See where your favorite driver will pit for Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 (4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Michigan International Speedway.
Kyle Busch’s hopes for a breakthrough victory in this star-crossed 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season seemed so close Saturday at Michigan International Speedway — as close as the paper-thin distance between his car and Kevin Harvick’s in their late-race contest at the front of the pack.
RELATED: Race results | Weekend schedule
Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota drifted up the track near the Turn 4 retaining wall as Harvick grabbed the lead for the final time in the 148th of 161 laps in the FireKeepers Casino 400. Busch recovered after sliding back to ninth place, rallying to a fifth-place result at the checkered flag.
Replays showed no contact between the cars of Harvick and Busch, but their cozy proximity upset the aerodynamic balance of Busch’s No. 18. Busch blurted out some angst-heavy profanity over the team communications but was more measured post-race about the run-in.
“I don’t know. Definitely got loose. Don’t know whether it was contact or just air,” said Busch, who led four laps as he secured his ninth top-five finish of the season. “Definitely got loose and had to chase it and catch it. Thankfully, kept it out of the fence. We were able to salvage a fifth. Felt like we had a good second-place car today. The M&M’s Fudge Brownie Toyota Camry was fast. Just nowhere near his level of fast.”
As Busch was regaining ground amongst the top 10, Harvick sailed away to his fifth win of the season. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver said he couldn’t tell if he had initiated contact until seeing a video replay.
“Yeah, I didn’t touch him,” Harvick said as he watched NBC Sports’ footage in Victory Lane. “Well, that makes me feel better because I knew we had a fast enough car to just pass him, but I knew that I need to take the opportunity that I had, and I needed to side draft right there, so that video makes me feel better.”
Busch started seventh and finished among the points-earners in both stages, praising crew chief Adam Stevens’ adjustments after an early pit stop. But his winless streak to start the season hit 21 races, a drought dating back to his championship-clinching victory last November at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Busch gets another chance to end the dry spell in Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 (4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in the second leg of Michigan’s Cup Series weekend doubleheader.
“We definitely didn’t have the speed we needed but had a good balanced car, good driving car and hopefully we can work on it a little bit tonight and get it better for tomorrow,” said Busch, who is set to start 16th Sunday. “Just need to be better in traffic and be able to maneuver and be able to pass just a bit more.”
The starting lineup for Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway (4:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is set. The top-20 finishers from Saturday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan were inverted for Sunday, with the rest of Sunday’s lineup based exactly off of Saturday’s finish.
RELATED: Results from first Michigan race
Chris Buescher will start on the pole in the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford after finishing 20th in Saturday’s race. Clint Bowyer will join him on the front row in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.
See the full starting lineup for Sunday’s race below.
| Starting spot | Driver | Car # | Team |
| 1 | Chris Buescher | 17 | Roush Fenway Racing |
| 2 | Clint Bowyer | 14 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 3 | Tyler Reddick | 8 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 4 | Matt Kenseth | 42 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 5 | Aric Almirola | 10 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 6 | Matt DiBenedetto | 21 | Wood Brothers Racing |
| 7 | William Byron | 24 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 8 | Christopher Bell | 95 | Leavine Family Racing |
| 9 | Jimmie Johnson | 48 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 10 | Erik Jones | 20 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 11 | Kurt Busch | 1 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 12 | Bubba Wallace | 43 | Richard Petty Motorsports |
| 13 | Joey Logano | 22 | Team Penske |
| 14 | Chase Elliott | 9 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 15 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 16 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 17 | Ryan Blaney | 12 | Team Penske |
| 18 | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 19 | Brad Keselowski | 2 | Team Penske |
| 20 | Kevin Harvick | 4 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 21 | Alex Bowman | 88 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 22 | Corey LaJoie | 32 | Go Fas Racing |
| 23 | Ty Dillon | 13 | Germain Racing |
| 24 | Daniel Suarez | 96 | Gaunt Brothers Racing |
| 25 | Ryan Preece | 37 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 26 | JJ Yeley | 27 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 27 | Quin Houff | 00 | StarCom Racing |
| 28 | Ryan Newman | 6 | Roush Fenway Racing |
| 29 | Michael McDowell | 34 | Front Row Motorsports |
| 30 | Reed Sorenson | 74 | Spire Motorsports |
| 31 | Austin Dillon | 3 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 32 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 33 | Timmy Hill | 66 | Motorsports Business Management |
| 34 | Cole Custer | 41 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 35 | Garrett Smithley | 53 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 36 | John Hunter Nemechek | 38 | Front Row Motorsports |
| 37 | Brennan Poole | 15 | Premium Motorsports |
| 38 | James Davison | 51 | Petty Ware Racing |
| 39 | Josh Bilicki | 7 | Tommy Baldwin Racing |
In ways both literally and figuratively, the NASCAR Cup Series field saw red most of Saturday afternoon – Kevin Harvick’s red-colored No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, which dominated the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, resulting in Harvick’s third Michigan win in the last four races and fourth of his career.
