	0	188	0	0	0	0	Running
28	14	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	9	9	0	0	187	0	0	0	0	Running
29	6	8	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	8	8	0	0	110	0	0	0	0	Engine
30	12	16	Noah Gragson	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	109	0	0	0	0	Accident
31	17	41	Cole Custer	Ford	6	6	0	0	94	0	0	0	0	Accident
32	27	21	Harrison Burton	Ford	5	5	0	0	29	0	0	0	0	Accident
33	28	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Chevrolet	4	4	0	0	25	0	0	0	0	Accident
34	18	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	3	3	0	0	25	0	0	0	0	Accident
35	29	15	JJ Yeley	Ford	0	0	0	0	24	0	0	0	0	Accident
36	3	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	1	1	0	0	24	0	0	0	0	Accident
37	5	2	Austin Cindric	Ford	1	1	0	0	24	0	0	0	0	Accident

Race Infractions

FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
BJ McLeod	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	23	24	Yellow
BJ McLeod	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	23	24	Yellow
Josh Bilicki	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	23	24	Yellow
Aric Almirola	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	25	0	Yellow
JJ Yeley	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	25	0	Yellow
Kyle Busch	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	25	0	Yellow
Michael McDowell	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	25	32	Yellow
Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	25	0	Yellow
Harrison Burton	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	25	0	Yellow
Todd Gilliland	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	25	32	Yellow
Ty Gibbs	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	31	32	Yellow
Todd Gilliland	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	47	51	Yellow
Cody Ware	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Tail End	49	51	Yellow
Ross Chastain	Tire violation Uncontrolled Tire	Pass Thru	92	95	Green
Cole Custer	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	97	0	Yellow
Michael McDowell	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	99	105	Yellow
Todd Gilliland	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	99	105	Yellow
Noah Gragson	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	109	0	Yellow
Kyle Larson	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	123	126	Yellow
Austin Hill	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	123	126	Yellow
Kyle Larson	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	125	126	Yellow
Tyler Reddick	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	125	0	Yellow
Ross Chastain	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	160	165	Yellow
Christopher Bell	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	160	165	Yellow
Denny Hamlin	Safety violation	Tail End	161	165	Yellow
Denny Hamlin	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Tail End	161	165	Yellow
Ty Gibbs	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	161	165	Yellow

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Race Fast Facts

Michigan International Speedway
54th Annual FireKeepers Casino 400
Race Winner: Kevin Harvick
Age: 46
Team : No. 4 - Busch Light Apple BuschelOfBusch Ford
Owner: Tony Stewart
Crew Chief: Rodney Childers
Kevin Harvick won the 54th Annual FireKeepers Casino 400, his 59th victory in 777 Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and 12th top-10 finish in 2022.
This is his sixth victory and 22nd top-10 finish in 42 races at Michigan International Speedway.
Bubba Wallace (second) posted his second top-10 finish in nine races at Michigan International Speedway. It is his sixth top-10 finish in 2022.
Denny Hamlin (third) posted his 17th top-10 finish in 32 races at Michigan International Speedway.
Todd Gilliland (27th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Chase Elliott leads the point standings by 119 points over Ryan Blaney.

Race Recap

Kevin Harvick breaks 65-race drought with NASCAR Cup win at Michigan

August 7th, 2022

By Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service

On a blustery Sunday in the Irish Hills of Michigan, Kevin Harvick saved his season.

Grabbing the lead and pulling away after a restart on Lap 166 of 200 at Michigan International Speedway, Harvick won the FireKeepeers Casino 400 by 2.903 seconds over pole winner Bubba Wallace and leap-frogged bubble-riding Martin Truex Jr. in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings.

Harvick’s victory ended a 65-race drought for the 46-year-old former series champion from Bakersfield, California. The win was his sixth at Michigan and his fifth in the last seven races at the 2.0-mile track.

Harvick now has 59 victories in the series, 10th-most all-time. With the win, the eighth straight at the track for Ford drivers, he is likely to qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff. Harvick is the only driver to have earned a postseason spot every year since the current elimination format was introduced in 2014, the same year he won his series title.

“Everybody who doubted us doesn’t know us,” said Harvick, who led 38 laps on Sunday, 25 more than he had led in the previous 22 races combined. “They, obviously, know we thrive in these types of situations. And a lot of things went our way today, which we haven't had all year long—have things go our way and have things fall our way.

“And then there at the end we pitted, didn't go a lap down, and the caution came out, got control of the race. That's the thing I struggled with the most today was traffic and the restarts and just having to make up ground. Once I got clear track, that baby was hunting.”

As Harvick indicated, the race broke his way. The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford brought his car to pit road on Lap 158 for a green-flag stop. A lap later, NASCAR called the seventh caution of the afternoon when Ross Chastain’s Chevrolet and Christopher Bell’s Toyota collided in Turn 4.

Harvick remained on the lead lap and inherited the top spot when the contending cars ahead of him pitted under the yellow. With Wallace bottled up behind Joey Logano’s Ford after the Lap 166 restart, Harvick opened a gap of more than four seconds in clean air and cruised to his first win since Sept. 19, 2020 at Bristol.

Wallace was disconsolate as he replayed the final restart in his head.

“Just replaying everything I could have done,” said Wallace, who led twice for 22 laps. “Took the top there on the restart. Thought I could hang with the 4 (Harvick), and just got to racing the 5 (Kyle Larson) and the 22 (Logano). And 22 did a good job of getting another Ford contract, helping a Ford win.

“Just all in all an incredible weekend. Appreciate my team. Wished we could have got Toyota in the Victory Lane. Wish we got (sponsor) McDonald's back in victory lane. She was fast all week, man. Just I'll wear this one on my heart for a while. I failed everybody.”

Denny Hamlin finished third in arguably the fastest car in the race. On his final pit stop under caution on Lap 160, Hamlin incurred a penalty for too many men over the wall when his crew corralled a runaway tire from an adjacent pit stall.

Hamlin restarted 22nd and charged to third, 3.910 seconds behind the race winner.

Logano came home fourth, followed by Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney. Martin Truex Jr., Larson, Erik Jones, Alex Bowman and Ty Gibbs (subbing for injured Kurt Busch) completed the top 10.

The race was delayed just over an hour due to inclement weather. That didn’t deter the fans in the grandstands, the largest crowd at Michigan International Speedway since 2016. In addition, infield camping was sold out for the weekend for the first time since 2012.

Blaney now leads Truex by 19 points for the final Playoff berth, which will be determined on points if there are no additional unique winners in the next three races.

An early nine-car accident in Turn 2 eliminated two of the top five qualifiers—Kyle Busch and Austin Cindric. Moments after a restart on Lap 25, J.J. Yeley’s No. 15 Ford got loose, checked up and turned sideways in the middle of the pack.

In the ensuing melee, Cindric’s No. 2 Ford crashed nose-first into the outside wall and Buch’s No. 18 Toyota also sustained terminal damage. The cars of Yeley, Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and rookie Harrison Burton also were knocked out of the race.

“Just chaos ensued on the restart there, and I don’t know what started it, but the 10 (Almirola) got spun in front of me, and then I got wedged between him and the wall,” said Busch, who had elected to pit on Lap 22 under a competition called because of a rainstorm that delayed the start of the race.

“When you get back there, things happen on restarts, especially when you have guys that stayed out and don’t have tires versus those that have four tires. Was not really in a hurry and knew we were coming to stage points in another 40 laps or so and it was going to be a long run to get there—and then we all just crashed.”