Posted on by Staff Report

The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. failed pre-qualifying inspection twice at Michigan International Speedway, resulting in the ejection of a crew member.

RELATED: Full schedule for Michigan

The violation came just before Saturday’s Busch Pole Qualifying for Monday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (5 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at the 2-mile track. In addition to the removal of a team engineer, Truex’s No. 19 team will also forfeit 15 minutes of practice time in the series’ next race, scheduled June 23 at Sonoma Raceway.

A NASCAR spokesperson confirmed that Truex’s car passed inspection on its third attempt. Saturday’s session serves as the final inspection before Monday’s 400-miler, with the field impounded after Saturday qualifying.

Posted on by Staff Report

Greg Biffle rolled to a lucrative NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series triumph with a $50,000 payday in his comeback race Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway, sidestepping a flurry of crashes to win the first-ever race in the Triple Truck Challenge bonus program.

Biffle, a Gander Trucks champion in 2000, led just 18 of the 167 laps and guided his Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 Toyota into position for further bonuses over the next two races in the inaugural Triple Truck Challenge — “The Trip,” for short — pending Biffle’s availability on the entry list.

“Just excited to be here, man,” Biffle said. “I don’t even know what to say. Just so thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had to drive great trucks. This thing was really fast.”

RELATED: Race results | Full schedule for Michigan

Biffle’s second truck win at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth track was the 17th of his Gander Trucks career. The event marked the 49-year-old driver’s first national series race since the 2016 Monster Energy Series season finale and his first race in a truck since 2004. With his high-profile return prodded along by team owner Kyle Busch, Biffle especially savored the briefcase full of extra cash presented to him in Victory Lane.

“That’s great. You know, I’ve been off work for a long time, so this is going to be great for us,” Biffle said.

Matt Crafton wound up second in the wreck-filled SpeedyCash.com 400. Tyler Ankrum recovered from a spin to finish a career-best third, and Grant Enfinger and Harrison Burton closed out the top five finishers.

Biffle was able to finesse his fuel mileage over the final stretch, but still had enough oomph to sit .963 seconds ahead at the checkered flag.

“I haven’t been this excited in a long time,” said No. 51 crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle. “It’s fun to win these things. I’ve won a lot of races, but never on fuel mileage — ever. I was praying to the fuel-cell gods there that we had enough fuel in the tank.”

Pole-starter Todd Gilliland and second qualifier Johnny Sauter made up the front row, but both drivers sustained heavy damage in crashes before the halfway point. The race was slowed by a record 13 caution periods, the most in the 44-race history of the series at Texas.

Sauter started second and led three laps, including the final lap of his Stage 1 win. But Lap 56 contact with Austin Hill’s No. 16 Toyota forced his ThorSport Racing No. 13 into the outside retaining wall in Turn 4.

Gilliland led twice for 32 laps, but lost control in a contest for the lead on a Stage 2 restart, backing his Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 4 Toyota into the Turn 2 barrier. The 19-year-old driver retired after completing just 69 laps.

“It still sucks that we’re out of this race — DNF — but still a lot of fun racing out there,” said Gilliland. “I was laying it all out there on the race track and I thought we were going to have something for them tonight. Just a couple more adjustments, but … I just need to be more patient. It’s not the end of the world if the 99 (Rhodes) gets by me right there and I finish this stage second or third. I just need to be a little bit smarter about that stuff. Felt really good to run up front. Proud of my Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra team. Hopefully we can come back stronger. We have an important couple of weeks right here. Keep the morale up and go into the next one even stronger.”

The series’ next race is scheduled Saturday, June 15 (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Iowa Speedway. The race will mark the second event in the Triple Truck Challenge, with the third and final race of the new program scheduled June 22 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

BROOKLYN, Mich. – To Kurt Busch, there were two distinctly different aspects to Friday’s opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway — in the draft and out of the draft.

“The cars by themselves are very stable, and there’s a ton of speed,” said Busch, who ran the eighth fastest single lap in the opening session at 187.490 mph. “Then you got in the draft, and it was magnified by 10 on how difficult the draft feels and how the car’s reacting.

“So I’m not sure where the balance needs to be between that raw speed versus the handling in the draft.”

