Matt Kenseth made it look easy Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. Starting from the pole, leading 146 of the race’s two hundred laps, and marching to his third win of the season and second in the last three weeks. The margin of victory was one-point-seven seconds over Kevin Harvick. Martin Truex Junior finished third and Austin Dillon came home with a career-best fourth-place finish. Denny Hamlin, one of Kenseth’s teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing, completed the top five with another J-G-R entry.

Carl Edwards … finishing sixth, one day after celebrating his 36th birthday. Kenseth kept his Number-20 Toyota in front over the final twenty-five laps, holding the field at bay through the day’s final restart to notch his thirty-fourth career victory … The race featured NASCAR’s “high-drag” aerodynamic rules package that debuted last month at Indianapolis, with the higher downforce intended to create more competitive racing with increased lead changes.

Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 was the second event for the new package and produced just sixteen lead changes, one fewer than the track’s June race had with standard 2015 rules … Kyle Busch, a four-time winner this year, solidified his eligibility for a post-season Chase berth with an eleventh-place finish that lifted him into twenty-ninth place in the standings.

Busch now enjoys a twenty-three point cushion over Cole Whitt in his bid to remain among the top thirty with just three races left in the regular season … Kurt Busch finished twentieth on Sunday afternoon in his bid for a season sweep on the Irish Hills oval.