Posted on by Reid Spencer

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BROOKLYN, Mich. – Denny Hamlin feels his fortunes are on an upswing, and he had reason for optimism even before he took the green flag in Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

On Saturday afternoon, Hamlin outdueled William Byron in a side-by-side race to the finish line to take home the trophy from the Irish Hills 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series race. On Sunday, he backed that up with a satisfying fourth-place run in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event at the 2-mile track.

Hamlin was 10th for a restart on Lap 155 of 200 but worked his way forward over the final 45 laps, which were punctuated by three additional cautions.

“Really good car,” Hamlin acknowledged after the race. “Everything we needed to do we did. Had one little hiccup on pit road, but for the most part, we ran really well all day, had good speed in our Camry and pretty happy.”

The result was Hamlin’s second-best of the season, eclipsed only by his third-place run at Richmond in late April. More important, Hamlin believes he’s close to getting his first win of the season—and the first season victory for Joe Gibbs Racing.

“Yeah, definitely,” he said. “I mean, you keep battling in the top-five and eventually you’ll have your chance.”

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Results | Series standings | Get VIP Tickets

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Finishing second typically hasn’t left a pleasant taste for Chase Elliott, who still is seeking the first victory of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. Sunday, a second-place run that exceeded his expectations was quite the consolation.

Elliott raced to a season-best, runner-up finish in Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, finishing .993 seconds behind race winner Kyle Larson. The 21-year-old driver has made three premier-series starts at Michigan; he’s finished second in all three.

Elliott emerged from a cluster of three intense restarts in the final 15 laps to secure his fifth top-five performance of the season. Though he couldn’t catch Larson down the stretch, there was some salvation to be found in a finish he wasn’t sure he’d see at the start of the day.

“I didn’t think we had a very good car coming into the day and the guys made a lot of gains,” Elliott said of his Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet crew, adding he felt the team “overachieved” from the weekend’s starting point. “I was able to run just outside the top five and into the top five there toward the end. Had unbelievable pit stops on pit road today, which was great and hopefully we can carry some of that forward.”

Momentum has been a relatively new commodity for Elliott, who endured a dreadful four-race stretch from late April through May with a quartet of finishes of 24th or worse. That span included a pair of crash-related DNFs.

His most recent three-race stint boasts results of fifth, eighth and Sunday’s second.

“I look back to the month of May, and it’s not like we ran really, really bad,” Elliott said. “We had a lot of things that didn’t go our way. We had some fast cars through that month, didn’t have very good results to show for it. I don’t necessarily think that our performance has changed just in the past three weeks. I think we’ve had those kind of opportunities in the few race prior to that that just never really showed.”

RELATED: Larson jumps ahead on restart

The result helped solidify his fifth-place stature in the series’ points standings, but he’s still among a host of other contenders lacking a regular-season win to fortify their playoff hopes. That crowded list of thus-far winless elite includes two drivers ahead of him in the points — Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick — with hopes of locking down their berths in the 16-driver postseason field.

Elliott insisted that playoff implications aren’t at the forefront during the course of the race, and that he’s not scoreboard-watching … yet.

“I guess you could get caught up in it. You can think about it, worry about it all you want,” Elliott said. “I mean, really, the people who run good, the people that put themselves in position are going to win, period. That’s the way it is. That’s the deal. You might as well just go ahead and count on the guys that consistently run well. You can pretty much count on them winning.

“Wherever that shakes out, it’s going to shake you out. I think if you run well enough every week, you’re probably going to get a (winner’s) sticker before too long.”

 

Posted on by Staff Report

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NASCAR tried a new form of driver introductions Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, and there’s already at least one avid fan: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Typically, drivers stand in the bed of pickup trucks as they circle the track for pre-race introductions as a way to allow as many fans as possible in the grandstands catch a glimpse of everyone.

But prior to the FireKeepers Casino 400, the trucks drove through the middle of the infield.

“Ain’t never done that before,” Earnhardt Jr. said in his post-race Periscope after finishing ninth. “That was pretty cool. I imagine they’ll do that every week next year, everywhere.”

Fans were lined up along the roadway as drivers waved from the trucks, with campers and RVs close behind.