RELATED: Full weekend schedule | Final practice results

That doesn’t mean Busch expects Monday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 (5 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) to resemble a superspeedway event, with cars racing in close proximity in large packs. But drafting will still be an integral part of the competition at the 2-mile track.

“Yes, it is, because you don’t know where you’ll end up in the corner,” Busch said. “You want the clean air in the corner, but you want the draft on the straightaway. There’s no way to have your cake and eat it, too, so you’ve got to work on the handling side of things to cover that base.”

Even though the fastest Cup cars were roughly 14 mph slower than they were last year with the current higher-downforce, lower-horsepower competition package, Busch said the cars felt edgy in the draft.

“Either everybody’s struggling with it, or for us in the 1 car and the 42 car (Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson), the drafting stability was compromised quite a bit,” Busch said. “I didn’t even check the overall lap times, but by itself, the car felt slower, and in the draft it feels faster.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Daniel Suarez explained his current contract situation with Stewart-Haas Racing on Friday, indicating that both he and the team have renewal options after the 2019 season. Suarez came to SHR this year after two seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing, where he lost his ride to make room for Martin Truex Jr.

“I feel very confident in where we are,” said Suarez, who was fourth fastest in Happy Hour and quickest in 10 consecutive lap average at Michigan International Speedway. “We have options on both sides, which is good. I have an option, they have an option, and I feel that is the best way to do things, especially when you have a lot of unknowns at the beginning of the year. We know where we are at and what we can do. We haven’t won races — that was my goal, but nobody has on the team.

RELATED: Full schedule for Michigan, Texas

“It isn’t like I am the only one not winning races like it was the last (two) years. It’s a way different situation. I feel like, when we move forward, we move forward together. I don’t feel like I am the guy that is struggling of the group. I feel like we are going to be in good shape. I feel like I am in a good home with Stewart-Haas Racing and Ford Performance and everyone in this group. I’m not really worried. I feel confident about it.

MORE: Suarez: ‘If you’re polite, you won’t last’

“But I will tell you that I felt confident about it as well last year and you saw what happened. You never know in this sport. I don’t like talking about it until it is 110-percent secure. The sport is at a point where anything can happen. What I can control is this weekend. I have to do my thing this weekend and try to win races. I feel like the rest will take care of itself.”

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

BROOKLYN, Mich. – According to Daniel Suarez, if you want to win races, a drastic change in behavior among competitors leaves no room for kindness on the race track.

During the Stewart-Haas Racing driver’s media availability Friday at Michigan International Speedway, Suarez dove into detail regarding how much driver etiquette has changed since he first came onto the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series scene, a conversation he and Ryan Blaney and Corey LaJoie actually had at dinner with fellow Ford Performance drivers Thursday night.

“In today’s racing, nobody gives respect,” Suarez said. “It’s way different than two years ago. When I came to the Cup Series in 2017, everyone was very polite. In the first half of the race, if someone was faster than me, I would let the guy go. But right now, … Lap 2 … we’re driving it with everything.

RELATED: Suarez fast early at Michigan | Full schedule for Michigan, Texas

“That’s how it is,” Suarez continued. “There’s just no more respect or polite drivers out there. If you’re polite, you won’t last.”

With track position at a premium based on how competitive the Cup Series field has become, Suarez noted restarts have become more aggressive, with drivers jockeying to gain every position possible.

“Everyone has to make positions,” Suarez said. “If you don’t make positions, you’re going to lose positions. You have to have that mentality.

“I’ve had a lot of good race cars in the past where I’m good on the long run, but on the restarts I’m not great,” he added. “It takes me seven laps to finally get going. In today’s racing, you can’t have that. It’s one of those things where you have to be at least decent on restarts to have a good trade off.”

Although Suarez acknowledged being nice doesn’t get you very far in today’s day and age, he’s also not complaining about it. He actually enjoys it.

“Nobody gives anyone a break,” Suarez said. “It’s very hard, but it’s fun. I like it, driving hard; I don’t have a problem with that. It’s just a different style of racing now.

“The lead cars — the guys out running the top 15, top 10 – I think it’s how it’s supposed to be. I don’t mind driving hard. That’s what we get paid for, right?”

