Bubba Wallace snagged his first career Busch Light Pole Award Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Wallace was the only driver to break 190 mph in the final round of qualifying, earning the top starting position with an average lap speed of 190.703 mph. The pole is also the first for 23XI Racing, which first began fielding cars in 2021.
“About time,” Wallace said. “It took me five years to get my first pole. It’s a testament to 23XI, everybody on the No. 23 team. They’ve been doing a tremendous job all year long, really. Just haven’t had the finishes we deserve, but proud for everybody just sticking through it.
“A lot of adversity on this team, and we keep showing up ready to battle.”
The speed in the No. 23 Toyota was shared across each of the manufacturer’s six cars. Christopher Bell (189.898 mph) will roll off alongside Wallace on the front row for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Kyle Busch, Bell’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, will start third (189.868 mph) with Martin Truex Jr. starting seventh (189.724 mph).
The best non-Toyotas in Saturday’s session were Team Penske teammates Joey Logano in fourth (189.509 mph) and Austin Cindric fifth (189.449 mph). Tyler Reddick, who won last week at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, posted the sixth-fastest lap at 189.026 mph.
The top 10 was completed by Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones.
A pair of part-time rookies will start from Row 6 on Sunday. Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson, both of whom are vying for the Xfinity Series championship this season, posted quick lap times in Saturday’s session and narrowly missed advancing to the final round of qualifying from Group B. Gibbs will roll off P11 Sunday with Gragson 12th.
Chase Elliott, who entered the weekend as a co-favorite according to BetMGM, qualified 13th. Ryan Blaney, the defending race winner at Michigan and highest ranked driver in the playoff grid on points, will start 24th on Sunday.
Drivers who struggled in Saturday’s time trials included Alex Bowman in 30th, Brad Keselowski in 33rd and Todd Gilliland in 37th. In his Cup Series debut for Richard Childress Racing, Austin Hill will start 31st.
The NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report.
Kyle Larson spoke to reporters for the first time since his race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course came to an abrupt end after a vicious crash with Ty Dillon in Turn 1.
The No. 5 Chevrolet launched into the corner and wiped out Dillon’s No. 42 car, nearly T-boning the vehicle at the end of the long front straightaway. Initial replays indicated a possible mechanical failure on Larson’s car, but the defending Cup Series champion chalked it up to an error behind the wheel.
“Obviously just made a big mistake,” Larson told reporters Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. “I got in there (to the corner) deep and I got out of shape. And I was hoping that by the time I got under control, I could go straight before they turned into the corner. And once I realized that I was going to hit the (No.) 47 (of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), I tried to just do what I could to turn right and miss both of them. And that obviously didn’t happen.”
As the recipient of the blindsided impact, Dillon was left wondering what happened himself.
“I knew it was a mistake,” Dillon said Saturday. “And definitely looking at the SMT, it’s a really rare mistake that you wouldn’t think that he would make, but we’re all human. And that was kind of what I told him. I was like, ‘hey, we’re gonna make mistakes.’ That’s the risk I take every weekend getting in a race car and knowing that’s a possibility. I’m glad he’s OK, I’m glad I’m OK and we get to come out here and try it again at 200 mph at Michigan.”
Both drivers were stunned after the incident itself, trying to piece together what led to such a violent hit. The two had productive conversations Monday that set things straight despite the scare both received.
“I think he was in shock initially because he asked me what happened,” Dillon said. “I was like, ‘I don’t really know. You hit me really hard.’ But I was glad to see that he was OK.”
“I think it just shocked him as much as anything. I could kind of see the fear and everything in his eyes. I’m sure from his vantage point it was really scary, and he reached out to me on Monday checking in on me and was really kind in what he said.”
Larson called the mistake “embarrassing” and remained eager to move forward ahead of practice for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“Feel really bad about wiping Ty out and just very thankful that him and I were both safe and didn’t get seriously injured,” Larson said, “Because yeah, it was scary for both of us. Hate that that happened and just try not to make any mistakes like that going forward.”