“The fans sure loved the hell out of that,” Junior continued. “There’s tons of them in the infield looking for us, lined up. That was pretty awesome.”

 

Posted on by Staff Report

Third-place finisher Joey Logano might not have won Sunday’s FireKeeper Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, but he and his wife Brittany do have some other big news this Father’s Day.

Joey and Brittany wed in December 2014 and this will be their first child together.

Congratulations to the soon-to-be-parents!

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Results | Series standings | Detailed breakdown
SHOP: Larson gear | VIP Tickets

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Two weeks ago at Dover, Kyle Larson took a painful master class in restarts from Professor Jimmie Johnson.

In Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Larson graduated with high honors, using a series of exceptional restarts to win his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season and his second in a row, dating to last August, at the 2-mile track in the Irish Hills.

At Dover, Larson lost a race in which he had the dominant car when Johnson snookered him on a late restart and seized control of the race.

On Sunday, with a strong push from Ryan Blaney in the bottom lane during a restart on Lap 186 of 200, polesitter Larson cleared Kyle Busch for the lead through the first two corners and stayed out front the rest of the way — through two more quick cautions — to win for the third time in his career.

For everyone else, the bottom lane meant guaranteed lost positions, making Larson’s decisive restart all the more impressive — almost as impressive as his post-race burnout, as Larson spun his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, laying rubber across Victory Lane.

WATCH: Kyle Larson’s Victory Lane burnout

“Yeah, Ryan Blaney gave me a heck of a push,” Larson said of the decisive restart. “So I’ve really got to thank him a ton. I knew the Penske cars took off good, so I was happy to see him behind me. For us to withstand a few restarts there with some tough competitors there was pretty important. I can’t thank these guys enough.”

Larson said that, though restarts are quite different at Michigan than they are at Dover, he studied video of the Dover race and learned from the experience.

“I definitely watched the replay,” Larson said. “We looked at Jimmie’s driver data versus mine from the final restart at Dover, learned a little bit from that stuff.

“Honestly, I knew what I did wrong as soon as we took the green at Dover. But, yeah, here at Michigan, it’s different. You have a long straightaway. The frontstretch at Dover is pretty bumpy, so it’s hard to get grip. It’s not hard to get grip here at Michigan. It’s kind of just a drag race.”

The difference was that, on Sunday, it was a drag race Larson won.

Nor was the occasion lost on Larson, who has been bringing his 2-year-old son Owen to press conferences of late.

“What a great Father’s Day present for myself and all the other fathers out there,” Larson said. “My dad is here today, too. So I’m looking forward to celebrating with him. We’ve been so close to so many other wins. This is our second Cup win of the year, but we’ve had five second-place finishes. All-in-all, it’s a good season so far and we’ll continue to keep building on what we’ve got.”

WATCH: Larson celebrates Father’s Day with son Owen

Both Sunday’s victory and Larson’s win at Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, Calif.) in March came from the pole, and all three of his triumphs have come on two-mile tracks.

Larson got to the finish line .993 seconds ahead of Chase Elliott, who, like third-place finisher Joey Logano, felt he got the most out of his car.

“From where we started the day to where we ended up, I was really proud of our effort,” Elliott said. “I really think we overachieved today from what we had on Friday and Saturday, and even last night, I was getting a little nervous about how the day was going to go.

“So I’m happy that we could have a solid day and put ourselves in position and kind of rely on some late-race restarts. We had a couple of opportunities to get the lead. And, unfortunately, it just didn’t work out. But we’ll move on. Congratulations to Kyle (Larson). He had a fast car today and we’ll try to go get ’em next week.”

Star-crossed Kyle Busch had a 1.4-second lead when NASCAR called a caution on Lap 180 because of debris in Turn 2. After Larson passed him for the lead on the Lap 186 restart, Busch ultimately faded to seventh at the finish, still searching for his first victory of the season.

Denny Hamlin restarted beside Larson on Lap 196 but lost the third-place battle to Logano. Jamie McMurray, Larson’s teammate, ran fifth. Martin Truex Jr. came home fifth despite leading 62 laps (second only to Larson’s 96) and was victimized by a succession of late-race restarts in the bottom lane.

