Every Cup Series track has its own special distinction — the attribute that separates it from every other stop on the schedule. Martinsville has its paperclip turns; Bristol, its bump-and-run battles. Daytona and Talladega (and now Atlanta) are all about the draft. And at Michigan International Speedway, they worship at the altar of speed — pure, blistering, full-throttle speed.
Exactly how fast do things get at Michigan? In the Next Gen era, the average pole-winning lap has seen a speed of 192.04 miles per hour, easily the fastest of any track on the 2025 schedule — beating out Texas (189.84 mph), Las Vegas (185.19), Charlotte (183.50) and Daytona (182.09):
And even that is a bit slower than it used to be. The typical Michigan pole in the Gen-6 era (2013-2021) was 200.5 mph, which rivaled the fastest qualifying laps ever put down at any NASCAR track. For comparison’s sake, the average Talladega pole in the Gen-3 era — run mostly before restrictor plates became mandatory at superspeedways following Bobby Allison’s harrowing catchfence crash at the 1987 Winston 500 — was only slightly faster, at 200.8 mph.
While the fastest pole speed in Cup history came for that very race (212.81 mph by Bill Elliott), and Daytona and Talladega make up each of the top six fastest pole-winning laps ever, Michigan is home to 13 of history’s 15 fastest non-superspeedway pole speeds — and 11 of the 13 to ever break 200 mph:
Michigan’s combination of long straightaways — it’s a 2-mile track — with low tire wear and sweeping 18-degree turns creates ideal conditions for cars to build and sustain speed, especially on corner exit. Among ovals on the schedule, only Pocono and Indianapolis are longer (at 2.5 miles apiece), and both feature significantly flatter corners than Michigan does. (Indy’s turns are banked at 9 degrees, while Pocono’s three corners are banked at 14, 8 and 6 degrees.)
The result is a speed factory all its own, even by the standards of a sport where going fast is kind of the whole point.
So, given Michigan’s identity as a temple of top-end speed and engine power, it’s only natural to ask: Who are the fastest drivers in the Cup Series this season? According to a combination of conventional stats and Racing Insights’ new performance metrics, here’s how the 2025 regulars stack up on both average qualifying position and pure speed:
Of particular note is the NASCAR Insights speed stat, which measures a driver’s pace throughout a race — factoring in short-run bursts of speed on new tires, long-run tire management (avoiding fall-off) and performance in both clean and dirty air. Kyle Larson has been the fastest by that accounting, which is no surprise considering that just last Sunday he battled from the back of the field after an early mishap to notch an eighth-place finish. Others who are faster than their grid position gives them credit for include Ryan Blaney (15th in average start but third in speed), Ross Chastain (17th/28th), Ryan Preece (12th/23rd) and Brad Keselowski (20th/30th).
But there’s also nothing wrong with good, old-fashioned qualifying speed, either. And when it comes to laying down lap times in spite of his car’s potential limitations, nobody has done more than Michael McDowell (26th in speed but ninth in average starting position), Chris Buescher (14th/2nd) and Austin Cindric (13th/3rd). With Fords at both ends of the spectrum — fast cars but also guys who qualify well in spite of slower overall speed — the Mustangs should be galloping at Michigan once again this year.
Because at Michigan, it really does always come back to speed: Who has it, who can hang onto it and who can harness it when it matters most.
The NASCAR Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series are in action this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from links to qualifying order, average practice speeds, results and more.
NASCAR Cup Series
Race day: Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on Prime Video. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information is available.
Tires: Seven sets for the race, plus one set for practice and one set for qualifying. The qualifying set rolls over into the race.
Here’s what’s happening in NASCAR with the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in the rearview and the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (Sun., 2 p.m. ET, Prime Video) up next.
1. Did 23XI Racing rediscover its speed at Nashville?
After an abysmal month of May, the Toyota-backed organization’s veterans looked like the title hopefuls they entered the season as, with a strong showing in Tennessee. A sign of things to come, perhaps?
23XI Racing stopped the on-track bleeding this past Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway.
No, neither of the team’s two playoff contenders walked out of the Tennessee track with the trophy. But after a May that saw both Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace mired in an all-you-can-do-is-laugh degree of bad luck and inconsistency, the team’s veterans delivered the kind of poised, top-10 performances that reminded everyone why the duo entered 2025 as championship contenders and looked the part early on.