Neil “Soapy” Castles, who enjoyed a two-decades-long career in NASCAR while doubling as a Hollywood stuntman, died Thursday. He was 87.
Castles made 498 starts in what is now called the NASCAR Cup Series, netting 51 top-five finishes without a win in a career that spanned from 1957-1976. The former driver’s passing was first reported by veteran journalist Deb Williams and later confirmed Friday by McMahan’s Funeral Home, which is handling memorial service arrangements in Rutherfordton, N.C.
Castles picked up the nickname “Soapy” from the legendary Buddy Shuman, who provided him with a set of wheels for a soapbox derby racer when he was 9 years old. He stayed close to Shuman, cleaning up tools in his shop and eventually tinkering on his cars through his teenaged years.
Castles won twice in the former NASCAR Grand National East Series, claiming that short-lived circuit’s championship in 1972. After years of trying, he soaked in his first victory at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina that spring, edging Elmo Langley in a photo finish.
“We had been racing close together for a long time, but you always get that urge to win,” Castles told the Greenville (S.C.) News. “The car ran as good as it ever has. There was no trouble. I knew I could get under him. I knew I could do it. Winning … that’s the name of the game.”
RacingOne | Getty Images
Castles frequently competed in cars that he owned, and he also briefly fielded entries for stock-car luminaries such as Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker and Cale Yarborough. He was also credited for wins in a pair of 25-lap qualifying races – one at Darlington in 1967 and another at Rockingham two years later.
“Racing, as everything else, has its ups and downs,” he told The Charlotte News in 1969. “I’ve been in it so long, I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. So long as I can feed my wife and kids, I’m staying in the sport.”
Castles said he got his big break into the film industry in the 1950s, around the time his racing career took flight. He and some friends had signed on as extras during filming at Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsborough, N.C. When the stuntman’s arrival from California was delayed, Castles piped up: “Let me wreck that car so we can go home,” he recalled telling the director. “I can tear that thing up for you and we can all go home tomorrow.”
The director prepared a slapdash contract that evening. “I went out the next morning and flipped the car,” Castles said.
Several movie roles followed, some credited and some not. Among them were racing-themed motion pictures such as Six Pack, Greased Lightning, The Last American Hero and Speedway – the last one starring Elvis Presley.
“I doubled for Elvis and I wrecked five or six cars pretty good,” Castles told the Orlando Sentinel in 1973, adding that the dual careers proved to be lucrative. “I had a real good year. Between NASCAR and the Screen Actors’ Guild, it’s the best thing I ever tied up with. I like to race – and do motion-picture work – if I have the time.”
Memorial services are scheduled Wednesday at Mountain Creek Baptist Church in Rutherfordton. Visitation with the family is scheduled at 11 a.m. ET, with funeral services to follow at noon inside the church.
At 15 years old, Katie Hettinger has already found her way into the record books at Hickory Motor Speedway.
By taking home a checkered flag in the first of two Late Model Stock features July 23, she established herself as the winningest female in the history of the track with five victories.
With so much history encompassing Hickory’s seven decades of operation, she considers herself honored to earn such a distinction and hopes to keep building on her success at the track before the 2022 season concludes.
“It still hasn’t set in yet,” Katie said. “We never actually knew who we had to beat and how many wins it would take, but once they told us, it was such an awesome moment.”
The history and prestige of Hickory is what attracted Katie to the facility all the way from Dryden, Michigan.
Katie remembers how her father, Chris Hettinger, sought to compete at Hickory during his own career and admitted that turning laps around the complex feels like a full circle moment for her family knowing that her dad gets to see her win races there on a regular basis.
Chris was the one who helped Katie get connected with former NASCAR team owner Lorin Ranier when they first ventured to the Southeast. That eventually led to an opportunity for Katie to drive a Limited Late Model and Late Model Stock Car for Matt Piercy, who won the Late Model Stock Car track championship at Hickory in 2015.
When Katie started competing at Hickory, she was taken aback by its abrasive surface and initially struggled to find her comfort zone. Despite this, she remained determined to improve with every race and eventually broke through for her first Late Model Stock victory during the penultimate weekend of the 2021 season.
