Rain Pushes Michigan Finish To Monday After 51 Laps

Ryan Blaney won stage one of the FireKeepers Casino 400 Sunday at Michigan Int'l Speedway. (Matthew Thacker/NKP photo)

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Ryan Blaney won stage one of the FireKeepers Casino 400, but Mother Nature ultimately won the day at Michigan Int’l Speedway on Sunday.

Though the NASCAR Cup Series field fired its engines on time for a scheduled 2:36 p.m. ET start, and eventually got 51 laps completed despite a rain delay of two hours and 20 minutes, a deluge moved into the Irish Hills at 5:45 p.m. ET and soaked the two-mile oval beyond any hope of another restart.

Series officials did make an attempt at drying efforts, but an additional cell from the north that continued heading toward the racetrack forced the conclusion of the 200-lap race to be pushed to Monday.

At the postponement, Chase Elliott was scored as the leader ahead of Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, and Tyler Reddick.

Polesitter Denny Hamlin sits 17th going into Monday’s resumption, after spinning off the exit of turn four on lap 38 while chasing Wallace for the race lead.

He slid through the frontstretch grass, but was able to continue with what he termed “minimal” issues.

“I saw Bubba was a little weak off turn four, but I got in a bad aero spot and [the car] came around so quick,” said Hamlin. “Now it’s just extra time to think about my sins behind the wheel. … It has a little damage on the underbody – I don’t know how much of an effect it’ll have – but I was having so much fun out there.”

Hamlin’s incident was the only slowdown during the 45-lap opening stage, with Wallace leading most of the frontrunners down for pit service on lap 40 while Blaney stayed on track along with six others.

That decision ultimately paid dividends for the defending Cup Series champion, who held off Hendrick Motorsports teammates Elliott and William Byron to capture his 38th career stage win and third of the year.

“I thought our car was pretty good [in clean air],” noted Blaney. “I didn’t take off really well [at the start], and we struggled early, but it got better halfway through that first stage. Once we got up to fifth or sixth there, Jonathan [Hassler, crew chief] made a good call for us to stay out and win that stage.

“We’ll pay a bit of a penalty for that when we do go back racing, but I thought it was good to take that chance and get those [regular season] points and the [extra] playoff point,” he added. “Hopefully, our car is good enough tomorrow to get back through the field.”

Defending race winner Chris Buescher was 25th when the race was called for the day, after being among those who stayed out to earn stage points at the end of the opening segment.

The weather forecast for Monday at MIS is markedly improved, with rain chances listed at less than 10 percent and a projected high of 73 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Action at Michigan will continue Monday morning at 11 a.m. ET, live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.