Reddick and Wallace each touted top-10 speed throughout the event, according to NASCAR Insights, with both corralling much-needed top-10 results to match and Reddick nearly nabbing the win in Stage 1, snapping a five-race streak where he’d finished 14th or worse in the process. Wallace, who’d suffered three consecutive DNFs, rebounded from an early pit-road speeding penalty to finish sixth, his best result since March. Wallace, despite ranking among the top six in stage points through 14 races, has struggled to close strong, with an average finish just barely inside the top 20 (19.7).
Neither landed in the top five, and they combined to lead just seven laps and failed to even win the race … so why was this a statement? Well, only twice in 2025 has 23XI placed multiple cars in the top 10 — this was the first time it’d happened since Homestead — and it happened on the heels of one of the worst months in team history.
Combine Nashville’s turnaround on the results sheet with the raw speed the data indicated, along with the resilience each showed in clawing their way back to the top 10? There’s something here.
Wallace’s post-race comments reflected both relief and renewed confidence, too.
“We had (expletive) luck the last month, so I’m glad May is over with,” he said. “I have the utmost confidence in this team to continue getting finishes like this on a consistent basis, not the bouncing back and forth that everybody is used to out of the No. 23.”
That sounds like stability to me.
Reddick, meanwhile, has kept his focus on execution over results — something team co-owner Denny Hamlin also stressed over the weekend — and it’s a mindset that could be showing early signs of paying off, perhaps in the long term.
Lest we forget — this is an organization that upgraded to a three-car stable in the offseason, with a handful of races even fielding a fourth. Wallace is also still just 14 races into a relationship with new crew chief Charles Denike, and these things just, more often than not, take some time to stabilize. They’re getting there.
And as the series heads to Michigan, the timing couldn’t be better. Reddick returns as the defending winner, while Wallace (a past Michigan Truck Series winner) has proven speed at the 2-mile oval, with a Cup Series runner-up finish in 2022. Both drivers are comfortably above the playoff elimination line (though Wallace was likely starting to sweat a bit before Nashville), but a strong Michigan run would further cement the ‘Music City’ success as the point where it all turned around.
With the 23XI’s recent slump, some were starting to question the legitimacy of the team’s 2025 title hopes, having made its maiden voyage in the Championship 4 with Reddick a season ago. The team proved, however, that it can still deliver elite performances under pressure. And what wins championships?
If Nashville was the spark, Michigan could be the fire that reignites 23XI’s contenders, if not the team as a whole. And perhaps the question isn’t whether 23XI’s drivers are back — it’s whether they’re here to stay.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
2. With slew of remaining wild-card races, will Michigan be one of them?
The remaining regular-season schedule is a mishmash of road racing, drafting and short-track beating and banging. Michigan may appear to be one of the “tame” races of this 12-race stretch — but is it?
Welcome to the gauntlet.
Playoff spots are being gobbled up left and right all of a sudden, and Sunday marks the beginning of a grueling 12-race stretch to determine the 16 drivers that will compete for the Bill France Cup a handful of months from now at Phoenix Raceway.
After an entire month of nonstop intermediate tracks (which, don’t get me wrong, rocked), the final leg to the postseason is nothing but unpredictable: four road courses (one of which is new and in a different country), two drafting tracks and two short-track slugfests. Three of the four other “routine” stops? Oh, just some of the most unique race tracks NASCAR visits, in Pocono Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Dover Motor Speedway.
The fourth? Michigan.
On paper, Sunday’s 400-miler in the Irish Hills might look like the most straightforward race left in the regular season. History and the current season’s wild swings suggest, however, it could be anything but.
The numbers tell a story of both steadiness and surprise. Only one of the last 12 Michigan races was won by a driver getting his first win of the season, which might suggest it’s a bad bet for a wild-card winner. The season started with many of the same faces in Victory Lane, but now nine different drivers have won in 2025, and four of the last five races have been taken by first-time 2025 winners. On the surface, it may look like we could see one of those nine collect another Winner’s Sticker, but dig deeper: Eight drivers have snapped winless streaks of at least 41 races at Michigan. And eight Cup drivers are riding a streak of at least 41 currently, with one very popular name sitting exactly on that number (who also happened to finish runner-up in his first three Michigan starts.)
The many Chase Elliott fans out there may have to wait another week, though — Ford has dominated the track recently, winning nine of the last 10 races. Plus, Chevrolet’s last three Michigan wins all belong to his teammate Kyle Larson … but those all came last decade, with a team that no longer exists. Still, Elliott has been incredibly consistent this year, and it’s only a matter of time before a race breaks favorably enough for him to win. Or he just flat dominates.
