Posted on by George Winkler

RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Updated Chase Grid


BROOKLYN, Mich. — Austin Dillon raced with the big dogs on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, challenging race winner Matt Kenseth and showing that the No. 3 team has made progress in the past few weeks.
 
In the eight races since the team switched to Slugger Labbe as its crew chief, Dillon has posted three top-10 finishes, including a career-best fourth place in the Pure Michigan 400, where he led the second-most laps (19) to Kenseth.



Dillon emerged from his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet SS on pit road on a day when temperatures inside the vehicles rose to above 150 degrees, and he asked for a towel to wipe off his face. And despite his reddish hue, the 25-year-old still pumped his fists and gave high-fives to crew.



“Well I had fun,” Dillon said. “We gained a lot of spots starting 43rd and got to fourth where we qualified. Just overcame a lot today. I’m proud of my guys. Slugger made a good call at the beginning. We kind of had made that plan to ride around and save fuel and it worked out for us.”

Despite qualifying fourth on Friday, Dillon had to start from the rear of the field on Sunday because of an engine change. In an effort to gain track position, the No. 3 team did not pit on the Lap 20 competition caution. 



The gamble paid off as Dillon was able to stay up toward the front, and by the time a restart came around on Lap 126 of 200, he was in a position to battle Kenseth for the lead. Kenseth and Dillon had a classic back-and-forth on that lap, but eventually the Joe Gibbs Racing driver pulled away and finished off the win.



Kenseth was asked if he was surprised by the fact the No. 3 car was the one putting up a fight toward the end of the race. 



“I was a little bit,” Kenseth said. “He had a really good restart, and we had a little touch there on (Turn) 4. I was a little frustrated, not with him, he didn’t do anything wrong, but I was a little frustrated because I was like, ‘Man, we got to get away because I got a really good car.’ … It was a challenge to get away from him and you needed to get those five or six car-lengths to get him in that bad air.”



Unfortunately for Dillon, a slow pit stop with 32 laps to go dropped him into fourth place. And despite the career-best finish, Dillon likely needs a win to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. After Michigan, Dillon was 83 points behind Clint Bowyer, who currently holds the 16th and final spot in the Chase.



“We’re showing some speed that’s solid for us the last couple weeks to be able to compete if we were in the Chase,” Dillon said. “That’s nice to know. For me, I just wish we could have started this just a little bit earlier.”



Dillon still has three more chances to capture that elusive win, which would be his first in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. And the next stop on the schedule, Bristol Motor Speedway, is somewhere Dillon had some success with a top-10 finish earlier this season.



”Really looking forward to Bristol,” Dillon said. “We ran third there with four to go and ran out of fuel. So if we can go to Bristol and compete, I think we can win there. I’m definitely looking forward to that race.”



And it wouldn’t hurt if Dillon got another key call from a crew chief that has helped him during the turnaround.



”He’s been awesome, man,” Dillon said about Labbe. “I feel like I can compete in this series, and he’s given me my confidence back. And it has been nice to work with him.”

Posted on by George Winkler

RELATED: Kenseth wins at Michigan | Chase Grid standings

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Team Penske drivers Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski had to repeat pre-race inspection after their splitters didn’t pass the first time through before Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

NASCAR announced it asked the teams to switch splitters and that the original splitters would be taken back to the NASCAR Research & Development Center for inspection early next week.

NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell discussed that decision on Monday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s “The Morning Drive.”

“On the 2 (of Keselowski) and the 22 (of Logano), in that case, they’re so close on all the splitters and we thought the issue that we looked at was really close to the spec that we have so in that case we elected to take both of those, bring them back to the R&D Center and just take a closer look.

“I don’t think we’ll find anything in this case. It was just one of those areas of a car that, like we do from time to time, we take a look at. See what we may be able to learn if there’s anything there, and then have dialogue with the team and the industry if we do see anything. But more of a procedural thing on our end this weekend when it comes to the 2 and 22.”

