With four laps left in Monday’s rain-delayed Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Truex thought he had second place in the bag.

He and Kurt Busch were trailing eventual winner Joey Logano—and making progress in a two-car draft—when Erik Jones spun into the infield grass inside turn two. That set up an overtime restart, and Busch passed Truex for the runner-up spot on the next-to-last lap.

“I felt like before that we were going to finish second no matter what,” said Truex, who finished third. “My mind-set there was at least we got a shot at it here. Rack ’em up, have a green‑white‑checkered and see.”

The higher-downforce, lower-horsepower competition package introduced into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season had the desired effect at Michigan—producing closer racing throughout the field. At no point did a leader pull out to a sizable advantage.

Certain characteristics of the racing also resembled what fans are accustomed to seeing at superspeedways. Cars were fastest with drafting partners and could sustain major runs. On the other hand, a car that pulled out of line alone was in danger of getting freight-trained.

“Man, you have to be so patient in this racing,” Truex said. “It’s really hard. Early in the race, I kept getting runs, going underneath guys, getting them in the corner. If you can’t clear them, you lose two, three, four spots every time.”