Meanwhile, Michigan has only produced two first-time Cup winners in its 107-race history: Dale Jarrett in August 1991 and Larson in August 2016. (Which, unfortunately for Carson Hocevar, likely points to the future superstar’s potential first Cup Series win not coming at the Michigander’s home track. Since when does that guy pay heed to norms, though?)
This season, the playoff picture is already full of surprises. Team Penske has all four associated cars tentatively locked into the playoffs, a stark contrast to 2024, when none had even won by this point. Legacy Motor Club, an afterthought in its initial years of infancy, has three top-fives in 2025 — more than its last two seasons combined — and seven top-10s, already surpassing its 2024 total. Not to mention Erik Jones, another Michigan native, is coming off his best race in recent memory.
With so many wild-card races left, Michigan could be slept on big time for any drama. And while it’s not the most likely place for a first-time winner, it’s at least a proven stage for breaking slumps and big moments.
Michigan may not be the most obvious wild-card race left, but sometimes it’s the ones you don’t see coming that leave the biggest impact.
From Dale Earnhardt to Kyle Busch, there have been plenty of “feather-rufflers” in NASCAR. Kyle Petty dissects the newest “feather-ruffler” in the sport: Carson Hocevar.
4. Fresh faces at the front of the field at Michigan
The past two seasons have offered some of the most competitive races the Irish Hills have ever seen, with nearly half the field leading a lap in each. (Credit: Racing Insights)
Date
Leaders
Winner
8/18/24
16
Tyler Reddick
8/6/23
16
Chris Buescher
6/20/82
15
Cale Yarborough
6/17/12
14
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
8/16/09
14
Brian Vickers
6/15/86
14
Bill Elliott
8/16/81
14
Richard Petty
5. Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage
Heading into NASCAR’s showcase event for his home country, Daniel Suárez is in an awkwardly familiar (and admittedly distracting) position, but also in an extraordinarily new environment.
The Trackhouse Racing driver remains unsigned beyond the 2025 season, which isn’t unusual. Suárez was in a contract year last season before re-signing, and he also went through extension negotiations in 2022 (re-signing shortly after his first Cup win at Sonoma Raceway).
The 2016 Xfinity Series champion is accustomed to blocking out the noise and speculation to produce results — but never in front of hundreds of family and friends, much less the thousands more who will be cheering him in the June 14 and 15 races at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez course.
“It’s not the first time that I’ve been in this position, though definitely the first time with the Mexico race,” he told reporters Wednesday during a media availability. “But it’s not the first time that we have to win or have a contract negotiation in the middle (of a season). Definitely, it’s a distraction. I won’t sit here and tell you that it doesn’t really matter. It’s definitely a distraction, but I’m trying to be as smart as possible and to put all this stuff on the side and to just do my thing on the track. And already the Mexico race is something that I’ve been hoping and waiting on for many, many years, and I’m not going to let anything else from outside take that week and that moment from myself.”
Suárez will get a jump on his myriad commitments by arriving in Mexico City next Tuesday for three days of sponsor obligations before practice Friday on the 15-turn, 2.429-mile circuit. The Monterrey, Mexico, native typically visits his extended family there once or twice annually. He has already made five trips to Mexico in 2025 to promote the inaugural Cup Series event.
“Once we get into the race, we don’t want to deal with any of this stuff, and I just want to focus in and have fun driving race cars,” he said. “There is going to be more on my plate just by nature, just being the local guy, the very first race ever in Mexico City in the Cup Series. I have to accept that. With that being said, I have to protect my space for the competition stuff because if we don’t do the competition stuff right, everything else doesn’t really matter. So we have to put a balance on everything.”
Though ranked 28th in the points standings with three top 10s (most recently 10th last month at Texas Motor Speedway), Suárez is optimistic for Mexico City. His No. 99 Chevrolet has “found some decent speed in the last few weeks,” and teammate Ross Chastain delivered Trackhouse’s first win this season in the Coca-Cola 600.
“We just have to execute,” Suárez said. “We have to do the little things right, and I believe that we are capable of doing that. We just have to continue to move forward. We win next week, and all these conversations are going to be out the window. A few weeks ago, Ross in a post-race interview, he was bitching about the cars and everything that we need to do better. Then he wins a race, and everything is amazing now. So winning fixes everything.”
