The Dark Knight Rises Again!!!

         For the first time since 2004 Dale Earnhardt Jr. is back in victory lane ironically on Father's Day at Michigan International Speedway. This was also the sight of his last win 144 races ago on the same weekend.

         Earnhardt Jr., won driving the number 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports with a paint scheme he helped create honoring the latest Batman movie " The Dark Knight Rises."

       The Michigan race was laced with new and more difficult things for the drivers to overcome including: a new surface, for the second week in a row (Pocono last week), faster speeds (an upwards of 225 mph listed at one point going down into turn 1, and a narrow groove but two factors came into play that no one expected.


       

                   NASCAR had testing Thursday at Michigan International Speedway to find out how the tires were going to react to the new surface. The tires would blister, or cause holes as seen in this pictures from Martinsville, causing holes and cuts in them after about 15 laps.

            NASCAR then ordered new tires which slowed down the speeds from Marcos Ambrose's record setting pole speed of 203+ mph. The new tires slowed the speeds down during the special 75 minute test session after the Nationwide race by almost 10 mph.

           Then the rains came and delayed the start of the race but no matter what happened Dale Jr., won and is now a serious contender for the Sprint Cup Series points sitting 2nd behind Matt Kenseth by 4.