Neither driver lost their qualifying spot due to the change in splitters. Logano qualified 10th while Keselowski was 14th. Logano finished seventh, while Keselowski finished ninth in the Pure Michigan 400.

“We do everything to our race cars,” Todd Gordon, crew chief of the No. 22, told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Sunday before the race. “We clean everything up. We don’t bring nasty, dirty race cars through inspection. We clean everything we can and make it as close to what we left the shop with. We cleaned it up, and we replaced it.”

Logano won last week’s Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International, his second victory of the season, and he is now fifth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings with four races to go until the postseason.

Keselowski, who has never won at his home track in Michigan, has one victory this season and is ninth in the Chase standings.

Posted on by Brad Norman

RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings | Chase Grid

 

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Luck wasn’t with Clint Bowyer‘s No. 15 Toyota at Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway — at least not good luck.

“(Expletive.) Just about my luck,” Bowyer said after the Michael Waltrip Racing driver got the worst of a snarled restart on Lap 126.

Carl Edwards spun his wheels, causing slowing on the restart after a debris caution. Part of the reaction to that was Ryan Newman‘s No. 31 Chevrolet making slight contact with the No. 15, sending Bowyer’s speedy ride up into the outside wall then back across the track and hard backward into the pit road wall.

At that point, Bowyer had led a lap and was in the top five most of the day.

Told that Newman didn’t mean to hit him, Bowyer responded, “I know. The 2 (of Brad Keselowski) came up loose and out of control; I had to move up. It wasn’t (Newman’s) fault. … (Expletive) stupid.”

The rear suspension took a hard hit, sending the car to the garage, where the No. 15 team worked on bent control arms and a tough-to-repair right-side suspension.

“Man, I’m sorry guys. I couldn’t save it. Good track for us,” Bowyer radioed to his team as he kept coming back to pit road to try to fix a troublesome right front that was causing tire rubs.

  

Bowyer began the day 16th out of 16 drivers in the Chase Grid, 50 points ahead of Aric Almirola. That cushion quickly evaporated and shrunk to 23 when the race concluded with Bowyer in 41st place.

“We ain’t quitting now. We have three races to go,” Bowyer said after he was given the option to retire from the race at Lap 183 because the team had no opportunity to gain any more positions with just 17 laps to go.

Posted on by Kathy Sheldon

What: 46th annual Pure Michigan 400. 

Where: Michigan International Speedway, 2-mile oval in Brooklyn, Michigan.
When: Sunday, Aug. 16, 2:30 p.m. ET.
TV/Radio: NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Distance: 200 laps, 400 miles.  

Pit road speed: 55 mph.
Caution car speed: 65 mph.
Fuel window: 41 laps.
Competition caution: Lap 20.

On the front row | Full lineup
 | See all 43 cars
1. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (197.488 mph)
2. 
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (196.990 mph)
 
Did not qualify
Reed Sorensen, No. 62 Premium Motorsports Ford


To the rear
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (engine)
Travis Kvapil, No. 33 Circle Sport Chevrolet (engine)
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (backup)

Fastest in practice
First practice: Carl Edwards, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (196.046 mph). | Results
Second practice: Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet (194.784 mph). | Results
Final practice: Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Furniture Row Racing (191.729 mph). | Results

Top driver ratings (Best driver rating average at Michigan from 2005 to the present):
Greg Biffle (103.8)

Matt Kenseth (102.0)
Jimmie Johnson (101.2)
 
Last year’s winner
Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet.
 
No sleep ’til Brooklyn
Matt Kenseth isn’t sure he would have won the pole Friday in Brooklyn, Michigan if he had planned his trip to the Irish Hills of Michigan differently. Asked how he was able to hold the throttle wide open for a complete qualifying lap, Kenseth said credit goes to teammate Denny Hamlin.