Trackhouse has yet to announce the 2026 lineup for its three full-time cars. The team has four drivers under contract: Chastain, Suárez, Cup rookie Shane van Gisbergen and rising star Connor Zilisch, the 18-year-old who races full time in Xfinity and part time in Cup (adding two more races Wednesday to his 2025 schedule).
Among that group, only Suárez is in a contract year, and he answered, “honestly, I don’t know” when asked Wednesday what he wanted in his next deal. He has met regularly with team co-owner and founder Justin Marks about how to improve Trackhouse, which he joined in 2021.
“The trajectory of Trackhouse has been tremendous,” said Suárez, who made the playoffs for a second time last season with a thrilling victory at EchoPark Speedway. “We have learned so many things. I really want to help Justin bring Trackhouse to the next level. I believe that 2022 has been our best year as a company, still. So why is that? Are we missing something? Do we have to change something? What do we need to do better? As a new team, to have your best years that early, it’s kind of uncommon. One of the reasons, I believe, was because of the new car. So I believe that we have to continue to grow.
“Ross just won a race a couple weeks ago, and that’s brought a lot of energy to the team and some more momentum. Before that, it was a little bit of a struggle. So we have to continue to find that speed in a consistent basis, just like the big teams. So we’re having all these conversations.
“I’m going to be quite honest with you: I wish I didn’t have to have these conversations, and I didn’t have these distractions, but it’s part of life, right? Sometimes you have to do several things at the same time. But I’m trying not to think about it too much and trying to work in my job and push as hard as possible for competition and trying to help the team slowly get better and better.”
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Bowman Gray Stadium’s version of The Hatfields and McCoys —Burt Myers and Tim Brown — has a new wrinkle heading into QRC HVAC & Refrigeration Night.
Myers has a shot at tying Brown’s record 101 Brad’s Golf Cars Modified Series wins on Saturday, June 7 after he picked up his 100th win on May 24. Myers is thinking more about wins that got away earlier in the season.
“Should’ve won the first week, had a shot to win the next week,” Myers says.
“We’re just a couple bad breaks from being five in a row. So, we’ve got a good car, we’ve got a great team, but this is still Bowman Gray.”
Brown is less concerned with stopping Myers from tying his record and more concerned with gaining speed.
“The track has been really green a lot this year, so it’s been tougher than normal for us to figure things out on the setup,” Brown says. “And we’re not going to do that by worrying about how everyone else is running.”
Meanwhile, the Q104.1 Stadium Stock Series drivers will compete in their longest race this season — a 50-lapper — on Saturday, and the ever-popular Chain Race returns to delight fans. The Law Offices of John Barrow Sportsman and QRC HVAC & Refrigeration Street Stock Series will also compete.
Gates open at 6 p.m. Saturday night with racing action to start at 8 p.m. Fans can get tickets online right now at www.bowmangrayracing.com. Tickets are $12 for adults and $2 for kids ages 6 to 11.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400 (2 p.m. ET, Prime Video, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Prime Video will also air Cup Series qualifying at 10:40 a.m. ET on Saturday.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads to Michigan International Speedway for the DQS Solutions & Staffing 250 Powered by Precision Vehicle Logistics on Saturday (Noon ET, FOX, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). FS1 will air Truck Series qualifying at 8:05 a.m. ET Saturday.
The first trucks of a weeklong convoy to Mexico City crossed the border Monday to begin setup for the first international points race in NASCAR Cup Series history.
NASCAR vice president of racing operations Tom Bryant, who has spearheaded the organizational logistics for the June 15 race, said planning began nearly a year ago and has included multiple trips to the border crossing in Laredo, Texas, to meet with officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Mexican customs agencies.
“It’s been a ton of coordination moving lots of people and lots of stuff safely and efficiently across a great distance and an international border,” Bryant said on the newest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast. “There is a lot to it, but the key to it is you just have to define the problem. We’ve got to get these people and these things from this point to that point within a certain time period. How do we do it in a way that’s going to best position us to be ready to go to work as soon as we hit the ground down there? Because this is a pretty tight window.”
It’s about a 40-hour drive from Michigan International Speedway (site of Sunday’s Cup race) to Mexico City. Bryant, an Army Ranger whose military background has proven useful in logistics, will arrive in Laredo on Saturday to help guide the crossing by Xfinity Series teams, which will arrive on Sunday morning from North Carolina.