RELATED: Race results | Weekend schedule | Shop Harvick gear
Harvick’s red car was out front the majority of the afternoon, leading a race-best 92 of the 161 laps, but five restarts in the final 30 laps – including an overtime finish – forced Harvick, 44, “The Closer” to close out the win. It marked his fifth victory of the year, tying him with Denny Hamlin for most in the series in 2020.
“This was just an awesome car to drive today,” Harvick said. “I think the confidence is high when we come to Michigan anyway. It’s a race track that’s been really good to us and for whatever reason just fits our style of cars, everything we do with our cars at Stewart-Haas Racing.
“(Crew chief) Rodney (Childers) and those guys have given me great race cars every time we’ve come. Just a really, really fast race car today.”
Harvick ultimately edged Michigan native Brad Keselowski by a mere .284 seconds for the victory on a final overtime restart. Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five. Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and Kurt Busch completed the top 10.
Harvick swept both stages, banking two playoff points for use in the 10-race postseason, which begins next month. His final pass for the lead was a close-quarters one with Busch on Lap 148, a move that took the air off the rear of the No. 18 Toyota and nearly forced Busch into the outside wall in Turn 4.
From there, Harvick survived a handful of late-race restarts and held off Keselowski in the two-lap overtime dash.
“It was a heck of a battle,” said Keselowski, who was hoping to become the first Michigan native to win a NASCAR Cup Series race at the state’s famed 2-miler. “Just not quite strong enough to keep up with Kevin.
“Kevin is just super-fast on the straightaways and doesn’t give up anything in the corner. We’ve got some work to do.”
Keselowski was referring to an immediate opportunity – the second half of this Michigan doubleheader weekend, which features another scheduled 156-lapper Sunday, the Consumers Energy 400 (4:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The lineup for Sunday’s race will be set by inverting the top 20 finishers from Saturday’s results. That means 20th-place Chris Buescher and 19th-place Clint Bowyer will start on the front row.
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges Saturday was a new element introduced by NASCAR and debuting at Michigan – the choose rule – which allows drivers to pick whether they want to line up in the high or low lane on restarts. The feature got a high-profile, much-tested start with so many restarts in the final laps and was by most accounts post-race a popular addition.
It created another element of drama on the restarts and forced Harvick to ward off his chief challengers time and time again to earn a shot at hoisting the big trophy.
“Felt like we had a fast car,” said Busch, the reigning series champion who is still looking for his first victory of the season. “But it was the best of the rest. The four-car (Harvick) was lights out. He deserved to win the race. It was a race for second today.”
Harvick continues to lead the championship standings with 10 of the 16 playoff positions already taken by 2020 race winners. Only 16 points separate 16th-place William Byron – who finished 14th – from 17th-place Erik Jones, who finished 11th after running top 10 most of the day.
Tyler Reddick is 19 points behind the cutoff line, and retiring seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is only 22 points back.
The start was delayed nearly an hour to avoid overlap with the finish of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Road America. The Xfinity Series event – won by Team Penske’s Austin Cindric – was halted for roughly 90 minutes because of lightning strikes in the vicinity of the Wisconsin road course.
Note: Post-race inspection was clear in the NASCAR Cup Series garage without major issue. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Denny Hamlin was found with one lug nut not safely secured in a post-race check.