”I flew up here with Denny (Hamlin) today and he likes to come to everything at the last minute. I didn’t sleep last night thinking that we weren’t going to make it up here so it’s really just for lack of sleep.”


Locked and reloaded

After losing power in final Sprint Cup practice on Saturday, Austin Dillon said the team wasn’t sure what the problem was with the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

“We really don’t have a really good explanation yet. We think it is something to do with fueling. It is showing on the EFI (electronic fuel injection) that it wasn’t getting enough fuel.  We will see if it is a fueling issue, if not, if it’s a bigger issue we will change the motor for Sunday. And have a fresh bullet going into the race.”

The No. 3 team did decide to swap out the engine, and Dillon will move to the back of the field for the Pure Michigan 400.

 
Looped in
Carl Edwards had success at Michigan even before the JGR team started putting on power displays. He has the best average among active drivers at Michigan: 9.8, plus the second-best average running position, 11.12. He also has the second best average in quality passes (42.2) and total quality passes (887).

Promising starting spot
Tony Stewart qualified fifth for Sunday’s race, the fourth consecutive week with a top-five qualifying effort for the No. 14 Chevrolet. Stewart’s average starting position of 4.25 in the past four races is his best stretch over four races since 2010.

“I’m really proud of the Mobil 1/Bass Pro team here,” Stewart said after qualifying Friday at 195.477 mph. “We just have to figure out how to finish it off for the rest of the weekend.”
 
History lesson

Buddy Baker, who is being honored by NASCAR and separately by several teams this weekend after his passing Aug. 10, won the Gabriel 400 on June 17, 1979 at Michigan. He was driving a Harry Ranier Chevrolet. Baker also had a pair of poles at MIS and 22 top 10s in 37 starts.
 
They said it
Asked for a memory of his first trip to Michigan, Jeff Gordon replied: “It was too long ago for me to remember. I just remember from the beginning from the first time I came here I just enjoyed this track. I enjoyed the multiple grooves and I always felt like this … is a drivers’ track.”
 
Former Michigan winners in field

Greg Biffle (4); Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon (3); Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman (2); Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Tony Stewart (1)

Posted on by Staff Report

See the throwback look for the HMS No. 48 for Labor Day weekend

RELATED: Buy tickets for Darlington | SHOP: No. 48 gear
Jimmie Johnson is the latest to reveal a throwback paint scheme for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 6 (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

The driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet will sport a Lowe’s Home Improvement logo that was used throughout the 1940s and 50s, shortly after the company’s founding in 1946 and during the time when Darlington Raceway opened (1950).

RELATED: See another Darlington scheme

Johnson has won at Darlington three times, with the most recent victory coming in 2012. He has 12 top-10 finishes in 16 starts at the track.

Other drivers to carry the Lowe’s colors include Brett Bodine and Mike Skinner before the logo found its home with Johnson’s No. 48.

MORE: Get your gear for Darlington

Posted on by Staff Report

See the throwback look for the HMS No. 48 for Labor Day weekend

RELATED: Buy tickets for Darlington | SHOP: No. 48 gear
Jimmie Johnson is the latest to reveal a throwback paint scheme for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 6 (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

The driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet will sport a Lowe’s Home Improvement logo that was used throughout the 1940s and 50s, shortly after the company’s founding in 1946 and during the time when Darlington Raceway opened (1950).

RELATED: See another Darlington scheme

Johnson has won at Darlington three times, with the most recent victory coming in 2012. He has 12 top-10 finishes in 16 starts at the track.

Other drivers to carry the Lowe’s colors include Brett Bodine and Mike Skinner before the logo found its home with Johnson’s No. 48.

MORE: Get your gear for Darlington

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full race lineup

 

Matt Crafton, who lost the series points lead in the most recent NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, won his first Keystone Light Pole Award since 2012 with a top speed of 184.502 mph in Saturday’s qualifying at Michigan International Speedway.