Cup teams will swap out cars and begin preparing for the drive south of the border before and during the Michigan race Sunday, so that haulers can leave immediately after the checkered flag. The Cup Series teams are scheduled for a Monday night arrival at the Laredo border for a Tuesday crossing. They will enter the garage at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 12.
“Literally every hour from Sunday morning until about noon Tuesday is planned and there are events tied to it,” Bryant said of the crossing. “And by gosh, it better happen on time.”
NASCAR has enlisted the assistance of Rock-It Cargo, an international logistics company that handled getting 200 haulers to Mexico City on Taylor Swift’s recent Eras Tour concert. The company also works with Formula One and will handle World Cup events next year.
“When it comes to navigating international borders and moving stuff on the ground, they have been a tremendous help for us, and they will also augment our security for all of our trucks,” Bryant said. “We’re anticipating no issues. Those guys have been doing it for 45 years and haven’t had an issue, so knock on wood, we’re gonna keep that record going for them.”
To enter Mexico, all the equipment and tools in every NASCAR hauler must be documented on an exhaustive manifest. Though the original plan was to seal the trucks at Michigan before departure, border officials relaxed that requirement after attending the Circuit of The Americas race and observing NASCAR operations. The NASCAR haulers will drive through a massive X-ray machine upon entry to Mexico.
“They have determined that our folks did such a good job getting those manifests straight and listing all that equipment, and they had an opportunity to review it,” Bryant said. “I’m confident with the work we’ve done ahead of time with the Border Patrol authorities on both sides of the border that we’re going to be able to get our convoy soon in a pretty relatively short amount of time.”
Other topics covered during the 17th episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
— How the unapproved adjustment made by AJ Allmendinger’s team at Nashville Superspeedway was discovered, the reasoning behind the punishment and how long the car chief will lose his annual credential.
— The rules on adding fuel before a race that might have played a critical role in Ryan Blaney’s victory.
— Whether there were aerodynamic changes made for Michigan International Speedway after last year’s airborne crash for Corey LaJoie.
— How the seeding process works over the next three races for the in-season tournament.
Click on the embed above to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
The last name Earnhardt has coincided with NASCAR since its infancy. Jeffrey Earnhardt is the only driver with the legendary last name currently scheduled to compete in a national series event in 2025.
Earnhardt’s schedule consists of only three Xfinity Series races with Sam Hunt Racing, two of which have already passed, most recently finishing 19th last weekend at Nashville Superspeedway.
“You hope to put good runs together to help the case of selling sponsorship,” Earnhardt told NASCAR.com at Nashville. “It’s not easy with just three races, but it helps.
“I love driving race cars. It scratches my itch for that adrenaline rush that I seek. If I could, I’d race every single day out of the week, but it takes a lot of money to do it at a competitive level.”
Longtime sponsor ForeverLawn is continuing to support Earnhardt’s efforts in 2025, and the two sides decided where to compete. Management from the synthetic turf company enjoys superspeedway competition, so Talladega Superspeedway led off the slate. He nearly won in a ForeverLawn No. 3 machine for Richard Childress Racing at Talladega in 2022 after scoring the pole. His No. 24 Toyota finished 32nd in the 2025 contest.
The firm also has business in Nashville, naturally putting the 1.33-mile oval on the calendar.
The final race was an internal debate between Daytona International Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway. Earnhardt prevailed with his option of Bristol, where he will race when the series returns to the track Sept. 12 (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“We had a fast car with Sam [Hunt] last year there and should have had a good finish, and the driver lacked on his part there and put it in the fence,” Earnhardt said. “I wanted to go back to Bristol and get some redemption.”
Since Earnhardt ran the bulk of the 2023 Xfinity schedule with Alpha Prime Racing, he has positioned himself to be more selective with what organizations he races for. Quality over quantity is the same route he opted for in 2019, running seven races with powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing.
Staying competitive remains a core theme.
“Three races is just enough to stay on the radar,” Earnhardt said. “If you go out and put together good runs, it escalates that. It is important for me as a driver to stay in the tune of things and go out and be competitive.
“Being able to be out there as much as you can is nice. At some point, there has to be some competitiveness there and putting together good runs. That’s why we stuck with Sam’s deal, even though we only had enough money for three races. I felt like it was a better opportunity for us to capitalize on it.”