Contributing: Staff reports
Austin Cindric really earned the victory in Saturday’s Henry 180 NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the historic 4.048-mile Road America road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, managing to hold off traffic on numerous restarts both early and late in an elongated afternoon of competition that included wet and dry conditions and 13 dramatic lead changes.
Cindric, 21, took his No. 22 Team Penske Ford to the lead for good on a restart with three laps remaining, having to hold off hard-charging veteran road-course ace A.J. Allmendinger and ultimately taking a 1.318-second victory – Cindric’s fourth win in the last five races. He is the 11th different Road America winner in the last 11 races on the track.
RELATED: Official results
“I had a lot of fun,” Cindric said of the head-to-head racing with so many of his championship challengers on the day.
Chase Briscoe, a five-time winner in 2020 who is second to Cindric by 11 points in the driver standings, finished third, followed by Kaz Grala and IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Series star Andy Lally.
Noah Gragson, Ross Chastain, Preston Pardus, Ryan Sieg and Michael Annett rounded out the top 10. It was a career-best finish for the 23-year-old Floridian Pardus, who also had a top-10 finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last month.
The race included “alternative pitting” strategies, ever-changing weather – rain and lightning – in addition to the typical challenges and tactics the series’ road-course venue presents.
An assortment of short caution periods interrupted the early portion of the race, and eventually lightning forced a red flag that lasted 93 minutes and 16 seconds. But once the racing resumed, it was a dramatic reminder of the excitement and intrigue this brand of road-course racing provides for racer and race fan.
From the very first lap, however, Cindric proved himself the class of the field – the driver to beat. He dove to the lead in Turn 1 after the green flag dropped and led the opening eight laps before cars were called to pit lane because of lightning. After more than an hour of stoppage, teams had to strategize whether to change their slick tires to rain tires in light of the changing weather conditions.
Justin Haley got around Cindric on the ensuing restart and held onto the lead to win Stage 1 – his second stage victory of the season. He was involved in a collision late in the race and rallied to an 11th-place finish.
Allmendinger, who earned the Stage 2 win – along with Kaulig Racing teammates Haley and Chastain – had to overcome a strategy setback, needing an additional pit stop to complete fuel and tire needs. That left Grala and veteran Justin Allgaier out front to start the final stage.
The race affected the championship standings with six races remaining to set the 12-driver playoff field. Brandon Brown holds the 12th position, with Jeremy Clements 53 points behind and Myatt Snider 73 points behind.
The next race is also a road-course event at the Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 15 at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN – the first time the NASCAR Xfinity Series has raced on the iconic venue’s road course.
Note: Austin Cindric’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford passed NASCAR’s post-race technical inspection at Road America.
NASCAR confiscated the spoilers for the Nos. 6 and 17 cars in the Cup Series before Saturday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It was found that the Roush Fenway Racing teams of Ryan Newman and Chris Buescher had violated section 20.4.12.b in the NASCAR Rule Book.
Except as specified, spoilers must be used exactly as supplied from the manufacturer. As a result of the violation, each team will be penalized with the loss of 20 driver and owner points, receive a $25,000 fine and start at the rear for Saturday’s race.
RELATED: Starting Lineup | Full standings
Newman was originally slotted to start 13th while Buescher was in 22nd. Buescher will fall from 21st to 24th in the standings because of the penalty while Newman will remain 26th as both drivers are currently outside the playoffs.
Additionally, the No. 7 of Joey Gase and No. 48 of Jimmie Johnson each had two inspection failures and will start from the rear. Johnson was originally slated to start 17th while Gase already was starting last in the field.
Johnny Sauter is likely feeling the postseason pressure.
With only five races and five spots remaining, the 2016 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series champ has yet to secure a spot in the upcoming 2020 playoffs — something his three ThorSport Racing teammates have basically already done.
RELATED: Official results
Grant Enfinger continues to be the only Gander Truck Series regular with multiple victories this season (two; Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway). Reigning champion Matt Crafton snapped a 67-race drought at Kansas Speedway. They both are locked into the 10-driver field, along with the three other drivers with wins.
Ben Rhodes is then safely inside the playoff picture thanks to his points alone. He is currently the top contender among those who can fight their way into the title battle without a guaranteed victory berth, riding an 85-point cushion well above the elimination pool.