RELATED: SHR cars lead 10-lap averages in Michigan practice

Despite the lack of give-and-take on the race track, Suarez believes firmly in drawing a line in the sand to separate what happens on the race track from relationships in the motor coach lots.

“Personally, I try to be good with everyone, but on the race track it’s a whole different deal,” Suarez said. “There’s a lot of drivers like that. Joey Logano … he’s a great friend of mine and we get along extremely well off the race track. But when we’re on the race track, we’re always banging and hitting and talking trash on the radio. That’s how it is and that’s how I like it to be.

“It has to be that way. He (Logano) does a good job on that. He’s an extremely aggressive driver. I will say, I’m the same way. Maybe some people will say sometimes it’s too much, I prefer to be on the too much side and not too little.”

If there’s any doubt that Suarez gets a thrill out of ultra-aggressive racing and standing up to his competition, he’s quick to remind of his scuffle with Michael McDowell at ISM Raceway in March.

“Do you see when I was fighting in Phoenix, I was smiling, too,” Suarez said with a grin. “I don’t have a problem with that. I’ve been in tougher situations, believe me.”

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Alex Bowman and the No. 88 team celebrated what would have been Tim Richmond’s 64th birthday in style on Friday at Michigan International Speedway.

RacingOne
Tim Richmond’s No. 25 scheme that inspired the throwback look. Photo: RacingOne

Bowman and team unveiled their throwback paint scheme for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway with a video tribute in the media center ahead of this weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at the 2-mile track. The scheme pays tribute to Richmond’s No. 25 scheme he competed with in 37 races for Hendrick Motorsports from 1986-87.

RELATED: Every angle of throwback | Darlington paint schemes

“If I was a NASCAR fan in that era, that’s who I would have cheered for,” Bowman told NASCAR.com following the announcement. “I think just the excitement, his personality and how good he was in a race car. He was pretty unbelievable.”

After the scheme failed to make it on the car for the 2018 running of the crown-jewel throwback event, Bowman’s intense push to make it happen finally paid off.

“I begged for it,” Bowman said. “I begged for it last year and we didn’t do it, but I’m glad we could make it happen. It’s something I really wanted to do. If I was going to pick a throwback scheme, it’s exactly what I would pick.”

Alex Bowman Main Darlington
Photo courtesy of Hendrick Motorsports

Axalta, the primary sponsorship featured on Bowman’s No. 88 machine for Darlington, also played a big part in bring Bowman’s dream to life.

“Obviously, they’ve got a lot of paint schemes they could throw back to and it’s cool for them to be flexible and willing to let me do something different,” said Bowman.

With the throwback paint revealed, it now begs the question of whether or not Bowman will make an effort to mirror Richmond’s personal look with the iconic mustache and long mane. Based on team owner Rick Hendrick’s reaction to a previous encounter with Bowman’s effort to sport facial hair, he’s decided to let the paint scheme have all the glory.

“If I grew a mustache out … I tried for the All-Star (Race) and it didn’t work out so well and I got made fun of a lot, Bowman said. “Mr. H (Rick Hendrick) walked up to me and just stared at me for a second before he would talk to me, so I think that was shave the damn mustache off your face, so I did. Yeah, that probably won’t happen.”

RELATED: Tim Richmond’s career in photos

As the team continues to bring strong cars to the track consistently, Bowman is hopeful he’ll be able to turn his Darlington luck around. In 2018, Bowman qualified fourth, but he only managed a 23rd-place result after troubles from earning the infamous ‘Darlington stripe.’

“It’s just hit and miss,” Bowman said. “That place is really tough. Really tough to kind of correlate practice with what you’re going to have in the race just because you race at night and practice during the day. It’s so hot and slick. It’s a tough place for me so we’ll just have to wait and see.”

As far as Monday’s race at Michigan (5 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is concerned, Bowman noted that the team elected to bring a nearly-identical car to what they unloaded at Kansas Speedway in May where he earned his third of three-consecutive second-place finishes. 

“I’m really confident coming here, just with how strong we were at Kansas and how similar the two race tracks are,” Bowman said. “I think we could be really good here with it. This is one I’ve had circled here for a while and I’m looking forward to it.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton conceded they feel a lot of pressure to win driving a pair of the best trucks in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series this year. However, they maintain, the pressure is from within. … not necessarily with their superstar team owner Kyle Busch, who has been vocal in urging his young proteges along.