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
Earnhardt is on his third stint with SHR, dating back to 2022. Team owner Hunt sees the value that Earnhardt brings to the team.
“[Earnhardt] brings appreciation and perspective that he has because of his age and journey through the sport,” Hunt said. “He is a guy that won’t quit. I love that about him. I think there are opportunities, and even times on the sponsorship side, where there’s no real way forward for him. He’s relentless.
“Everyone likes working with Jeffrey. In a world where some people don’t appreciate these opportunities, he’s a team player, and it’s fun for us.”
Away from the track, Earnhardt has taken advantage of additional downtime. Being an avid outdoorsman, he can be found in the woods hunting, on a lake fishing or participating in his favorite hobby of noodling. To Earnhardt, these activities “keep me sane in this hard battle of trying to find money.”
Earnhardt admits it takes a few laps to shake off the rust once he’s back behind the wheel. Meanwhile, two of his six top-10 finishes in 176 series starts have been driving one of SHR’s cars. Being in the Toyota family is important for the 35-year-old.
“I really enjoy being in the Toyota camp,” Earnhardt said. “I’m not, by any means, one of their drivers, but being a part of the Toyota family and what they have to offer for us as drivers makes my life easier when I do get to the track.
“I think from now on, it has to be good equipment, and you have the chance to go out and run top 10. I’m hard on myself. I like to set the bar high and beat on myself a little bit and strive for more.”
Earnhardt won’t underestimate his ultimate goal: winning. Regardless, he’s helped an upstart SHR team build a notebook for future races.
Should the right full-time opportunity open up, Earnhardt is hoping to jump at it as he’s lived through this story before.
“It’s constantly turning rocks over and trying to find the almighty dollar that it takes to run out here competitively,” Earnhardt said. “You can continue to cold call, ask, beg and find ways to get [business-to-business] opportunities to where you see value in being involved in NASCAR.”
Earnhardt is open to the challenge, something Hunt appreciates.
“He doesn’t have an ego,” Hunt said. “If you don’t have an ego and tackle it with a good effort and attitude – even if it doesn’t work out the way you want it to – you can put your head to sleep at night and know you did everything and treated everybody right. We just care about him. I think that’s why he’s still with us because we care about him as a person.”
To celebrate 75 years worth of memories, the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team will be celebrated throughout the summer with “Wood Brothers Wednesdays” on the NASCAR Channel.
Wood Brothers Racing has been around since 1950, when Glen and Leonard Wood teamed up to pioneer a legacy that has transcended time.
Glen was behind the wheel of their car at Bowman Gray Stadium in 1960 and took the Wood Brothers Racing team to Victory Lane for the first time. The team scored its 101st NASCAR Cup Series victory in 2025, when Josh Berry took the checkered flag at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Bookending those victories were triumphs everywhere from Daytona to Darlington to Rockingham and everywhere in between.
Twenty of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers have piloted a car for the team throughout their storied history, one that is well worth celebrating.
This week kicks off with a jam-packed schedule on the NASCAR Channel, as the theme will both honor the 1960s and the team’s history at Michigan International Speedway, the site of this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
The entire 1963 Daytona 500, which was won by the team with driver Tiny Lund, as well as “Memory Lane — Reliving the 1963 Daytona 500,” will take viewers on a trip down memory lane this Wednesday to a time that helped build the foundation of the racing team.
The 1991 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan turned out to be an unforgettable weekend for two of the most well-respected families in NASCAR — the Woods and the Jarretts. Dale Jarrett, who was piloting the No. 21 car for the Wood Brothers Racing team, captured his first career Cup victory in thrilling fashion as he held off Davey Allison at the line in a photo finish.
You can watch that entire race as well as “Memory Lane — Reliving the 1991 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan” this week on the NASCAR Channel, as well.
The third full race on the schedule Wednesday will be the 1976 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan. This race saw David Pearson capture the victory for the Wood Brothers team, sweeping the races at the track that season.
One additional item of content will be “Survival of the Fastest: Wood Brothers Racing — Michigan.” Michigan is the sight of 11 Wood Brothers Racing victories, with NASCAR Hall of Famers Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Dale Jarrett driving the team to Victory Lane.
The NASCAR Channel delivers 24/7, always-on content, featuring the latest news and information from around the sport, original programming and race replays.
It is a FAST channel (Free-Ad Supported Television) and can be watched on your TV or mobile device via one of the streaming partners — such as Tubi or Xumo Play.