Sauter, meanwhile, sits three spots and 72 points below the cutoff line. He must know this. It at least seemed evident Friday night when he aggressively raced Enfinger for the lead in the Gander Truck Series’ Henry Ford Health System 200 at Michigan International Speedway. Sauter pushed so hard, trying to keep the advantage, he spun out his own No. 13 Ford with 16 laps to go in the scheduled 100-lap event.
It wasn’t Sauter’s first time out front either. He led three different times — the most lead steals out of the field — for 18 laps overall.
Ultimately, Sauter finished 16th — not the worst out of his teammates, not the best. He did capture his first stage win of 2020.
Rhodes had the strongest showing out of the ThorSport Racing crew. His No. 99 Ford placed 11th. Crafton was 23rd in the No. 88. Enfinger and the No. 98, despite leading a race-high 38 laps, wound up 33rd.
Crafton’s subpar showing was the result of getting caught up in a multi-truck wreck on Lap 50.
Like Sauter, though, Enfinger also wrecked while leading. Enfinger’s checkered-flag hopes came to an end during the first lap of the race’s second NASCAR Overtime. The front three trucks bunched up and collided on the restart, and Enfinger took the brunt of the impact, sliding off the track and to the back of the pack without drawing a caution.
Zane Smith capitalized on the chaos and scored his first career victory on Lap 107.
Sauter’s next chance at a playoff bid will be Aug. 16, as the Gander Trucks Series takes on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course for the first time ever (noon ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
David Gravel capped his eventful NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series debut with a top-10 finish Friday night, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for GMS Racing to an eventful 10th-place showing at Michigan International Speedway.
After firing off from the 12th starting position, Gravel fell back to 20th by the end of Stage 1 on Lap 20 of 100. He was then 26th at the conclusion of Stage 2 on Lap 40 before charging back through a series of late-race cautions.
RELATED: Official results
Gravel, 28, is a World of Outlaws driver, piloting the No. 41 sprint car for Jason Johnson Racing. He boasts 54 career wins in the series, including three in the 2020 season alone. He’s the 2019 Knoxville National Champion, an honor he earned while sporting an Axalta paint scheme thanks to NASCAR Hall of Famer and four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, who convinced the company to sponsor his entry.
At Michigan, Gravel had ChevyGoods.com on his truck hood. He also helped give back to the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation with autographed No. 24 T-shirts available to those who joined the organization’s giving program called “THE FUEL” before the checkered flag waved.
Gravel has run an ARCA Menards Series event in 2020, too. He placed 12th at Daytona International Speedway back in February in the No. 28 KBR Development Chevrolet.
Zane Smith made a last-lap pass in double overtime to earn his first career NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series victory Friday night in the Henry Ford Health System 200 at Michigan International Speedway.
The 21-year old Smith held off his friend, Sunoco rookie Christian Eckes, by a mere .318 seconds for the victory and his official berth into the upcoming 2020 series playoffs. Their duel was made possible after the race’s most dominant driver, Grant Enfinger, was taken from the lead on the restart in a three-truck collision at the front of the field involving 2019 Michigan race winner Austin Hill and NASCAR Cup Series rookie John Hunter Nemechek.
RELATED: Official results
Grant Enfinger, a two-race winner this season, led a race-best 38 of the 107 laps but finished 33rd.
Former NHRA champion-turned NASCAR rookie Tanner Gray finished a career-best third, followed by Tyler Ankrum (fourth) and Todd Gilliland (fifth). The average age of the top five finishers was 20 years old.
Brett Moffitt, Raphael Lessard, Derek Kraus, Parker Kligerman and World of Outlaws sprint-car star David Gravel rounded out the top 10 in order. It was a career-best finish for Lessard as well.
After holding the checkered flag up on the Michigan frontstretch, an emotional Smith climbed out of his No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet and spoke about the personal enormity of his victory. His previous best finish in only 11 career series starts was third at Charlotte Motor Speedway earlier this year.
“I really don’t know where to start,” the California native said. “A lot of people don’t understand my situation with racing. It’s unbelievable I’ve made it to this point. Just thank you.
“A lot of this sport, as we all know, is about money and I don’t come from that. Making it to this point and to win and to be with such an awesome team like GMS Racing is something special. I wish everyone could be here so I could celebrate with my parents and my girlfriend. Man, this is a lot to take in and it was awesome racing with all my friends. Man, an unbelievable day.”