During the offseason, Katie turned as many laps as she could in Piercy’s car to prepare herself for 2022. The additional track time ended up paying dividends, as Katie is now tied with Mitch Walker for the most wins in Hickory’s Late Model Stock division this year with four.
“Every track is different, but Hickory is a little bit more bumpy compared to others we’ve run at,” Katie said. “At the end of the day, Hickory is just another track for me to learn at. We were pretty successful near the end of last season and tested a lot over the winter, so I think that helped us a lot.”
The amount of success Katie has enjoyed at Hickory this year comes as no major surprise for track manager and Matt’s father, Kevin Piercy.
Even though Kevin knew Katie displayed a tremendous amount of potential driving Matt’s car in the Limited Late Model division, he was impressed by how quickly she started winning in Late Model Stock Cars over quality drivers that include Huffman, William Sawalich and current NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series points leader Layne Riggs.
Katie Hettinger has been teamed with 2015 Hickory Motor Speedway track champion Matt Piercy since making her debut at the track in 2021. (Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
Katie’s efficiency has quickly made her a popular driver amongst the Hickory fanbase, but Kevin added that her maturity and composure outside of the car has earned her the respect of almost everyone in the infield.
“Katie is a hard racer, but she’s a great sport off the track,” Kevin said. “She congratulates her fellow competitors and tries to be friendly with everybody. Even though Katie is still young, she’s a very personable young lady off the track but a hard charger on race day.”
Kevin added that Katie’s record-breaking victory highlights the ongoing mission of Hickory towards promoting a diverse racing environment.
Katie is one of several successful women who actively compete at Hickory nearly every weekend. Annabeth Barnes-Crum claimed a 40-lap feature at the beginning of the 2022 season, while Gracie Trotter and Isabella Robusto are expected to contend for the track championship in Hickory’s new playoff format.
Outside of the women, Cuban American and current ARCA Menards Series points leader Rajah Caruth found Victory Lane at Hickory in 2021 while Akinori Ogata, who was born in Japan, is currently second in the Limited Late Model standings with four victories.
Kevin considers himself fortunate that Hickory remains an ideal destination for any driver to race at regardless of their background and is optimistic the status quo will remain in place even as the motorsports industry continues to evolve.
Kevin is confident that Katie will add more victories to her resume at Hickory over the next few weeks, which he hopes provides her the recognition needed to break into the developmental ranks of NASCAR.
“The sky is the limit for Katie,” Kevin said. “Like everyone else, Katie has to cover her bases as she moves forward, but she has the character, the personality and so many other things going for her that she can use to move up the ladder. I believe those doors are going to open for Katie.”
Katie Hettinger has big plans for her future and intends to make her ARCA Menards Series West debut later in 2022. (Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
Katie has already started to ponder her future after Hickory.
Along with continuing to gain experience at different tracks around the United States in Late Model Stocks and Pro Late Models, Katie also plans to make her ARCA Menards Series West debut near the end of the season at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway.
Winning is something that Katie knows will only help separate herself from other drivers currently in the developmental pipeline, whether that is against the local competition at Hickory, in her home state of Michigan, or in a national touring series.
As Katie continues to gain more experience, she considers herself grateful to be in Hickory’s record books as the track’s most successful female driver and hopes her accomplishments during the past two years serves as an inspiration for other women looking to break into NASCAR.
“This is really important to me,” Katie said. “It’d be so great to win a championship [at Hickory] and get my name up on the wall, but that’s just not what we’re going for this year. It’s great that I was able to get some kind of record there because now there are other female drivers that are going to try and challenge me, which means that women are only getting better at racing.”
Katie plans to cherish her milestone at Hickory even if it does get eclipsed by another woman, but her focus remains on the next race in front of her so she can one day add her name to more motorsport record books.
Kyle Petty has written plenty in his day, it’s just that many of those words have been set to music. So when it came time to handcraft those words that tell his story, his life in racing and the many people whose lives he’s touched, the process hit differently.
