Missed chance at Michigan puts Gilliland in must-win spot to make playoffs

Posted on August 11, 2018August 11, 2018 by Chase Wilhelm

BROOKLYN, Mich. — A fifth-place finish in the Corrigan Oil 200 at Michigan International Speedway may have been a good result for Todd Gilliland, but it wasn’t what he needed.

Gilliland was fast in the No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota, and held the lead for a total of eight laps en route to collecting his second straight top-10 finish and his second top five on the year. But the rookie still sits 12th in the playoff standings, 126 points down on Matt Crafton at the cutline.

That means Gilliland faces a must-win situation to make the playoffs in his Camping World Truck Series rookie season with Kyle Busch Motorsports. But, Gilliland is taking a realist approach to the task at hand.

“I think a lot of people are focused on just making the playoffs, but there’s more races after that,” Gilliland said leaning up against the No. 4 truck after Saturday’s race. “As a team, I don’t think we’re close enough yet to just try to get that one win.”

Of course, the fire to make the playoffs burns in Gilliland, but he’s focused on the whole picture.

“We just need to focus on getting more consistent every week,” Gilliland said. “If we would have finished top five the last few weeks in a row, it’d be a little bit different. But this is our best finish in a while and we need to take the positives out of it.”

Heading into the regular-season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday night (8:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Gilliland plans to keep his head down and ignore all the pressure to make the postseason.

“It’s a place that I’ve won at earlier this year in the K&N Pro Series East,” Gilliland said. “Kyle Busch Motorsports always runs extremely well there. It’s just going to be about being consistent and not letting anybody get in my head. Just try to stay focused the best I can.”

Posted on August 11, 2018 by Chase Wilhelm

BROOKLYN, Mich. — The clock is ticking for Daniel Suarez to earn his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win to catapult him into the playoffs, but he’s not sweating it.

With four races to go in the regular season, Suarez is 19th in the playoff standings, 89 points behind Alex Bowman at the cutline. A win, of course, would solidify his fate, regardless of how others perform.

That’s a task Suarez feels is not out of reach for him and the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 team.

“The team is capable to winning races and I feel like I’m capable to win races,” Suarez told NASCAR.com. “Unfortunately, we put ourselves in this position because we didn’t run well three months ago. We had the speed sometimes and sometimes we didn’t. We weren’t doing a good job fixing the problem.

“Right now, it seems like we have the problem fixed, but we are in a bad position for the playoffs,” he added. “Hopefully we can keep rolling in the right direction.”

If Suarez wants to get that elusive first win in Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), home of his first career Xfinity Series win, he’ll have some work to do after slapping the wall in the first round of qualifying. The 19 team stayed at the track late Friday evening to fix the damage to the right side of the car instead of rolling out the backup, but Suarez didn’t record a time and will start last.

The No. 19 in the garage Saturday morning at Michigan after the team fixed damage from Friday’s qualifying incident. Credit: Chase Wilhelm | NASCAR Digital Media

Suarez has momentum on his side after finishing in the top five the past two races — second at Pocono and fourth at Watkins Glen. A checkered flag appears tantalizingly close, but starting deep in the field at Michigan will make it a more difficult task.

“Any time you can have a top-five run, you can have a shot to finish in Victory Lane,” Suarez said. “We just have to give ourselves more opportunities just like we have done the last few weeks. If we can keep doing that, eventually the win will come.”

Even JGR teammate Erik Jones — who earned his first Monster Energy Series win last month in Daytona — feels like Suarez can break into Victory Lane at any moment.

“He’s definitely a lot closer than he was a month or two ago,” Jones said. “Looking at his last three or four races, he’s been close enough, if things go right, to win. It’d be cool for JGR to see him win. I’d be good to get all four cars in the playoffs this year, all five Toyotas. We’re all hoping he can in the next few.”

The recent upward trend for Suarez is also a credit to the support he has received from teammate Kyle Busch, who has won six races so far this season and is a favorite for the Championship 4 in Homestead.

“Kyle is a great guy, an amazing driver and a great teammate, as well,” Suarez said. “It’s not for nothing that he’s one of the Big 3. He’s been racing in the Cup Series for a long time and it’s always good to have advice, comments and all kinds of information from a friend like him. He’s been very helpful, especially in the last month or so.”

As the playoffs loom, it would be reasonable to assume that the weight of the world is on the shoulders of Suarez. But he’s staying cool and confident.

“This isn’t pressure,” he said, “this is fun. I like it.”

Posted on August 11, 2018August 11, 2018 by Reid Spencer

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Talk about perfect timing.