The veteran, 2016 series champion Johnny Sauter was chasing Enfinger down during green-flag laps late in the race and looked to be making a solid charge from an uncharacteristic points position outside the current playoff top 10. But Sauter’s No. 13 ThorSport Racing Ford wiggled loose and crashed while running alongside teammate Enfinger. Prior to that, he won Stage 2 of the race – his first stage win of the season – and led a season-best 18 laps, but ultimately he finished 16th.
Sauter’s accident was one of a record 11 caution periods. There were 18 lead changes among 13 drivers.
Moffitt, another former series champion, won the opening stage of the race.
The series heads to Daytona International Speedway for a first-ever race on the famed track’s infield road course next Sunday at 12 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Note: Zane Smith’s No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet passed NASCAR’s post-race technical inspection at Michigan International Speedway.
NASCAR and iRacing will send three teams of top NASCAR stars to the virtual Daytona International Speedway Road Course to conquer the new layout, just in time for stock-car racing’s debut at the track. Hosted by Daytona 500-winning crew chief and NBC Sports analyst Steve Letarte, drivers William Byron, Chase Briscoe and Ty Majeski will participate in iRacing Happy Hour, streaming live on NASCAR.com Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
RELATED: Ride along through Daytona Road Course with new chicane
The unique and unprecedented event, sponsored by Coca-Cola, will give teams their first look at the Daytona’s newest road-course layout, which adds a brand new chicane heading into the tri-oval. With all three of NASCAR’s national series making their debut on the Daytona Road Course with their respective races, all three teams will spend 60 minutes on track, approaching the session like their first real-world practice session of a typical race weekend. Each driver will work with a member of his real-world race team and an eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series driver as engineer to get the most out of the track time.
The iRacing Happy Hour team lineups are as follows:
| Series | Driver | Crew Chief | Engineer |
| Cup Series | William Byron | Chad Knaus | Nick Ottinger |
| Xfinity Series | Chase Briscoe | DJ Vanderley | Justin Bolton |
| Gander Truck Series | Ty Majeski | Phil Gould | Keegan Leahy |
iRacers will have their own opportunity to get into the action with a special set of time trials running through Tuesday night with all three vehicles. The fastest driver in each class will receive a prize from iRacing and NASCAR, while the top times from each class will be used as a benchmark for each real-world driver during iRacing Happy Hour. The prizes for the top time trial finishers will be determined by how well Byron, Briscoe and Majeski perform on the track.
The real-world driver who comes closest to his series’ fastest time trial lap or beats it by the largest margin will earn the series’ top time trial finisher $1,000 in iRacing credits and two tickets to the 2021 Daytona 500. The real-world driver who comes second closest will earn that series’ top time trial finisher $500 in iRacing credits and a $100 NASCAR Shop gift card, while the remaining time trial winner will earn $250 in iRacing credits and a $50 NASCAR Shop gift card. In addition, donations of $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000 will be made in the same finishing order to charities of each team’s choice.
“Our long-standing partnership with iRacing has never been as important as it’s been this year,” said Tim Clark, NASCAR’s senior vice president and chief digital officer. “With each challenge we’ve faced, iRacing has been right there with us providing its incredible technology as a tool for our entire industry. This initiative is a great example of our continued collaboration and will provide great value for our drivers and fans.”
During iRacing Happy Hour, fans will be able to interact with @NASCAR on Twitter to feed Letarte and Smith questions for the three participating teams. Fans will also be able to see into the virtual garages as Ottinger, Bolton and Leahy make the changes to the respective vehicles in hopes of getting the most out of the car — and giving their driver the best chance to succeed in the real world.
iRacing Happy Hour joins the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series as the second of two premier iRacing events on the Daytona Road Course during the week. The eNASCAR round will air Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on eNASCAR.com/live and iRacing.com/live, and it will give fans a first look at how the Daytona Road Course should look with NASCAR Cup Series cars hitting the track. The NASCAR Xfinity Series hits the track for real Aug. 15, while the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series and NASCAR Cup Series will run a doubleheader Aug. 16.
For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com