More Overtime, More Playoff Drama | NASCAR Michigan Race Review & Analysis

red hot Tyler reik survives a late race overtime wins at Michigan and takes over the regular season points [Music] lead how's it going y'all my name is Eric welcome to out of the groove happy Monday folks for the second consecutive year the vast majority of the cup breaks at Michigan unfortunately was postponed to Monday bad storms swept across Michigan yesterday only allowed the Cup Series to run about 50 laps the final 150 will run this morning we're going to cover it all from the big crashes to the Airborne crashes surprise performers the playoff bubble but let's start this episode off with the race winner Tyler reic is red hot everything is red for reic red flags red car red hair red hot I've been beating this dead horse for weeks now but Tyler reic is unbelievable before this race he had a 3.6 average finish the past 6 weeks let me punch some numbers in right here with this finish today his average finish now the last seven races is 3.2 I said it last week these are ARCA numbers and finally reck was able to break through to get his second win of the Season he's been close a number of times last lap at Nashville charging hard final laps at Chicago made a mistake Darlington months ago let that one slip away today reic got it back he lost lost the lead on the first overtime got it back on the second really impressive stuff especially when you consider that Michigan has not been kind to reic in the past before today his career best finish here was 18th had a career average of 26th now some of that is fluky like last year I think he had a top five car but had like a loose wheel or an issue on Pit Road late that cost him a good run but overall Michigan has been Tyler reck's Boogeyman today he took over congratulations to Tyler reic 2311 racing they have to be taken seriously as legitimate Championship contenders they made the round of eight in their first year together in 2023 this is year two reck Billy Scott that whole team looks Championship caliber and now that he's got two wins currently the regular season points leader if that holds he will have a ton of playoff points which will be crucial getting him through the first few rounds I really like how things are setting up for Tyler reic so congratul ulations to Tyler reck and the number 45 a well-deserved victory that was almost taken away in the closing laps nasar has an overtime epidemic it's becoming too damn predictable shoot I tweeted with 12 laps to go hey who's going to bring out the overtime this week and just a few laps later Martin TRX Jr running in the top five slaps the wall granted NASCAR with a very quick trigger I don't think that TRX contact should have warranted a caution considering Austin syndric did the exact same thing earlier in the race and NASCAR turned a blind eye but we know NASCAR they're allergic to Natural green flag finishes they got to have an overtime a late race restart shake things up but it's becoming an epidemic go back five six races ago to Nashville five overtimes at the end of that one then they had a couple more tame weeks Chicago Pocono but then overtime at Indie overtime last week at Richmond we all know how that ended and overtime once again this week that's three straight weeks with at least one overtime still in the shadow of the five overtimes at Nashville it's too much I love a good restart every now and then that's when we see the most passing side by side maybe a spin contact tempers but you can't eat ice cream for breakfast lunch and dinner without getting a stomach ache I'm glad ultimately that the most deserving driver and car still won this race but these overtimes did have a major impact on the playoff bubble we'll get to that in just just a moment let's talk about the two biggest crashes today because the first big crash really made an impact on the playoff bubble so late in stage two there's a caution for debris Joey Lano Todd Gillan and AJ alond Dinger all had flat tires within the span of about a lap almond Dinger straight up spun out caution waves okay good some drivers pit others stay out most notably Ross Chastain Kyle bus and Tai Gibbs three bubble drivers choose not to pick on the restart Kyle Larson with four fresh tires gets loose spins out and collects bubble Wallace and Chris busher two other bubble drivers many others involved taken out in this accident as well but bubble Wallace and Chris busher suffered significant damage that put them behind Bubba Wallace limped home to the Finish ultimately busher did recover we'll talk about him in a moment but not only did this call not to pit get Ross Chastain and Tai Gibbs and even Kyle bus some very important stage points Kyle Bush went on to actually win the stage his first stage win of the season but more importantly it kept them out of trouble when Kyle Larson made a mistake behind them now lson spinning is especially big for the regular season Championship because he entered this race only five points to the good lson wrecking out handed the Reigns to reck Chase Elliott to take over that's part of why Tyler reck is now the regular season points leader and Kyle Larson who's led the regular season standings most of this season dropped from first to Fourth