The 18-year old Burton, son of retired NASCAR star Jeff Burton, has four top-10 and six top-11 finishes through the opening eight races of the year driving the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota.  His best finish is a third place at Dover and he’s ranked ninth in the championship.

The 19-year old Gilliland, son of NASCAR star David Gilliland, has four top-10 finishes in the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota truck, including a best of third place at Kansas two races ago. He’s ranked eighth in the championship standings. He finished fourth in the truck race here last fall – a best ever showing in Fort Worth.

RELATED: Triple Truck Challenge starts this weekend | KBM shuffles crew chiefs

Burton told reporters Thursday at Texas Motor Speedway in advance of Friday night’s SpeedyCash400.com that he completely understands his owner Busch’s frustrations at the two – who tangled together in the Daytona season-opener. But he also understands and appreciates where Busch is coming from. He recognizes that to be a better driver you have to ask for advice and be open to criticism.

And always learning.

“At this level of the sport, you have to be very pro-active especially at a young age,’’ Burton said. “You have to ask a lot of questions.

“You have to make it happen in a short amount of time and it’s tough,’’ Burton explained. “If it were easy, everyone would do it. If there weren’t times like this everyone would be a seven-time champion.

“It’s about who comes through these times, gets motivated by these and starts kicking butt again basically. That’s my mindset anyway.’’

 

Posted on by PJ Walsh

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content
partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

I’ve talked a lot about the new aero package implemented in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season, and Monday’s race at Michigan will give us another key data point regarding what the racing will look like for the remainder of the year.

The overall goal of this package is to keep the cars closer together and promote more passing, something all NASCAR fans would be interested in seeing at Michigan.

But just like last week, we really don’t know what the racing will look like on-track, so I’ll be using historical results from Michigan International Speedway, as well as what we know so far about this package to make my NASCAR Props Challenge picks for Monday’s FireKeepers Casino 400.

1. Will Sunday’s race winner be over the age of 33? Yes or No?

According to the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, Kyle Busch (+275), Kevin Harvick (+500), Martin Truex Jr. (+600) and Brad Keselowski (+800) are the four drivers with the best odds to win Sunday’s race.

All four of these drivers are over the age of 33.

Pick: Yes

2. Which Chip Ganassi Racing driver will finish higher? Kurt Busch or Kyle Larson?

Larson has won three of the past five races at Michigan, so the easy answer is to take Kyle. However, Busch’s average running position (ARP) of 10.3 dominates Larson’s of 15.8 at tracks of 1.5 miles in length or larger this season.

Not only does Busch have the edge with this package, but Larson’s track history will likely convince many of our Props Challenge competitors to pick him here, so Kurt gives us a solid opportunity to pivot from the masses.

Pick: Busch

3. Will the race winner lead O/U 70.5 laps?

This question is all about the new aero package. I expect the draft to play a big role on Sunday, keeping the pack more closely bunched together than in years past.

I think we see more lead changes — and therefore leaders — this year, and don’t expect one car to get out front, lead a ton of laps and win.

Pick: Under

4. Stewart-Haas Racing drivers swept the Michigan races last year? Will one of them win on Sunday?

Here are the odds for each of the four Stewart-Haas drivers to win:

  • Harvick (+275)
  • Clint Bowyer (+2000)
  • Aric Almirola (+3000)
  • Daniel Suarez (+4000)

This is an easy no.

Pick: No

5. O/U 28.5 stage points for Team Penske?

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get the rest of PJ Walsh’s NASCAR Props Challenge Picks.

Posted on by Team Release

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (June 5, 2019) – Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) announced Wednesday changes to the organization’s crew chief lineup that will take effect beginning with Friday’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

Marcus Richmond will move over to guide the No. 46 team for its next two events; at Iowa Speedway with Riley Herbst and at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway with Chandler Smith.

Wes Ward, shop foreman at KBM, will serve as the interim crew chief for Todd Gilliland this week at Texas and Michael Shelton, who previously served as the crew chief for the No. 46 team’s limited schedule this season, will serve as interim crew chief for Gilliland at Gateway and Iowa.

MORE: Texas entry list