With a huge run through the final two corners, Brett Moffitt surged past Johnny Sauter right before the finish line at Michigan International Speedway to win Saturday’s Corrigan Oil 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race by .025 seconds.

Trailing Sauter at the white flag, Moffitt backed off in Turn 1 to create a gap between his No. 16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota and the No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet of Sauter. Moffitt charged into Turn 3, pulled even to the inside of Sauter’s truck as they rolled the corner and won a drag race to the finish line.

Moffitt picked up his second victory at Michigan, his fourth of the season—tying Sauter for the series lead—and the fifth of his career.

“Pretty amazing this little team’s gone to Victory Lane four times this year,” Moffitt said. “The whole last however many laps I was behind (Sauter), I would get to him, but I would push him with that air bubble between our bumpers.

“So I tried to back up (Turn) 1, let him get out there a little bit, and I knew the 8 (Polesitter and third-place finisher John Hunter Nemechek) was behind us—I was hoping he would actually get to us and be able to push us. But we were able to play it right and time it right, and, man, it’s just great to get here.”

Sauter had taken the lead on Lap 88 of 100 when he surged past both Moffitt and eventual fifth-place finisher Todd Gilliland. The disappointing finish left Sauter second-guessing himself.

“They said ‘Clear by three (car-lengths)’ coming off (Turn) 2, and I kept watching the mirror,” Sauter said. “I just felt like, if I ran the middle, I’d keep momentum up. I felt like when I went to the bottom, I was bogging a little bit.

“But I screwed up. No ‘ifs,’ ‘ands’ or ‘buts’ about it. I should have run the bottom, but I do feel like maybe he would have squirted to the top. Sitting duck, kind of—for sure. You know he’s planning a run, but you just don’t know when… Pretty ticked at myself for giving away a win.”

Sauter wasn’t the only one. Stewart Friesen led 12 laps in a strong No. 52 Chevrolet, but his fueler drew a penalty for pushing the truck after handling the fuel can during the final pit stop under caution on Lap 80, sending Friesen to the rear for a Lap 84 restart.

Friesen fought his way back to eighth at the finish.

Noah Gragson ran fourth, followed by Gilliland. Ben Rhodes, Grant Enfinger, Friesen, Justin Haley and Matt Crafton completed the top 10. Sauter retained the series lead by 56 points over Gragson.

Moffitt’s victory ensures that at least two drivers will qualify for the NCTWS Playoffs on points—good news for Enfinger and Friesen, who are third and fourth in the standings, respectively. Crafton, who is sixth, will clinch a Playoff berth if no one outside the top eight in the standings wins next Thursday at Bristol.

Given his 53-point edge over Crafton, Enfinger can clinch a Playoff spot simply by starting the race at Bristol.

Notes: The No. 4 KBM truck of Gilliland had one lug nut found to be unsecure in post-race inspection.

Posted on August 11, 2018 by Reid Spencer

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Based on testing during successive weeks in July, Goodyear has opted to bring a slightly different tire for September’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.

Goodyear is treating the Bank of America Roval 400 as a typical road course race, although the track configuration that includes the majority of the banked oval (with chicanes) and an infield portion will be raced for the first time.

“When we got to the organizational test (in July), we started seeing some heat that we didn’t really expect, to be quite honest with you,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of race tire sales. “I think it’s like anything — as you go from test to test to test, everybody gets a little faster.

“We saw enough signs in the first week of the organizational test that we decided to bring some of the controls (control tires) from our March test back and evaluate that as well, which we did in the second week (July 17).

“We felt like that was going to be a better choice for the race. The difference between the two is really a minor formulation change in the tread compound. It might have a little less grip, although when we did back-to-backs, nobody could really tell any difference. It’s just a slight change, back to where we were in March, and we felt like that was the right choice.”

MORE: Tricky spots abound at road course | Take a lap around the course

Goodyear will also bring rain tires to Charlotte — just in case. The rain tires are no different from those used at other road courses on the Cup circuit.

Posted on August 11, 2018August 11, 2018 by Staff Report

Joey Logano topped Saturday’s final practice session for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series prior to Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Michigan International Speedway. The two-time Michigan winner put down a fast lap of 197.580 mph in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford to pace the 65-minute session.

Kyle Busch (No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) came home second in practice with a fast lap of 197.520 mph while Alex Bowman (No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) took third with a speed of 197.320 mph. Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, 197.212 mph) and Kyle Larson (No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, 197.179 mph) rounded out the top five. Harvick was the runner-up at Michigan in June, while Larson has won three of the past four races at the 2-mile track.

Martin Truex Jr. was the only member of the “Big 3” to finish practice outside the top five as he posted the 17th-fastest speed.

