What a disjointed weekend …

During an event where there was just as much raining as racing, two races ended short of their scheduled distance and produced several head-scratching moments. One of those head-scratching moments occurred on pit road and actually won Clint Bowyer the Firekeepers Casino 400 on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

Crew chief Mike Bugarewicz made the decision to give his driver two tires instead of four during the second stage break, ultimately giving him the lead over everyone else that took four. But it’s a decision he scratched his head over and nearly talked himself out of in the heat of the moment.

“Buga” saw the rain cell emerging from the west -- and the writing on the wall.

"I was thinking, man, probably a lot of these leaders are going to do two to keep the track position," Bugarewicz said. "They got to be seeing it, too.

"When we were coming on pit road, I was 100 percent sure two tires was the right call. We got about three-quarters of the way down pit road and I was about 70 percent sure. When he slid into the pit box, I was about 50 percent sure. By then, we were leaving. It was too late.

"Clint asked, 'Are we the only one with two?'

"Yeah, we're the only one with two."

Bugarewicz was equal parts brilliant and lucky because Kevin Harvick was all over the rear bumper of his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate and was probably a lap away from taking the top spot away from Bowyer en route to what would have been his sixth victory this season if the rain had held off just a little longer.

But give Bowyer credit.mHe had to fight hard to hold Harvick off on the decisive restart despite the two-tire disadvantage. Still, Bowyer knows what’s up.

"You lucky ass," Bowyer told his crew chief during the winner’s press conference after the race.

Even with an element of good fortune, Sunday was still an overall impressive effort for SHR, which became the first team since Roush-Fenway Racing in September 2008 to post a 1-2-3 finish with Bowyer, Harvick and Kurt Busch.

The remainder of what we learned can be viewed below.

Race Control Blunders

The hazy conditions also created some head-scratching moments from race control.

In historical NASCAR fashion, race control seemingly chose entertainment over integrity at the end of the first stage. NASCAR chose not to open pit road under caution with three laps remaining in the segment in order to force a green flag finish to the stage.

The problem is that NASCAR kept pit road closed when Matt Kenseth punctured a right rear and spun out. In keeping pit road closed, it required Kenseth to either come down a closed pit road for repairs, drawing a penalty, or riding around on a flat tire, risking a scenario that would completely destroy his car if the flat tire came apart.

Understand that NASCAR typically closes pit road with two laps remaining before the end of a stage to prevent teams from pitting and jumping ahead of those who pit under yellow.

Kenseth was sent to the rear of the field for pitting under a closed caution per NASCAR rules, but he was also not eligible for the wavearound (that he was held a lap for taking) to get back on the lead lap once the caution waved to end the first stage.

In what universe does that make sense? NASCAR jettisoned their own rules to provide fans a green flag finish but stood firm on the rule book on why Kenseth would not be allowed to take the wavearound.

Alright. It’s OK for stages to finish under yellow. It happens. But NASCAR has created a culture to where every race has to feature a Game 7 moment and now every inning has to deliver a Game 7 moment. But at what cost?

Restrictor Plates and Aero Ducts

The latest experiment with restrictor plates and aero ducts took place on Saturday during the Xfinity Series race at Michigan.

Unlike the previous attempt of implementing the ‘All-Star Race package’ last weekend at Pocono, this race achieved its intended goals of pack racing since drivers were wide-open on the throttle all the way around the 2-mile track.

At Michigan, passing was still at a premium, especially on the bottom groove. However, there were nine different leaders and 21 green flag passes for the lead, an increase from five different leaders and 11 green flag passes from a year ago -- a race that was 30 laps longer.

Austin Dillon won the race and said it’s something NASCAR should explore for select tracks.

"To be inches off one another, pushing, shoving, wide-open around there and making the correct moves -- jumping out of line at the right times -- it can be frustrating, and there are guys out there competing that you don't see every week," Dillon said.

"The competition is closer together, and there is a lot of driver skill left in it. It's not lifting and how you get back to the gas or any of that, but it's making the move at the right time."

Paul Menard echoed those sentiments.

"It felt to me a lot like Talladega, when we all get strung out up next to the wall (at times)," Menard said after finishing fifth. "You're just protecting your outside and ... you're just trying to get a run on somebody and fill the hole. I would not want to do 400 miles (in Cup) of that.

"There's some tracks it would probably work pretty good at. Some multi-groove tracks, I think it would be fine."

Brad Keselowski provided the resistance on Friday.

"I think of the three things that I like to see at a race, and I think of fast cars, the best race car drivers and a great finish," Keselowski said. "Those are the three things I want to see.

"I think that package achieved one of those things (with close finishes) and hurt the other two. In that sense, I consider it a net loss overall."

So, what is the future of this package? NASCAR's Steve O'Donnell took the airwaves on Monday to provide some answers.

"We saw some good things," O'Donnell said. "There is always things you can improve. In talking to drivers and race teams, looking at the ability if you were second, to pull out and complete the pass is something we want to look at. We looked at the metrics and everything was doubled, from lead changes to green flag passes during the race.

"We had some good indicators there. We're cautiously optimistic in terms of looking at this. We're not looking at this for every race. I see some of our current drivers make assumptions when they don't have all the facts. We're looking at this for a few tracks if we think there's something we can improve, but we're very happy with the racing we have today."

Short Strokes

NASCAR made the right call to end the race as soon as the rain started falling after the second stage. Some fans have called it "a bad look" that NASCAR didn’t at least try to wait out the rain. With two hours of daylight remaining and two hours of track drying time needed to resume the race, that was the end of the race.

There was absolutely no reason to keep fans waiting in the cold mist for a race that wasn’t going to resume.

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Once again, the ‘choose cone rule’ makes so much sense for a track like Michigan International Speedway. When the bottom groove just can’t get going, why leave the ability to contend up to an even-or-odd running position circumstance?

The lack of a choose cone affected the first stage when NASCAR gave drivers a one-lap shootout to decide the segment and it arguably affected the race when Bowyer and Harvick started side by side. Isn’t there a chance Kevin Harvick chooses to start second just to be able to stay on his teammate’s bumper entering Turn 1? In any chance, just give teams the option moving forward.

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Paul Menard earned his first top-five with Wood Brothers Racing on a combination of pit strategy and a gritty performance by a veteran driver. Clean air was king on Sunday as Menard stayed out on old tires near the end of second stage. Menard inherited the lead, ran second for most of that run and finished fifth; restarted eighth and drove to fifth in the abbreviated third stage.

They were 15th at the end of the first stage and running 21st at the time they decided to stay out on old tires.

Clean air, baby.

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all things aside. you take the car running 18th. running 37:10 sec laps. pick that car up, restart 2nd and he runs 36:00. thats over 1 second. same tires. same driver. same track. just clean air. P2 — Wood Brothers Racing (@woodbrothers21) June 10, 2018

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