Take 5: A sweep of the subject matter after a Harvick-heavy weekend at Michigan

New rules, a new schedule but a similar victorious face reigned up front this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. A pair of NASCAR Cup Series races provided plenty of material to talk about, and an ever-intriguing playoff picture remained crowded with just four regular-season events remaining. With the FireKeepers Casino 400 and Consumers Energy 400 in the books, here are five story lines to unpack from a busy weekend in the Great Lake State.

HAND IT TO HARVICK: The statistical highlight reel continues for Kevin Harvick, whose weekend sweep gave him victories in four of the last five Michigan races. His series-leading sixth win of the season extended his streak of top-10 finishes to an even 10 races. He also claimed three of the four available stage wins, with Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer securing the other in Sunday's Stage 1. Harvick also pulled into a tie with Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace on the all-time list with win No. 55, prompting questions of how his 2020 season stacks up in his premier-series career.

"As far as where it ranks, it's really hard," Harvick said. "I don't think about things like that. I just go week to week. As you get to the end of the season, you can kind of sit back and really look back on the things that have happened. That's the same thing that we'll do this year. But it's been a great year. Can't argue with that."

ANOTHER 1-2 PUNCH: A consistent story through the season has been Denny Hamlin's efforts to match Harvick's performance note for note. Sunday, he wound up a car-length short at the checkered flag, and Harvick inched ahead of him in the 2020 win column by a 6-5 margin. In the latest show of respect between the two title contenders, Rodney Childers -- Harvick's crew chief -- acknowledged the success of Chris Gabehart, crew chief for Hamlin, in a post-race chat.

"It's been a fun little battle all year," Childers said. "To have a past relationship with Chris from the karting days and stuff, we've always got along good, we respect each other a lot. I just went and told him and his guys good job. They said the same thing back. They're a bunch of classy guys. We just try to keep it fun and keep each other motivated, keep pushing as hard as we can."

MUSTANG MASTERY: Harvick's sweep kept another streak alive -- six straight Cup Series wins for Ford at Michigan, which remains a focal point for the circuit's three automakers. The weekend double-dip meant the Michigan Heritage Trophy awarded to the top-performing manufacturer at MIS would stay with the Blue Oval camp.

"It's been fantastic because that Heritage Trophy, like I just mentioned, it means so much to the company, "said Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports. "Really glad that we can bring it back to Dearborn (Michigan). We've had a lot of success through the years with I think 39 race wins before this weekend, so notch two more onto that, more than any other manufacturer. And across a lot of different teams."

PICK AND CHOOSE: The weekend marked the points-race debut of the choose rule for all three NASCAR national series, injecting an element of strategy for restarts. Teams debated restarting in the preferred top groove against gambling for a track-position grab in the lower lane all weekend long.

"Honestly, this was a great place to start that in my opinion," said Childers, adding he let his driver and spotter take the primary duty of picking lanes. "It gave us all a lot of options on what we could do. You saw some guys that maybe wasn't in the top three cars and able to take a shot at starting on the front row. But I've also been here and had a car that I thought was the best car and didn't win because we ended up in the wrong lane over and over and over. I think it was a great addition this week and a great job by NASCAR."

PLAYOFF PICTURE: Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron held serve in holding the 16th and final playoff spot in the provisional standings with just four regular-season races remaining. Teammate Jimmie Johnson failed to make up substantial ground with finishes of 12th and 11th at Michigan, adding just one point from his stage results in the two races. Joe Gibbs Racing's Erik Jones gained 22 points with his stage performance, but his hopes for a Sunday top 10 to complement his 11th-place run Saturday fizzled with a late mechanical issue that left him 27th. Johnson and Jones are tied in the standings, 26 points behind Byron outside the playoff cut line.