Two tire pit gamble pays off as Clint Bowyer claims the checkered flag in a rain-shortened FireKeepers Casino 400

Clint Bowyer parlayed a little pit strategy and an assist from Mother Nature to victory in Sunday's Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan. With rain clouds bearing down on the track, Bowyer's crew chief Mike Bugarewicz opted to take only two tires during the pit stop following Stage Two. The gamble worked as Bowyer lead the field off of pit row and held off Kevin Harvick for three laps until the rain officially stopped the race after lap 133.

"It took something crazy on a restart to be able to get Kevin," Bowyer said. "That was a gutsy call. When we went out there on two tires, I looked in the mirror and I was so far ahead of everybody else (coming off pit road), I was like, ‘Oh man, we are in trouble!’ The rain came just in enough time. I was trying to hold him off. I was cutting him off and taking his line away pretty bad. If it wasn’t for a win, you wouldn’t be doing that. He was so much faster than me in (Turns) 1 and 2. I got down in (Turn) 3 and just had to take his line because that bear was coming."

It's the second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win on the season for Bowyer and his first career win at Michigan. Six different drivers have won the first fifteen races this year, the fewest winners in a season's first fifteen races since 1996.

Weather was an issue all day, the start of the race was delayed for 2.5 hours by rain and the forecast showed it would be unlikely to be able to complete all 200 scheduled laps. The problem for crew chiefs was figuring out when the rain would return. It was surprising more teams didn't try to steal a win after Stage Two with rain approaching since the race was official after 120 laps and could end at any point.

Bowyer's Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch finished second and third respectively, giving the organization their first ever sweep of the top-three finishes. The last racing team to sweep the top-three was Roush Fenway Racing in 2008.

After the race re-started on lap 126, Harvick was charging hard after Bowyer with his set of four fresh tires when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun out on lap 129. The caution flag was dropped and the rain swooped in to seal the victory for Bowyer officially after lap 133.

"The 14 (Bowyer) just gambled, rolled the dice that the rain must have been going to come, and he was able to keep me on the bottom there just by a little bit on the restart," Harvick said. "Then it was just going to take me a few laps to work back by. But he did a good job hanging onto his car, and the gamble paid off for him. Look, I’ve been on both sides of this. If you’re going to have racing luck work against you, you want to at least stay on your own team."

Harvick led the most laps with 49, Busch was second with 46.

Kurt's younger brother Kyle Busch finished in fourth place, the only non-Ford driver in the top eight. Kyle, along with Joe Gibbs racing teammates Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin, was forced to start the race at the back off the field when his splitter failed a pre-race inspection. Despite the setback, he was able to quickly move past the competition and was in the top-ten within 40 laps.

Paul Menard finished the race in fifth place, his best finish so far this year. It's been a rocky start to the season for Menard, who moved to Wood Brothers Racing earlier this year, but he still has a legitimate shot to make the playoffs if he can compete like this over the next nine regular season races.

Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray round out the top 10. Elliott has finished in the top-ten in each of his five career starts at Michigan.

Kyle Larson won the previous three races at Michigan and was trying to match Bill Elliott as the only driver to win four consecutive races here. He was thwarted by a spin out on lap 85 that seriously damaged his front splitter. He ended up leading only one lap and finished in 28th place. His disappointing day ended a personal streak of four consecutive top-ten finishes.

Ryan Blaney was the winner of Stage One, while Kevin Harvick took the checkered green for Stage Two. Each driver will receive a bonus point for the postseason for the segment win.

Click here for full race results.

Kyle Busch remains the leader of the NASCAR drivers points standings. Kevin Harvick sits in second place 75 points behind Busch, while Joey Logano is third 98 points behind. Brad Keselowski moved into fourth place 150 points behind Busch.

You can see the updated Driver's Points Standings here.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is off next week for Father's Day. After the break, the Cup Series will head west to California for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on June 24th.

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_{Photo credits: Nascarking CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons}

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_{Author: @chops316
Editor: @liberty-minded}

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