this is Kyle arson for you he's extremely talented you can always count on him to be fast probably had a top five car once again today but sometimes he's going to make a mistake he's going to overstep just a little most drivers do many of the best drivers do Larsson was far from the only driver to overstep today Denny Hamlin in stage one yesterday before the rain overstepped slipped in dirty air and spun out usually it's no harm no foul but sometimes it's all the harm and all all the fouls a costly spin on a restart from Kyle Larson knocked him from first to Fourth look that's at least four or five playoff points that's the difference there's still time two weeks left for him to get some of those back but that's potentially huge major playoff implications at the front of the field we'll take a look at the bubble in just a moment but I want to Pivot to the other big crash today there are no playoff implications here but early in stage three Cory lejoy Racing for position Clips Noah Gregson slides to the inside and gets Airborne flips a classic NASCAR blowover that's two we saw this weekend both in similar spots one in the Infinity race yesterday with Kyle SE one today with Cory lejoy it's rare with all the arrow and safety on these cars now that we see any blowovers let alone two in the same weekend at a non-traditional Super Speedway very surprising stuff a lot of folks pointed out today that there was a very strong headwind when the drivers were heading down the back straightway very likely that those strong winds could have helped pick the car up that flat underbody is also catching the air shipping the car up into the sky a number of factors here NASCAR is taking the number seven car back to the R&D Center to try and study why it got Airborne so quickly Cory lejoy thankfully walked away and was okay but it's so rare nowadays to see one of these heavy race cars just straight up lift off the ground especially after a lazy spin like that that it's that some concern is absolutely Justified but glad Corey is okay that was a very noteworthy almost like a jump scare of a crash I don't think anyone saw that coming oh guy's spinning out oh he's flying what what is this 2003 like that does not happen these days so we'll be curious to see what Nascar finds back at the research and development center anyway let's take a look at the top finishers and discuss how this affects the points William Byron finishes second strong Run for the 24 they've been very up and down this summer in third Ty Gibbs one of the best races of his season he stops the bleeding if you will three straight finishes outside of the top 20 he'd seen his points cushion dwindle rapidly was only 18 points to the good coming into today you'll see in a moment he has more than doubled his points cushion so really huge race for Tai Gibbs and I think it all goes back to that gutsy somewhat lucky call to stay out at the end of stage two and stay ahead of the chaos and Carnage they did work on that car though this was one of the best cars Tai Gibbs has had I think he maybe had the first or second best car on that final run he was chasing down Byron for second before the overtimes so really good run for Ty Gibbs the sophomore driver finishing fourth Kyle Busch I mentioned it earlier he got his first ever stage win all Richard chter racing had to do was put the Lucas Oil blue back on the number eight and suddenly he looks like a contender again this was Kyle Bush's best race in weeks maybe months this may have been his best performance of the season a bold decision to pit for only two tires during the final green flag cycle got Kyle bus the lead with about 30 laps to go but he didn't have enough Tire or enough car to hold off reic and the other hard Chargers but still Kyle Bush today was legitimately a top five maybe top seven car and that's refreshing to see great finish for the two RFK guys Brad Keselowski we know he desperately wants to win at his home racetrack good run today and his teammate Chris busher back back from contact on that stage two restart pitted before the first overtime gave up some track position I was a little worried but drove to 10th by the time the second overtime came around and from there with fresher tires drove from 10th up to sixth so the two overtimes actually worked in Chris bucher's favor especially considering his playoff bubble rival Ros Chastain got taken out during the first overtime Chastain was likely going to finish somewhere around the top 10 instead Ross finishes oh he's not even on the screen 25th 25th for rash Chastain gosh so yes those two overtimes were very kind to Chris busher great perseverance from that 17 Bunch the defending Michigan race winner back-to-back top 10s for Daniel Suarez shout out to Denny Hamlin after spinning yesterday and damaging the underwing slightly he still battled to get a respectable finish today two Spire Motorsports Chevys in the top 10 sure Cory lejoy went Airborne but up front it was Carson josar and Zayn Smith the rookies netting spire their first two top 10 or how should I phrase this this is the first time I believe that Spire has had two cars finish in the top 10 of a single race at a non-drafting track that's awesome some shr guys just outside the top 10 decent run