Chase Elliott, who was last weekend’s winner at Watkins Glen, went for a spin off of Turn 4 in the opening minutes of practice. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has three runner-up finishes at Michigan in five starts there. He finished the session 18th-fastest.

WATCH: Elliott goes for a spin

The No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford of Michael McDowell served a 15-minute practice hold in final practice for failing pre-qualifying inspection twice at Michigan.

Practice was moved up 15 minutes to give drivers extra track time after the day’s first practice was only 15 minutes because of heavy fog in the area this morning.

Erik Jones leads Saturday’s early practice

Erik Jones topped Saturday’s fog-shortened, early morning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Michigan International Speedway. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led the way with a fast lap of 200.150 mph around the 2-mile track ahead of Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

William Byron (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) came in second with a speed of 199.678 mph followed by Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Team Penske Ford) in third with a speed of 199.358 mph. June Michigan winner Clint Bowyer (No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, 199.242 mph) and Joey Logano (No. 22 Team Penske Ford, 198.999 mph) rounded out the top five.

The morning fog delayed the start of practice by 40 minutes. The session was initially scheduled to start at 8:35 a.m. ET.

Pole sitter Denny Hamlin came in ninth in the session, while defending race winner Kyle Larson placed 12th.

Several teams were assessed 15-minute practice holds for this practice, but the fog delay gave the teams the option to serve the penalty in either of Saturday’s sessions. The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota team of Martin Truex Jr. (late to pre-race inspection at Watkins Glen), the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team of Kyle Busch (didn’t come to complete stop at the inner loop in practice at Watkins Glen), the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team of Daniel Suarez (didn’t come to complete stop at the inner loop in practice at Watkins Glen) and the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet team of Ryan Newman (didn’t come to complete stop at the inner loop in practice at Watkins Glen) were all assessed holds.

Both the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet team of Bubba Wallace and the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford team of B.J. McLeod were also assessed 15-minute practice penalties for being late to pre-qualifying inspection at Michigan. All teams elected to serve their penalties in this session.

Suarez hit the wall in qualifying — not recording a lap and he will start 40th in Sunday’s field — and the team has worked to repair the primary car.

Posted on August 11, 2018 by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will pit for Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday afternoon (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on August 10, 2018August 13, 2018 by Chase Wilhelm

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Kurt Busch addressed reports Friday that he may leave Stewart-Haas Racing for Chip Ganassi Racing following the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

The report by Motorsport.com claims that Busch, 40, is expected to leave SHR and replace Jamie McMurray beginning in 2019.

A spokesperson for Chip Ganassi Racing said that the organization does not publicly discuss driver contract discussions. A spokesperson from SHR said that “Stewart-Haas Racing does not comment on the status of its contracts, be it driver or partner related. We appreciate your understanding.”

Busch did not confirm nor deny the reports after Friday’s Busch Pole qualifying session at Michigan International Speedway.

“I’m talking to a bunch of teams out there,” Busch said. “There’s nothing that’s been signed and whatever has been reported is all hearsay.”

In 163 starts since 2014 with SHR, Busch has earned five wins, 34 top fives and 81 top-10 finishes, including a Daytona 500 victory in 2017. The team signed him to a one-year extension for this season late in 2017.

MORE: Michigan schedule | Lineup

McMurray is reported to be in the final year of his contract with Chip Ganassi Racing. Currently in his 16th full-time season, the 42-year-old has earned four wins with CGR since 2010, including the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in 2010. His most recent victory came at Talladega Superspeedway in 2013.

Posted on August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 by Reid Spencer

BROOKLYN, Mich. – The racing world took notice when Chase Elliott won his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International.

In particular, so did Kyle Larson.

To the driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, Elliott’s victory was emblematic of the progress Hendrick Motorsports has made in recent weeks.

Though he started the season with a clear speed advantage, Larson has seen the Hendrick organization close the gap. With the playoffs just around the corner, that gives Larson pause.

“I’d like to be making as big gains as what, say, the Hendrick guys have,” Larson acknowledged on Friday at Michigan International Speedway, venue for Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio). “But I feel like we started off way better than they did. So, they’ve had more room to get better.

“But I feel like they’ve kind of surpassed us maybe a little bit the last few weeks. And there are obviously other teams that are better than we are, too. I feel like we’re getting our stuff better every week.”

MORE: Practice recap, results | Full schedule for Michigan, Mid-Ohio

Larson swept both Michigan races last year. This week, he’s commuting between MIS and the Knoxville (Iowa) Nationals for winged sprint cars. Larson was pleased with the speed his No. 42 Chevy showed in opening practice at Michigan on Friday.

