Ryan Blaney wins the Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan (8-22-21)

By: Becca Cottingham

Photo Credit: Ryan Blaney Twitter page

We head to Michigan International Speedway and start lap one with three-wide racing. Teammates tag one another and cause difficult racing for one another. While Kyle Larson and Matt DiBenedetto try to race one another for the lead at one point. We head to the competition caution and Kyle Larson loses the lead to Denny Hamlin this was due to Denny getting gas-only and no tires. It seems multiple drivers are having issues with radios. We get back to racing and Joey Gase hits the wall hard and brings out a caution. Chase Elliott will bring us back to green next to Kurt Busch. They will go three and four wide behind the leaders trying to gain ground while most of the leaders stay just doubled up. Chase Elliott will keep the lead and Denny Hamlin will also make moves to get try to stay ahead of Kyle Larson. At the end of stage one, Chase Elliott will get the stage win.

We got back racing in stage two with Kyle Larson leading the way. Austin Dillion and Chase Elliott stay pretty close with him. Chase Elliott will get around Kyle Larson they will continue to battle. All the while Kyle Busch is watching and just hoping that the two of them make a mistake that he can capitalize on. Which he does capitalize on them going in for green-flag pit stops. This will allow him to show the way to the end of stage two for the stage win. As this is happening Brad Keselowski and Austin Dillon make contact and Austin goes hard into the wall.

We get back underway with the final stage. Kyle Larson once again is showing the way to the green flag. This time he has teammate William Byron right behind him. Drivers will have to make at least one more stop to finish this race. Stopping right as the fuel window opens is not ideal due to the possibility of overtime. We get a late caution due to a stray rain shower passing through a portion of the track. With fourteen laps to go, we get the green flag just to be put back under caution once again due to accidents. The drivers will be under 10 to go when they get the green flag once again. Ryan Blaney gets a great restart and gets around William Bryon. Ryan Blaney then starts throwing the block on everyone while trying to maintain the lead. He will hold onto the cross the line just slightly ahead of William Byron as our unofficial winner.