NASCAR 2023 Michigan Recap

The NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Cup Series arrived at the fast 2.5-mile oval in the Irish Hills of Michigan as we inch closer and closer to playoff time.

Joe Gibbs Racing has become one of the most storied NASCAR teams over the years and that legacy continues with John Hunter Nemechek taking the checkered flag to give the organization its 200th NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, and Nemechek earning his fifth of the season.

Nemechek was able to pull away from Josh Berry in the final restart to cruise to the win, with Brandon Jones finishing third, and Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer 4th and 5th. This all comes after a lap 11 incident between Nemechek and his two teammates of Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith. Nemechek slid up behind Gibbs and tapped his No. 19 machine, causing Gibbs to spin that also took out Sammy Smith. Nemechek spun but was able to continue with no damage, as Gibbs afterward expressed his displeasure towards Nemechek under caution.

“I have to apologize to Ty,” Nemechek said after the race. “I’ve been the one who’s been very vocal about teammates here recently. I put him in a bad aero spot. I got him loose, and he couldn’t check up.”

“It’s my mistake. I hate that we both spun early, but at least we were able to rebound. I know he’s not too happy with me, and he has every right not to be.”

Meanwhile, for Josh Berry, he felt like he didn’t have the kind of handling to contend with Nemechek for the win.

“We just felt really tight that last run,” Berry said. “I was kind of inching in on him for a while, and then we kind of leveled out. Overall, we were a little too tight to make a run at him there.”

John Hunter Nemechek now is tied for the regular season points lead with Austin Hill, as Nemechek would have the possible tiebreaker with having more wins.

Riley Herbst, Ross Chastain, Parker Kligerman, Parker Retzlaff, and Jeb Burton completed the top 10. Justin Allgaier had the fastest car, winning the first stage, having a slow pit stop, then getting up to second at the end of stage two, but ultimately a pit-road penalty cost him a shot to win, causing him to finish 14th.

At this moment of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, Chris Buescher has suddenly become one of the biggest stories of the season. He was already having a career season and was looking good on points even before his Richmond win. Now he had a tall task ahead of him in the closing laps of the Firekeepers Casino 400, trying to hold off the fastest car in the field, Martin Truex Jr. Buescher would go on to earn himself back-to-back wins for the first time in his Cup Series career, now potentially making him a championship contender, giving him plenty of momentum with three races to go in the regular season.

The race was suspended on Sunday due to inclement weather on lap 74 and was continued on Monday, as RFK Racing solidified that they were back as an organization (formerly Roush-Fenway Racing) with Buescher gaining his fourth career win and Brad Keselowski finishing fourth.

“This Castrol Mustang was so good in practice, qualifying,” said Buescher. “Gave me a great car again. Had to work for that one, too, hard racing at the end.”

“Martin was very clean with me. I appreciate that. Get to go to Victory Lane two weeks in a row. That’s pretty awesome.”

Truex had a great shot to take the lead around 13 laps to go, as he was proving to have the best car on the track. Truex took advantage of a Buescher slip-up, causing them to battle side-by-side. However, Truex got loose and lost some momentum. However, Truex was able to quickly climb back but Buescher was able to switch up his driving lanes and grooves to get the win.

“I think we needed maybe a little bit longer run to wear the tires some more,” said Truex, who swept the first two stages and increased his series lead to 57 points over second-place Denny Hamlin. “I feel like we were a little better. It’s hard to pass the leader on equal tires.”

Truex’s teammate, Denny Hamlin, finished third, while Kyle Larson and Daniel Suarez finished fourth and fifth. Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, and Erik Jones rounded out the top ten. Ty Gibbs took the final spot in the playoffs after finishing 11th, if the regular season ended today, as he is now three points up on Michael McDowell, who finished 16th.

Christopher Bell was able to salvage a 13th-place finish after spinning and hitting the wall hard on lap 65 on Sunday. Kyle Busch, William Byron, and Chase Elliott suffered similar wrecks to Bell and their days ended early.

Josh Berry played substitute again after Noah Gragson was suspended, as he finished 34th.

Both Cup and Xfinity Series head to Indianapolis to take on the road course with the IndyCar Series, while the Craftsman Truck Series begins their playoffs at nearby Indianapolis Raceway Park.