“We just keep getting better, and there are some good tracks for us in the playoffs,” said Larson, who was eighth fastest in the session. “If we could just get some luck one of these times in the playoffs, maybe we can make a run at the championship. So we’ve just got to keep working hard and thinking about what it takes to get better and better every week.

“I feel like we have the right group of people at the race track and the race shop that we can do that. It’s all about just progressing and getting better. I feel like we are definitely doing that, but there are other teams that maybe have made a bigger step than we have.”

Posted on August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 by Reid Spencer

BROOKLYN, Mich. — The math is as simple as 5-3-2.

The are five drivers who have qualified for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs by winning races — defending series champion Johnny Sauter, Brett Moffitt, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley and Ben Rhodes.

MORE: Full Michigan schedule | How to watch Saturday’s race

There are currently three playoff spots available on points, with Grant Enfinger, Stewart Friesen and two-time series champion Matt Crafton poised to claim them.

There are two races left in the NCWTS regular season. That means there are two more chances for a new winner to make the playoffs with a victory — and potentially to knock out one of the drivers planning to earn a berth on points.

Enfinger is in the most enviable position. He’s third overall in the standings, nine points ahead of Friesen and 39 ahead of Crafton. Accordingly, the driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford isn’t planning to drive defensively in the final two regular-season races at Michigan and Bristol.

Nor is Enfinger taking anything for granted.

“I’m definitely not comfortable with our situation,” Enfinger said after opening practice for Saturday’s Corrigan Oil 200 at Michigan (1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “I wish we were locked in… to breeze through these next two weeks and focus on the Playoffs.

“We can’t really do that, but we’re not in a bad spot either. At the end of the day, we just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing to get us to this point, and I think we’ll be all right. Really, it’s kind of business as usual for us.”

With two races left before the Playoffs begin, Enfinger will secure a playoff spot if he stays ahead of both Friesen and Crafton in the standings — no matter what else happens.

Posted on August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 by Reid Spencer

BROOKLYN, Mich. — With a blistering lap at 202.794 mph (35.504 seconds) on Friday, Denny Hamlin won his second straight pole position in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

This time, he left no doubt as to who had the fastest car. Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was fastest in opening practice—and fastest in all three rounds of knockout qualifying at Michigan International Speedway.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Weekend schedule

For the second straight week, Hamlin and JGR teammate Kyle Busch (202.731 mph) will start 1-2. Hamlin edged Busch by .011 seconds to earn his second Busch Pole Award of the season, his first at Michigan and the 28^th of his career.

A victory from the pole would continue Hamlin’s streak of at least one victory per year, starting with his 2006 rookie season.

“It is a very important streak,” Hamlin asserted. “I think about it… I thought it was all over in 2013, the year that I broke my back (in a wreck at Auto Club Speedway), and we won in the final race of the season to keep the streak alive.

“You look back at the really great drivers of NASCAR, and they had long streaks, 10 years and above, of winning in a row, and you want to keep that going for sure. It’s important.”

Busch was on pace for the pole before losing time through Turns 3 and 4 in the money round.

“I thought 3 and 4 went OK,” Busch said. “Certainly, I don’t think it was my best time through there. The first couple of runs, we’d been fighting ‘loose,’ so you kind of drive a little differently to be ready for the loose situation, and then on the final run, we were tight.

“You guard your entry or guard your center or whatever you do for the loose, and that doesn’t happen, and you’re tight, and then you’re too tight because you guarded for the loose. Just ever so slightly just missed it, I guess. Overall, I didn’t think we were going to qualify there, so we’re certainly pleased with that.

“Denny’s been fast so far from unload, so good for them to capitalize on that.”

MORE: Top fantasy sleepers for Michigan | What retro shirt is Dale rocking?

Kevin Harvick, like Busch a six-time winner this season, qualified third at 202.100 mph. Erik Jones was fourth at 201.805 mph, putting three Gibbs Toyotas in the top four on the grid.

The Richard Childress Racing duo of 2018 Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon and Ryan Newman will start from the third row after qualifying fifth and sixth, respectively. Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman completed the top 10.

The No. 19 Toyota of Daniel Suarez, who had posted the third fastest lap in opening practice, twitched out of control in Turn 2 in the opening round and tapped the outside wall. Suarez posted no time for the session and will start from the back of the field.

“I just got loose,” said Suarez, who had asked for adjustment after his car felt slightly tight in practice. “We just crossed the line. Once we got in the gray (out of the preferred groove), it was like being on ice.”

Suarez was optimistic his team could fix the cosmetic damage and get it ready for Saturday’s two practice sessions and Sunday’s race.

“I think we’ll see the 19 passing a lot of cars on Sunday,” Suarez said.