Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins Michigan While Sporting 'The Dark Knight Rises' Motif!

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway while sporting The Dark Knight Rises movie special paint scheme motif!  And to think, I was starting to think special paint schemes were a curse!

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Junior Nation fans, your dedication to your man has paid off, as you knew it would some day.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally put an 'x' in the win column of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, and he won in style, the old fashion way.

Dale Jr. put his Dark Knight Rises car out in front around lap 70, and stayed at the front until winning the race in a dominant fashion, leaving 2nd place driver Tony Stewart in his dust.  He did not win from a fuel mileage gamble.  He did not win from a rain delay.  This was an honest to god, old fashioned WIN.  And his fans are pretty damn happy to see it done this way.  Period.

And after having to tackle the newly repaved Michigan International Speedway and tackling tire changes from Goodyear during the weekend were also hurdles that the No. 88 Chevy team had to tackle.

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For over the last four years people have been doubting whether Dale Jr. could put his car in victory lane again.  There were the doubters.  You can't blame the doubters, it has been one heck of a drought, but the more faithful are feeling pretty good these days.

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Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-5.  (Johnson came from the back of the field after an engine change to accomplish this top-5 finish.)  Pole sitter Marcos Ambrose pulled it in, in 9th.

This finish kept Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2nd in the points standings, with now 4 points behind leader Matt Kenseth and 17 points in front of Greg Biffle.  Our chase wild-card contenders, at the moment, include Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman.

Kurt Busch's day, having returned from his one-weekend suspension, was full of spins off of turn 2 and he finished 30th.

Accidents and issues and other scenarios claimed Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Tony Raines, J.J. Yeley, Michael McDowell, Mike Bliss, Joe Nemechek, Scott Riggs, Josh Wise*, Trevor Bayne, David Stremme & Stacy Compton.

http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2012/15/data/results_official.html

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For the Batman movie (The Dark Knight Rises) fans, I have a bit more information on a tour that the batmobile is making around the country.  It spend the weekend at the track in Michigan, helping support the Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s special paint scheme for the weekend.  It's called The Tumblr Tour and you can see more about the tour at Dale Jr wins & More on The Dark Knight Tumblr Tour.  For anyone following my Facebook page, where I tend to play a little more with sharing things and images, you've probably already seen this info!

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