Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Michigan - FireKeepers Casino 400 Preview

brospn (60)in #sports • 6 years ago

FireKeepers Casino 400

Michigan International Speedway - Brooklyn, MI
Sunday June 10, 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Fox
2 Mile D Shaped Oval
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 76°F

Previous Five Winners and Pole Sitters

Race	Race Winner	Pole Sitter
Summer 2017	Kyle Larson	Brad Keselowski
Spring 2017	Kyle Larson	Kyle Larson
Summer 2016	Kyle Larson	Joey Logano
Spring 2016	Joey Logano	Joey Logano
Summer 2015	Matt Kenseth	Matt Kenseth

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns to Michigan this Sunday with the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. A total of 39 cars are scheduled to enter the event. Who will have the horsepower to claim the checkered flag at the fastest track in NASCAR?

The Favorite

Kevin Harvick has been the most dominant driver in NASCAR this year and he will continue to be the race favorite as long as he contends for victory each week. Harvick led the most laps at Pocono last week, but unlike Martin Truex Jr. his gamble to stay on the track during a yellow flag didn't pay off as he finished in fourth place.

Michigan International Speedway is generally the fastest track in NASCAR because of its wide layout and long straightaways. Passing cars is easier here so horsepower is key. Fords have had the most horsepower this season and the No. 4 Ford of Kevin Harvick is the class of the Fords.

All that being said, Harvick shouldn't be considered a lock to win this week. Michigan is not one of his better tracks, he only has one career victory here in 34 career starts. Last season he finished both Michigan races outside of the top-ten. He should be able to run with the leaders this time, but finding victory lane will be difficult.

Other Drivers to Watch

If betting odds were only determined by recent track performance, Kyle Larson would be the favorite this week by a mile. This Sunday he will attempt to join Hall-of-Famer Bill Elliott as the only Cup Series driver to win four consecutive races at Michigan. In the Michigan race previous to his current winning streak he finished in third place. The track that most closely resembles Michigan is Fontana and he finished runner-up there earlier this year.

The only thing holding back Larson this week is the performance of the Chevrolet Camaro this year. Ford and Toyota have crushed Chevy, the manufacturer's only win this season came at Daytona and that was due more to the variances of restrictor-plate racing than performance. However, Larson has been the best Chevy driver this year and he finished runner-up at Pocono last week, another track that requires a lot of horsepower. Michigan fits Larson's racing style since he likes to run the top groove and the wide layout makes this possible. Expect to see Larson giving Harvick a serious challenge on Sunday.

Martin Truex Jr. was primed to win the last race in Michigan when a caution sent the race into overtime and Kyle Larson out-dueled him to the finish line. He hasn't forgotten about it this year.

"I felt we had the best car at the Michigan races last year but came away empty-handed in the win column," said Truex. "In fact if we circled races that we haven’t won at prior to the season Michigan would be high on the list. We really want this victory after what happened last year. It would also be nice to drive the blue car to Victory Lane since Auto-Owners Insurance is based in Lansing, Michigan."

Truex's two victories this season have come at tracks closely related to Michigan, Fontana and Pocono. He will be eager to ride into victory lane again this week to prove the playoffs will be more than a duel between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, the other multiple race winners this year.

Chase Elliott will certainly be glad to be headed to Michigan this week. He has finished runner-up there three times in four career starts. Still searching for his first Cup Series win, Elliott is one of the many Chevy drivers who have struggled with the new Camaro. If there is any track we can predict he will finally break through, it is Michigan. Elliott has finished runner-up eight times in his young career without a victory, which ties him for the all-time NASCAR record. Who is he tied with? His Dad, Hall-of-Famer Bill Elliott. Bill won seven times at Michigan, maybe he has some secrets to pass onto Chase.

"Dad ran second eight times and I am at eight currently," said Chase Elliott. "I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing. It has definitely been an up-and-down road to get to this point. We’ve had a lot of great opportunities and you wish you could have some of them back, but you can’t, so you just move on down the road. We just try to learn from each situation as time goes and I’ve definitely chosen the hard road to a victory for sure. I feel like in some cases it makes you better at the end of the day. Whenever the time comes when we are back and on top, those harder times and tough losses will make you better when you are in position to capitalize on some really good things."

The last driver not named Larson to win at Michigan was Joey Logano. Logano picked up a win earlier this season at Talladega and has shown the horsepower necessary to navigate the long straightaways of Michigan. In his last six races here, Logano has three top-five and five top-ten finishes.

Logano's Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski would love to capture his first checkered flag of the season this Sunday, he is a native of Michigan. He has two top-five and four top-ten finishes in his last six starts. Consistency has been his major issue this year, but he did record top-five finishes at both Fontana and Pocono.

Kyle Busch won at this track back in 2011, but Michigan is not one of his strongholds. In 24 career starts, he has a mediocre average finish of 19th place and has finished 31st or worse five times in the last nine races. Busch did, however, run strong at both Fontana and Pocono, finishing third in both races. He is the drivers points standings leader for a reason and can't be counted out this week despite his poor history here recently.

News Around the Track

NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell told FS1 the experimental competition package used at the All-Star Race a few weeks ago could be used in up to three point races this season to determine its viability to be used at certain tracks in 2019. The package includes a modified spoiler, restrictor-plates and a brand new aerodynamics setup to help facilitate passing and keep the field running closer together.

"For us, it’s making sure everybody has had enough time to look at it, has enough time to evaluate it," O’Donnell said. "If you look back at it, we really only ran it last year at Indy (Xfinity) and the All-Star Race. Taking all that data and evaluating if this is right direction to go is the first step."

NASCAR tested the new package at Michigan on Tuesday and Wednesday. All three manufacturers were represented: David Ragan for Ford, Justin Allgaeir for Chevrolet and Drew Herring for Toyota.

"I felt like, with just three cars there, it’s really hard to get a really good read on what kind of draft you would have," said Ragan. "What kind of ability you would have to pass cars. But I felt like it was similar to Charlotte. They cars drove really good. You could stay in the throttle. You felt like you were definitely going slower, but it did create a little bit of a draft, and it bunched everybody up. We only had three cars there, but we did run some together, and it was pretty easy to stay caught up with the person in front of you, and you could feel a pretty good draft going down the straightaway, and you could make up three or four car-lengths pretty easy."

O'Donnell did not mention any specific tracks the new package might be used this year.