 

The last driver out in the final round, Crafton was fast enough in his No. 88 Toyota to knock Daniel Hemric (183.833 mph) to the second position.

 

Austin Dillon, Ben Kennedy and Timothy Peters round out the top five for the Careers for Veterans 200 presented by Cooper Standard and Brad Keselowski‘s Checkered Flag Foundation, which is scheduled for later today (1 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).

 

Qualifying at the 2-mile track consisted of two rounds, with each truck taking one timed lap in the opening round, then the 12 fastest advancing to the final round in which they ran another timed lap.

 

The rest of the top 12, in order of starting position: Cameron Hayley (sixth), Erik Jones, John Wes Townley, Johnny Sauter, Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney.

 

Daniel Hemric, the last truck on track in the opening round, knocked Tyler Young off the bubble and to a 13th-place starting position.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Qualifying speeds

 

Alex Tagliani won the Coors Light Pole Award on Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, posting a speed of 96.056 mph in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford during the second and final round of group qualifying.

 

He’ll start first later today in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM), with defending race winner Chris Buescher starting second. In his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, Buescher posted a speed of 95.776 mph.

 

Ty Dillon will start third, followed by Boris Said and Brian Scott. Defending series champion Chase Elliott claimed the sixth starting spot.

 

Saturday’s road-course qualifing consisted of a 25-minute first round, with the 12 cars advancing to a 10-minute final round. The results of the final round set the order for the top 12.

 

The opening round was delayed for approximately 15 minutes after Darrell Wallace Jr. appeared to lose power and needed help back to pit road.

 

Justin Marks, who led Friday’s second practice, will start 13th.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Practice 3 results | Practice 2 results

 

Martin Truex Jr. shuffled to the top of the leaderboard in Saturday’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, a 55-minute session marked by an early crash by Kyle Busch.

Truex drove the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Chevrolet to a best lap of 191.729 mph on the 2-mile track. In Friday’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying, he managed to secure just the 22nd starting spot for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).

Joey Logano claimed the second-fastest spot on the leaderboard at 191.215 mph in the Team Penske No. 22 Ford. Carl Edwards backed up his third starting spot with the third-fastest lap in final practice, clocking 191.189 mph on the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota.

Kyle Larson was fourth-fastest with fellow Chevrolet driver Austin Dillon completing the top five. Dillon, who made a strong showing Friday by qualifying fourth, lost power on his Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet with six minutes left in final practice.

Busch, tied for the series lead with four victories this season, lost control of his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota off Turn 4 just five minutes into final practice. The car slid sideways toward the infield, digging its nose into the grass and causing significant damage as it skidded to a halt.

“You’re leaking. Shut it down,” crew chief Adam Stevens told Busch, who was evaluated and released at the infield care center. The JGR team unloaded the backup No. 18 car, which made two runs toward the end of practice.

“I was just running along, everything was fine and I was actually feeling pretty good about it,” Busch said. “Just started to get a little free up off of (turn) four. It started stepping out like it did here in the spring. I over-corrected and hit the wall so this time around I just kind of made it keep rotating and head down towards the infield. I think we need more grass at these race tracks, I think the apron should be full of grass.”

Those comments echoed the sarcastic remarks he gave to NBC Sports Network: “I think we should have more grass and it should be taller.”

Matt Kenseth , winner of the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday qualifying, was 16th-fastest in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota. Kurt Busch, the most recent Michigan winner in June’s rain-shortened Quicken Loans 400 , was 15th-fastest in Stewart-Haas Racing‘s No. 41 Chevrolet. Jeff Gordon , the defending race winner, was 21st-fastest in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet in preparation for his final Michigan race as a full-time Sprint Cup competitor.

 

Harvick tops Saturday’s early practice


Kevin Harvick was up and at ’em early Saturday morning, leading the day’s early-morning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway. His speed of 194.784 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet was enough to top the speed charts, including pole-starter Matt Kenseth.