Though Truex won both the first and second 60-lap stages and increased his stash of playoff points to a series-leading 20, Larson regained the lead in championship points by five over Truex. Kyle Busch is 130 points back in third place.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson completed the top 10.

Notes: Johnson started from the rear of the field because he went to a backup car after a crash in practice … Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch also were sent to the rear for the start because of unapproved body modifications before the race. Busch finished 12th and Harvick 14th, the latter after late-race contact with Ryan Blaney during a four-wide dust-up on the backstretch.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

BUY TICKETS: See the race at Sonoma | See the races at Iowa

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NASCAR rolls into Sonoma Raceway for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, while Iowa Speedway will host the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Check out the full weekend schedule below.

Note: All times are ET

SUNDAY, JUNE 25

RUN OF SHOW
–3:00:00 p.m. Presentation of colors by Travis Air Force Base Honor Guard
–3:00:20 p.m. Invocation by Tim Boeve, track minister
–3:01:00 p.m. National anthem by Natalie Gallo, Transcendence Theatre Company’s Broadway Under the Stars
–3:02:30 p.m. Fly-By performed by 173rd Fighter Wing out of Kingsley Field in Southern Oregon (Turn 11 to Turn 7)
–3:08:00 p.m. “Drivers, Start your engines” by Cristela Alonzo, voice of Cruz Ramirez in Disney/Pixar’s Cars 3 & Mr. Renee’ Doss, Toyota Master Diagnostic Technician
–3:20:00 p.m. Green flag

ON TRACK
SONOMA RACEWAY
– 3 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota / Save Mart 350 (110 laps, 218.9 miles), FS1 (Canada; TSN 2) (Results)

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 6 p.m. (approx.): Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

FRIDAY, JUNE 23:
ON TRACK
SONOMA RACEWAY
– 3-4:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series first practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN 2) (Results)
– 6:30-7:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)

IOWA SPEEDWAY
– 10 a.m.-11:25 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series first practice, FS1 (Results)
– 12:15-1:15 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS1 (Results)
– 2-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series first practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)
– 5-5:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, FS1 (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)
– 6:05 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying (Results)
– 8:30 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Series M&M’s 200 presented by Casey’s General Store (200 laps, 175 miles), FS1 (Results)

GARAGECAM (Watch live)
— 2:30 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 1:30 p.m.: Alon Day (No. 23 Earthwater Toyota)
— 2 p.m.: Clint Bowyer (No. 14 Cars 3 Ford)
— 2:15 a.m.: Kyle Larson (No. 42 Target Chevrolet)
— 5:15 p.m.:  Martin Truex Jr. (No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota)
— 5:30 p.m.: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet)

SATURDAY, JUNE 24:
ON TRACK
SONOMA RACEWAY
– 2:45 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Qualifying, FS1 (Canada; TSN 5) (Results)

IOWA SPEEDWAY
– 6:15 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Qualifying, airs taped delayed at 7 p.m. on FS1 (Canada: TSN GO) (Results)
-8:30 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250 presented by Enogen (250 laps, 218.75 miles), FS1 (Canada: TSN 2) (Results)

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 3:30 p.m.: Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: FAQ for race format | Stage points earned in 2017

STAGE 2:

Much like in the first stage, Kyle Larson led the bulk of Stage 2 laps (47) in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet but lost the stage to Martin Truex Jr., who captured his 10th stage win of the season in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.

Truex led only the last six laps of Stage 2 but took all 10 stage points due to being the top finisher and the all important playoff point.

Kyle Busch grabbed second place in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and Larson finished the stage third.

Matt Kenseth was charging hard in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota behind leader Larson before a round of green-flag pit stops near the end of Stage 2, but he overshot his pit box slightly, had to back up and lost some position. He radioed the team during the end of stage caution that he was worried about his pit road speed, glanced down to check and just overshot the box.

Kenseth recovered and finished the stage in fourth place, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer in the No. 14 Ford.

