This weekend, the
NASCAR Cup Series will return to Michigan International Speedway in the Irish Hills of Michigan for their only visit of the season. Coverage of the FireKeepers Casino 400 will begin with NASCAR Live at 1:30 p.m.
ET on Amazon Prime Video. Race coverage is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. ET with the green flag being displayed around 2:15 p.m. ET.
Records and facts
Last year's FireKeepers Casino 400 was stopped after 51 laps due to rain and was rescheduled for Monday afternoon.
On Monday, the race was competitive with some strange instances. Corey LaJoie's blowover flip on the backstretch is just one example.
Martin Truex Jr. hitting the wall exiting turn 4
brought out a late caution and put the race over the 400-mile distance. On the restart, William Byron was able to take the lead away from Tyler Reddick, but Ross Chastain spun on the backstretch to bring out another yellow.
On the final restart, Reddick was able to get Byron back for the lead. From there, he just barely held on to win. Byron was .168 seconds back in second, then Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch and Brad
Keselowski.
Among active
drivers, Larson and Joey Logano have the most victories at Michigan with three each. Hamlin has two victories, while four others have a single win.
All-time, David
Pearson is the winningest driver at Michigan with nine career victories, including three in a row at one point. His first Michigan win came in the Yankee 600, an attempt to run a 600-mile race at Michigan. It ended up being rain-shortened to 165 laps of the scheduled 300.
Cale Yarborough is second all-time at MIS with eight wins, followed by Bill Elliott with seven. Kevin Harvick is fourth with his six, while Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace have five victories
apiece.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 2-mile "D-Shaped" oval, 156 laps (312 miles)
Banking: 18 degrees
Frontstretch: 3,600 ft.,
banked 12 degrees
Backstretch: 2,242 ft., banked 5 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 71,000
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 55 mph
Opened: 1968 (first Cup race in 1969)
Website: http://www.mispeedway.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MISpeedway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/MISpeedway
Pre-Race Sessions:
Practice: Saturday, June 7, 9:35 - 10:30 a.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video
Qualifying:
Saturday, Aug. 17, 1:30 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video
"I think that turn 3 ultimately is the bigger challenge at that speedway. It’s just flatter. In turn one you have so much banking that it’s a lot easier to keep power down. Obviously, it’s a track position sensitive
race and it’s just not widened out very much. I kind of poke fun at it and laugh about this a little bit, but however that surface has not aged, it doesn’t seem like one bit over the course of what has it been – over a decade since it was re-done. I don’t know how they did it because the roads out front are certainly a whole lot rougher than that. I don’t know exactly what it is, but it’s just stayed very similar year over year, so you’re able to really fine-tune little detail
stuff to continue to get better. I think the field is closing in because we’re getting to a point where you do have some wide open there and ultimately you’re kind of getting the terminal velocity and everyone is trying to get to that same one, so it’s gonna get tighter yet but I do believe we’re gonna be very strong showing back up." - Chris Buescher
"When it’s in your OEM’s backyard, you want to be the guy that carries the flag and wins for them. With Jack and everybody with Roush being from Michigan, with Ford and being the guy – like Chris has been super, super fast at Michigan and been able to win – so I think when we go to Michigan as a company at RFK, we want to be the ones that win it for Ford and carry the
banner, carry the flag. Obviously, having a teammate like him and Brad, we have a really solid baseline and with Chris doing the test a month or so ago, I feel really confident going in there that we have three really good chances to do that." - Ryan Preece
"Michigan International Speedway is a big, fast, two-mile oval, the fastest track on the NASCAR schedule. Drafting plays a big role. You’re always trying to make moves and get big runs when you can. Michigan is one of those places where you definitely feel the speed as soon as you get there. Getting to the pit road can be tricky because you’re coming in so fast, and it’s key to entering and
exiting without any penalties. Michigan provides long green flag runs, and it’s hard to make up a lap there." - Austin Dillon
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of
Nigel Kinrade Photography.