 

Kenseth, the Coors Light Pole winner for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM), was the top Toyota on the board Saturday, coming in second at 194.411 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20.

 

Kyle Larson (194.013 mph), Kyle Busch (193.976 mph) and Jimmie Johnson (193.934 mph) rounded out the top five at the 2-mile track.

 

In an effort to further test the high-drag rules package and simulate race conditions, teams communicated via radio about working together for a few laps of pack racing — and at 9:10 a.m. ET, with 15 minutes remaining, a large contingent of cars left pit road together.

 

Kurt Busch, the series’ most recent Michigan winner in June, was 14th-fastest. Jeff Gordon, the defending race winner prepping for what’s expected to be his final Michigan start, was 17th-fastest.

 

Saturday’s final practice is slated for 11:30 a.m. ET, with TV coverage on CNBC and live online streaming via Live Extra.

Posted on by Chris Knight

RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings
LEXINGTON, Ohio—What a difference a week makes.
 
After experiencing pure frustration last weekend at Watkins Glen International, Regan Smith answered his second road course race of the season with a bump-and-run on leader Alex Tagliani in the second-to-last corner on the last lap to score his first NASCAR XFINITY Series win of the season in Saturday’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
 
The short-track-like move ended a 52-race winless streak for Smith driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.
 
“These guys work their butts off all week,” said Smith after earning his fifth career win. “This car was destroyed door tops down, they rebuilt it in one day. The guys back at the shop phenomenal job, my road guys have stuck behind me for a while. We’ve had a lot of opportunities to win. I hate to do it in the last corner, but it’s been too long, a long time, I wasn’t going to pass the opportunity up.
 
“I’ve been wrecked so many times on these road courses, I had to do what I had to do right there. I didn’t spin him, just got the spot. We’re going to celebrate hard tonight.”

RELATED: Smith offers his take on Watkins Glen post-race melee with Dillon
 
Tagliani, who was searching for his first XFINITY Series victory in seven races, had to settle for a disappointing second after taking the lead from Smith with 15 laps remaining. 
 
“If I knew that he was going to win like that probably instead of passing him fair and square early on in the race, I would have probably pushed him off a bit,” said Tagliani. “But, he knows I’m not going to be there next weekend to retaliate.”

RELATED: Tagliani, Smith offer differing takes of final lap
 
In his first XFINITY Series race of the season, Tagliani scored his third career Coors Light Pole in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford and jumped to the early lead, separating himself by more than 1.2 seconds over defending race winner Chris Buescher until the first caution of the day on Lap 6 for a stalled car on the backstretch.
 
With pit strategy already on the minds of crew chiefs, many of the leaders elected to pit early, but Boris Said stayed out and inherited the lead for the restart. Said’s time at the front was short-lived, as he was immediately challenged on the restart by reigning XFINITY Series champion Chase Elliott, who took the lead in Turn 1.
 
Elliott led until Lap 12 when the second caution waved for Kenny Habul. Leaders Elliott and Said pitted, with Elliott Sadler assuming the top spot briefly before Buescher grabbed control from his Roush Fenway Racing teammate.
 
Following the third caution of the race, Tagliani swiped the lead from Buescher in Turn 3, only to have his momentum stalled by a caution for fluid on the race track.
 
Tagliani maintained the race lead through the halfway point.
 
Under a Lap 41 yellow, the majority of the field made their final scheduled pit stop, with Smith claiming the lead after pit stops and the racing resuming with 30 laps remaining.
 
Despite another yellow flag for fluid on the track, the leaders elected to stay out.
 
Racing resumed with 20 laps to go with Smith easily escaping from the furry of furious side-by-side action behind him. Tagliani, though, quickly emerged from the pack and set his sights on Smith, setting up to reassume command on Lap 61 and set the tone for the thrilling finish.
 
Buescher leads Ty Dillon by 24 points in the XFINITY Series standings.