The green flag was initially scheduled to be dropped for the Firekeepers Casino 400 at 2 P.M. Eastern on Sunday, yet Mother Nature had other plans. Rain in the area at Michigan International Speedway allowed the cars to get on track for the initial pace laps, yet nothing more.
NASCAR officials were forced to postpone the contest until Monday at 5 P.M. Eastern. Fans who stuck around for the race saw an action packed 400 miles, filled with many paces for positions 2-36. The outlier to this, however, was the number 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang was driven by Team Penske's Joey Logano.
Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing continued their domination of the Monster Energy Cup Series, as the teams have combined to win 14 of the possible 15 races to date including Monday's win by Logano. Logano started on the pole and took the checkered flag after leading 163 of a total 203 laps on his way to claiming his second checkered flag of the 2019 season. Logano was only passed under green flag conditions one time, by the number four Stewart Haas Racing Ford Mustang of Kevin Harvick, but quickly flexed his muscle by snatching the lead back from Harvick with relative ease. Harvick rebounded from a very eventful day on pit road including two unscheduled stops for loose wheels to bring his Busch Light Ford across the finish line in the seventh position.
It was a big day for Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon. Dillon and his crew chief Danny Stockman gambled on pit strategy by saving fuel and ultimately prevailed to win Stage 2. It would be Dillon's first career stage win. Dillon's luck would run out as he finished in the 26th position and a lap down after an incident in turn 2 with William Byron on lap 137.
No good race ends without a little bit of controversy, as on the final restart of the race Joey Logano appeared to speed up a little too early. Martin Truex Jr. held nothing back as he stated "He clearly went before the box. That's the way it goes. They didn't call it. And it didn't matter because he had the fastest car anyways. It's a moot point." Truex and Kurt Busch of Chip Ganassi racing had orchestrated a plan to draft together past Logano for the win but ultimately were unable to execute because of Logano's seemingly early restart.
NASCAR officials have since gone on record stating that Logano executed the restart legally.
The top five finishers consisted of Logano, Kurt Busch, Truex Jr, Daniel Suarez, and Kyle Busch. Some other notable finishes were Brad Keselowski in the sixth position, Ryan Blaney in ninth, Jimmie Johnson in the fifteenth, and Chase Elliott in twentieth.
There were seven cautions on Monday which totaled for 35 laps, and the race ran for a duration of two hours and fifty-two minutes.
The Cup Series now heads into an off weekend before getting back to racing on June 23 for the Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.
