Michigan International Speedway Tag

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Jimmie Johnson had a decent day going in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan. He started from the 16th spot, but by the mid-point of the race, Johnson had emerged as a solid top-10 car. He even led four laps during a cycle of green flag stops from lap 99 to lap 102. But at lap 162, things began to come undone for the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. Trevor Bayne and Johnson were battling for position, when Bayne washed up the track and intoRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor It’s been an odd season for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Usually, if you’re an Earnhardt fan, you circle the restrictor plate races and Michigan on the schedule as places where the No. 88 is expected to contend for victory. At Daytona and Talladega earlier this year, Earnhardt just lost control of his car and crashed out of the events. Sunday on lap 60 at Michigan Earnhardt suffered a similar fate as he slammed into the outside retaining wall at the exit of turn two. This crashRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor After kicking off the first half of the season with three wins, Kyle Busch and his No. 18 team have been having a summer to forget, with finishes of 30th or worse in the three races prior to Sunday’s race at Michigan. Unfortunately for Busch, the summer slump would continue in the FireKeepers Casino 400. Starting ninth, Busch started having handling issues and made note that something was going on with his engine almost immediately. As Busch started dropping back just prior to lap 53,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – Daniel Suarez was speechless—and justifiably so. The Mexican driver had just passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch for the lead on the next-to-last lap and held on to win Saturday’s Menards 250 presented by Valvoline NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Michigan International Speedway by .280 seconds over the man who sets the standard in the series. The first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR national series race, Suarez overcame a pit road speeding penalty assessed on Lap 29 of 125Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor It’s been almost four full seasons since Tony Stewart — one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers — reached victory lane. Stewart is in the midst of his final season on the circuit, and things as you may know by now, started off on the wrong foot after a severe back injury just weeks before the start of the season sidelined the driver of the No. 14 Chevrolet for nine races. If Stewart is wanting a storybook finish to his incredible NASCAR career, he will need toRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – After two frustrating weeks of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying, Joey Logano learned the drill. Posting the fastest speeds in both the second and final rounds of Friday’s knockout time trials at Michigan International Speedway, Logano won the pole for Sunday’s FireKeepers 400 (1 p.m. ET on FS1) at the two-mile track. In the previous two weekends, at Charlotte and Pocono, Logano led the first two rounds of qualifying but failed to close the deal in the decisive third round. OnRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BROOKLYN, Mich. – After Friday’s opening 85-minute NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice session at Michigan International Speedway, there was strong consensus among drivers as to the lower-downforce aerodynamic package in place for Sunday’s FireKeepers 400 (at 1 p.m. ET on FS1). In a word, the new configuration was “challenging.” That’s exactly what it was supposed to be. “Speeds are blazing fast down the straightaway but quite a bit slower in the corner, and that has been interesting,” said 2012 series champion Brad Keselowski. “It’sRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service A rare exception as a driver from outside of NASCAR’s developmental hotbeds, Brad Keselowski calls Rochester Hills, Michigan home. Decorated already – even with his prime years potentially still in front of him – Keselowski, 32, boasts the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship and 19 career wins. One achievement the No. 2 Team Penske driver would dearly like to add to his resume is a win in his native state. Keselowski gets the chance to visit Victory Lane beneath the roar of his hometown fansRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor A two-mile, high banked behemoth in the backyard of the big three American automakers, Michigan International Speedway has played host to NASCAR since 1969 and will do so again this weekend as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to the track for Sunday’s running of the Firekeepers Casino 400. Before we focus on the here and now, we’ll take a look back into the past in this week’s “Throwback Thursday Theater” and the 2001 Kmart 400, which saw the resurgence of a champion and aRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The last time the NASCAR Xfinity Series visited Michigan International Speedway Kyle Busch took home the victory. The last time an Xfinity Series regular took home the trophy at this track was in 2013 when Regan Smith edged out Kyle Larson for the victory. Kyle Busch, who has won four out of seven starts in the Xfinity Series this season, will be in the field once again. Busch has yet to finish lower than fourth in an Xfinity Series race this season. Xfinity Series ChaseRead More