STAGE 1: 

Martin Truex Jr. took the lead after a round of pit stops at the Lap 25 competition caution in Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway and held on for his series-leading ninth stage victory in the No 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. He bettered Kyle Larson, who was the class of the field for most of Stage 1 in Michigan, leading 34 of the stage’s 60 laps.

Truex has three times as many Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stage wins as Larson (3) and more than twice as many as Kyle Busch (4). Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney also have three stage wins.

Larson finished second in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet in Stage 1. Busch came in third and had the fastest speed of the first stage at 195.043 mph in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet.

Stage 2 results

Finish Driver Team Race points
 1.  Martin Truex Jr.  Furniture Row Racing  10
2.  Kyle Busch  Joe Gibbs Racing 9
3.  Kyle Larson  Chip Ganassi Racing 8
4.  Matt Kenseth  Joe Gibbs Racing 7
5.  Clint Bowyer  Stewart-Haas Racing 6
6.  Kevin Harvick  Stewart-Haas Racing 5
7.  Denny Hamlin  Joe Gibbs Racing 4
8.  Kurt Busch  Stewart-Haas Racing 3
9.  Chase Elliott  Hendrick Motorsports 2
10. Brad Keselowski  Team Penske 1

Stage 1 results

Finish Driver Team Race points
 1.  Martin Truex Jr.  Furniture Row Racing  10
2.  Kyle Larson  Chip Ganassi Racing 9
3.  Kyle Busch  Joe Gibbs Racing 8
4.  Denny Hamlin  Joe Gibbs Racing 7
5.  Matt Kenseth  Joe Gibbs Racing 6
6.  Clint Bowyer  Stewart-Haas Racing 5
7.  Ryan Blaney  Wood Brothers Racing 4
8.  Chase Elliott  Hendrick Motorsports 3
9.  Joey Logano  Team Penske 2
10.  Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 1
Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Starting Lineup 

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Six cars will drop to the rear of the field before the start of Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race for unapproved adjustments at Michigan International Speedway.

The following teams will start at the back for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) because they unloaded backup cars: the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson, the JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 Chevrolet of AJ Allmendinger and the Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Ford of Landon Cassill.

Also, the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota driven by rookie Daniel Suarez will fall to the rear of the field during pace laps because of an unapproved tire change.

Just prior to the start of the race, the Stewart-Haas Racing duo of Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Ford, slated to start 11th) and Kurt Busch (No. 41 Ford, slated to start 15th) were sent to the rear for unapproved body modifications.

The Germain Racing No. 13 Chevrolet driven by Ty Dillon will also start at the back of the field because it did not officially post a qualifying lap. Dillon’s speed in Friday’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying was disallowed because of unapproved modifications to the body of the car.

Also of note, there will be a competition caution at Lap 25 in this race.

Posted on by Matt Crossman

RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Detailed breakdown

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – “Happy Father’s Day!” a crew member shouted at team owner Joe Nemechek Saturday night as track workers put together the Victory Lane stage behind them. Nemechek had already passed out a half dozen hugs and handshakes to other members of the team he owns, NEMCO Motorsports.

“Incredible,” was all Nemechek could muster in response after watching his son, John Hunter Nemechek, pass Matt Crafton late in the race and win the NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series Drivin’ for Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park.

 

It was the fourth win of John Hunter’s trucks series career, all of them driving for his father. But it was the first in which his father was also a participant. The win puts John Hunter Nemechek in elite company. Other sons to win a NASCAR national series race against their father include Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, Davey Allison and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

RELATED: Emotional Nemechek: ‘Awesome Father’s Day gift for dad’

The elder Nemechek completed just two laps and finished 28th out of 30 cars and watched the rest of the race from atop his son’s pit box. As the laps wound down, he tried, not terribly successfully, to remain calm as his son diced through the front of the field. He keyed the mic a couple times and told his son, “Be smart.”

 

It was advice the younger Nemechek took to heart. His trucks have been far faster than his results have shown so far this season, and the last thing he wanted to do was be impatient and drive himself out of a good finish. He crashed in the two previous races and had only finished on the lead lap twice all season.