for Harrison Burton Chase Elliott ends up 15th he had a top five run going something happened on the final lap between he and Ryan blay knocked them both deeper in the field so that kind of sucks because Chase Elliott was locked in a in the regular season Championship battle with lson with reic with Hamlin so losing a bunch of spots on the final lap not going to help his efforts that's a bummer now let's take a look at the playoff standings way off on the side there you can see the regular season standings Tyler reck is now your points leader 10 points ahead of Chase Elliott then there's Denny Hamlin Kyle Larson goes from Five Points up to 32 points down fourth place gosh meanwhile underneath me the playoff cut line is tight only one point separates Chris busher and Bubba Wallace I feel for Bubba Wallace had a great car early on again got caught up in that crash at the end of stage two damaged the 23 he couldn't recover finished I believe 26 so earned some stage points early that was about his only saving grace he was probably thankful that Chastain had issues Tai Gibbs I mentioned earlier now plus this is what NBC showed at least plus 39 Trix plus 77 is virtually a lock with two races to go but from Gibbs Chastain busher Bubba no one's safe even Kyle bus at into that Gap a bit he's still looking for a win Above All Else But there you go look at the points a look at the top finishers Let's see we talked about Tyler reic Cory lejoy getting Airborne the overtime epidemic I guess all that's left is to put this race on The Groovy gauge The Groovy gauge is powered by Electric ebikes head to Electric ebikes.ca late race caution didn't have a dramatic effect on the winner of this race it did Shuffle the rest of the leaderboard quite a bit overall though this was a decent race a mix of tire and Pitch strategy hard to pass but not impossible a couple wow moments I mean Hamlin Spinning Out Racing for third yesterday had me go wow Cory lejoy Airborne had me stunned lson making a costly mistake for himself and so many others also shook me so overall I thought this was a really good well-rounded Nascar Cup Series race I'm going to go 75% on The Groovy gauge it's a shame that so many races this season have been impacted by weather and Michigan in particular has not caught many breaks in recent Seasons it's tough a lot of debate online this week about the late start times we've talked about them at Great length in the past TV once 300 p.m starts it's best for Ratings they pay the bills they get what they want but going forward races at tracks without lights I think need to start at 100 p.m. local or earlier if at all possible that would be the more fan friendly decision but again NASCAR is in the TV business and fox NBC next year Amazon Turner they're paying the bills they get what they want so we can plead with the networks on social media but until it affects their bottom line or truly begins to negatively impact their season long ratings I don't anticipate the networks making any dramatic changes I think the 2 to 3 p.m. starts are here to stay it's unfortunate it's unpleasant maybe this year's just been bad luck with how much rain has hit the sport I don't have much else to say I feel for fans out there at Michigan who either couldn't stay for the race or who came back today and were met with long lines underst staffed I've been there done that shoot last year I couldn't stay for the Monday Michigan race not with the schedule I had at the time so it sucks and it that it's impacted so many fans this season in particular I guess we have an overtime epidemic we've also I don't know it's been like a flood monsoon season I suppose has followed NASCAR since basically since February I don't know what it is 2024 has been a weird weird year but there's The Groovy gauge leave your thoughts down in the comment section below quick announcement I will be at Daytona this weekend for the Xfinity and Cup Series races and on Friday ahead of the Xfinity Series race you can come come see me and Brendan pool do a live episode of our show Power Hour we will be at the NASCAR Experience stage at 4:30 p.m. it's just outside the track I don't even think you have to scan your ticket to get there be sure to stop by we'll be doing a short Q&A good racing conversation Daytona preview we should have a fun guest joining us and we'll be sure to stick around afterwards to chat with fans as well I can't wait I love Daytona doesn't matter if it's February August July I love it really appreciate the track and NASCAR allowing Brennan and I to do a short live show the show is called Power Hour usually we don't have an hour time slot I think it'll be closer to 20 30 minutes so get there right at 4:30 if you want to see us hope to see many of you fans out there this Friday that's going to do it for this episode folks leave a like if you enjoyed subscribe for more NASCAR content commentary race Recaps and more and as always a huge thank you to my very generous patreon supporters I will see you all again tomorrow got lots of content planned this week and then of course I will see you at Daytona Friday and Saturday stop by Friday at 4:30 NASCAR Experience date hope to see you there thanks for watching folks have a wonderful start to your week [Music]