Yates cars prove tough in Saturday practice sessions

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- The connection between Michigan International Speedway and Ford's headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., has always been strong, as Ford products have won seven of the last 12 races and 42 total since 1969.

Jack Roush has been the dominant force in recent years, but before that, the cars from the Yates Racing stable found their way regularly to Victory Lane at Michigan. And based on Saturday's two Sprint Cup practices, David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil have the horsepower needed to run near the front in Sunday's LifeLock 400.

Gilliland was 11th-fastest in Happy Hour, with a lap of 178.072 mph, and Kvapil was close behind in 13th.

TNT Summer Series

Date	Race	Time
June 8	Pocono	12:30 p.m. ET
June 15	Michigan	12:30 p.m. ET
June 22	Infineon	3:30 p.m. ET
June 29	N. Hampshire	12:30 p.m. ET
July 5	Daytona	6:30 p.m. ET
July 12	Chicagoland	6:30 p.m. ET

• TNT Summer Series

"Roush-Yates horsepower is second to none, and everybody here is proud of have it under our hoods," Gilliland said. "We're really, really happy with our car. The first practice session, we went out on scuffed tires and never really did that fast lap. We made it a little better between sessions. We're looking forward to Sunday."

Because Friday's qualifying was washed out, Kvapil will start 19th and Gilliland 24th. But Michigan is one place where multiple grooves are the norm and not the exception.

"You can definitely run up high, the middle or down low," Gilliland said. "It's a fun racetrack, a driver's racetrack and you'll hear a lot of guys say they enjoy coming here."

Still, Kvapil cautions that this might not be a typical Michigan race, given that it's the first time for the new car here.

"[Starting position is not as important] as some other tracks, but just the trend of this car and, really, Cup racing in general, track position is very important," Kvapil said. "Everybody runs so competitively, it's hard to pass. This car makes it a little bit harder to pass until we can figure out something that makes these cars work together in traffic better."

But Kvapil believes the faster cars will go to the front on Sunday.

"I know I've won a Truck race where I had to start in the back here before," he said. "You can definitely pick your way though there, especially over 400 miles. It's a long race and sometimes pit strategy and things like that -- fuel mileage -- play out here."

Based on Saturday's times, the battle up front might be between Roush-Fenway's Fords and the Chevrolets of Rick Hendrick. A Chevy hasn't won at Michigan since 2001, but Jimmie Johnson posted the fastest lap of the final practice at 180.162 mph, almost a half-mile an hour faster than Greg Biffle.

Jamie McMurray, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards were also solidly in the top 10, along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Elliott Sadler (fifth) was the fastest Dodge, while Brian Vickers (15th) led the Toyota contingent.

There were no incidents in either practice session.