 

John Hunter Nemechek led all 35 laps of the first stage of the race and 46 overall. Chase Briscoe led all of the second stage. Matt Crafton seized control of the race when he took zero tires on a green flag pit stop at Lap 138 of 160.

 

The first and only caution that wasn’t related to the end of a stage didn’t come until there were 13 laps left—an unusually long stretch of green flag racing considering how difficult of a track Gateway is to navigate. The caution bunched the field back up, and Nemechek, who had two fresher tires, squeezed by Crafton for the final time with five to go.

 

“I felt like we had the truck to beat if we had track position,” Nemechek said. “Track position was everything. Clean air was everything.”

 

When John Hunter pulled into Victory Lane, his dad ran over and stuck his head in the window. They shared a moment about all of the struggles they overcame together to win this race on Father’s Day eve. They can’t outspend other teams, so they have to out think and out drive them.

 

“It’s taken everything that I have to get here,” Joe Nemechek said. “Our future in this deal is not certain. Hopefully this can spark some interest in sponsorship.”

 

Joe knew his son would be emotional in Victory Lane, and he wanted to tell him he was proud of him before the chaos of the celebration began. “He’s the man. He drove his butt off tonight,” he said.

RELATED: Father-son duos in NASCAR | Honoring NASCAR dads

 

John Hunter’s emotions poured out in the post-race celebration. “To give him a Father’s Day gift, something like this, is very special. As a boss, as a mentor, as a dad, pretty much everything he is to me, it’s definitely inspiring. I won’t ever be able to thank him enough.”

 

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Detailed breakdown | More on Byron

BROOKLYN, Mich. — The well-wishers came in waves for 19-year-old William Byron on pit road at Michigan International Speedway. Byron had just driven to within an oh-so-close .012 seconds of his first NASCAR XFINITY Series victory, finishing just a nose behind veteran race winner Denny Hamlin.

 

Brad Keselowski, who finished fourth, stopped over first with a pat on the back. Then came three-time champ Tony Stewart, who took Byron’s ear before his television interview. In each of their remarks, there was an overarching theme.

 

“I think they were just encouraging me that the time will come and to keep running like that and it’s going to get there. I know it is,” said Byron, who settled for a career-best second place Saturday. “We’ve got to continue to lead laps and be up front there and we’re going to get our chance to win a few of these races, so it’s really exciting to be up there to lead a couple restarts. It’s really cool and hopefully we can keep doing that at Iowa.”

 

Byron led just once for eight laps, but they came during crunch time in the Irish Hills 250, just before Hamlin took over for the final circuit. That span included a pair of powerful moves on late-race restarts, taking the measure of both Hamlin and Keselowski as he forged ahead with his JR Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet.

 

His duel with Hamlin over the last trip around the 2-mile track was held in close quarters. Expecting contact through the final bend, Byron left an opening for Hamlin’s No. 20 Toyota down the home stretch.

RELATED: See how the closing lap unfolded for Byron, Hamlin

 

“You just never know in that situation. You want to bring the car home and at least have a chance to run across the line and see what you got,” said Byron, an alum of the NASCAR Next youth initiative. “Kind of left him a lane in (turns) 3 and 4, but you can second-guess those things as much as you want. We just have to keep moving on and try and win at Iowa.”

 

Byron’s rapid rise up the NASCAR national series ladder has fueled speculation that he would be considered for a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ride in the near future. He’s currently in the Hendrick Motorsports development system at JRM and has been linked as a candidate for the Hendrick No. 88 team’s vacancy created by Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s retirement at season’s end.

 

Asked about that potential jump Saturday, Byron kept the focus to his current gig, one that has him in prime real estate in the XFINITY Series standings. He sits third, just behind JR Motorsports teammates Elliott Sadler and Justin Allgaier, who rank first and second respectively.

 

“I just want to keep running well for JRM and try and win races and compete for a championship,” Byron said when asked about a premier-series leap. “I think to have the three of us in the top three in points is really incredible. I think it shows the consistency of our team. Execution-wise, I think we really execute well — all three teams — and I’ve learned a lot from Elliott and Justin and Michael (Annett) as well. I think we’ll just keep building on that and hopefully be able to compete for a championship.”