BROOKLYN, MICHIGAN - AUGUST 22: Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Cardell Cabinetry Ford, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 22, 2021 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)
Ryan Blaney won the FireKeepers Casino 400 from Michigan International Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
Blaney chose the bottom lane ahead of the final restart, and a big push from Kyle Busch got him ahead of William Byron coming out of Turn 2. Blaney was able to hold off the hard-charging Hendrick Motorsports duo of Byron and Kyle Larson to pick up his second victory of the season.
Blaney started toward the front of the field on Sunday, but fell back at the drop of the green flag after he struggled with his car’s handling.
Blaney said his team worked on the car all day to get it ready for the finish.
“We weren’t great to start the day off,” Blaney said. “Kept working and working and got a lot better.”
Blaney said the race came down to the final restart where a push from Busch got him to the lead.
“Picked a good lane on the restart there and was able to get the push we needed,” Blaney said. “Michigan’s a matter of…holding it wide open and pretty much playing the air game. We got a great push by the 18 [of Busch] on the restart and was able to get clear.”
Byron finished second on Sunday after he couldn’t overcome NASCAR’s 550 horsepower package that keeps racing close but sometimes makes it difficult to pass.
Byron said he was a victim of the superspeedway-like racing that left him without a true partner on the restart.
“Needed [Denny Hamlin] to stay with us,” Byron said. “I gave up the lead trying to protect the top and just didn’t have the loyalty there to kind of push me into the lead.”
“It was kind of like a speedway race. I was trying to back up to [Larson] off of four to get a run with about two laps to go. Unfortunately, he ran the bottom so he didn’t have any momentum to push me.”
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