“Verse-verse-chorus, verse-verse-chorus, bridge,” Petty says with some levity in his voice, “that’s something totally different than this is.
However new the process, the same heartfelt quality that threads its way through Petty’s songwriting catalog is woven into “Swerve or Die,” a seat-of-the-pants autobiography that takes an intimate view inside one of NASCAR’s foremost families. The book, co-authored by Ellis Henican, will be released Tuesday by St. Martin’s Press.
Much of the book focuses on Petty’s life in racing, but the chapters explore his other passions – as a musician, a broadcaster and a long-established philanthropist. In adding author to this list, the 62-year-old tells the story of the generations that shaped him. Petty’s name and familiar grin may be front and center on the cover, but the story is about family – those who related by blood and close friends who may as well have been.
“To me, it’s not the people that I actually treated as family. It’s the people that treated me as family,” Petty says before recalling a long list – Felix Sabates, the team owner who sealed his deal with little more than a handshake but always stayed true to his word; the Wood Brothers, who gave him a home at a critical juncture of his racing career; Don Tilley, the prominent Harley-Davidson dealer who oozed cool and cultivated his love of motorcycles; Marty Robbins, the country-western crooner who inspired with his effortless blending of music and stock-car racing. That list goes on.
“So it is about family, and it’s about support,” Petty says. “And it’s about, for me, it’s about just continuing to move, just to continue to live.”
St. Martin’s Press
The way Petty has fully lived his life comes through in the book’s anecdotal style. The humorous stories from his days as an adventurous youth, to a next-generation racer and a father all connect, with some reminiscence that was previously untold. That includes a gripping recollection of secretly letting his young son, Adam, slip out onto two of the sport’s biggest speedways in a Cup Series car – a cloak-and-dagger act that seems unfathomable today.
“The guys that worked with me, we just had a good time. That’s the lesson,” Petty said. “That’s when it was fun. You know, it was fun to be on a team, it was fun to go to the race track, it was fun to test — all that stuff. So yeah, I’m not sure any of that would fly, ever again, and I’m not sure anybody else would have an opportunity to do it.”
For all the cheerful moments, there is also tragedy, and Petty doesn’t shy away from sharing it. Petty’s uncle, Randy Owens, and his son Adam were both killed in at-track incidents, 25 years apart.
“A lot of things, it was like it happened yesterday,” Petty says. “With a lot of things, the scar, you think it’s healed, and then you say six words about it and you realize it’s just, it’s still fresh. It’s still incredibly fresh.”
While writing about the loss, Petty arrived at a sense of catharsis. But processing those emotions on paper was far different from speaking the words when it came time to record the audio edition.
Petty thought that process would come as second nature. “Shoot, yeah, I’ll do the audio book, man,” he recalled saying. “I run my mouth for a living, I can do that.” The book’s warm, conversational style reads much like the “fireside chat” storytelling session that he capably moderated at the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony last winter. But when it came time to verbalize the book’s more sensitive passages, Petty faced an unexpected challenge.
“I mean, I want to tell you that may quite possibly be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, because it got so emotional, reading it and hearing it out loud,” Petty said. “I mean, I think to put it down is one thing. To read it out loud? I talk to myself, and I talk to myself all the time — I mean, a lot. Lots of people tell themselves stuff and it motivates them to keep going. But when you hear it read out loud, and then you play it back, it’s like, oh my gosh. So it was very therapeutic and very healing in a lot of ways at the same time.”
Petty also takes special care to use his crystal ball in the book’s final chapter. While claiming “I’m no Nostradamus,” Petty dives deep into the recent changes that have shaped current-day stock-car racing, but looks forward into what the future could hold.
“I think the sport will continue to change, and will continue to change for the better and will always be here,” Petty says. “So many people want to sing the death knell of this sport so many times. I mean, they want to go, ‘Whoa, this is happening, so the sport can’t survive that’ or ‘This is happening and so, I don’t know what we’re going to do now. I don’t think the sport is gonna be here in 10 years.’ My point is, this sport has been whatever it needed to be in whatever time it needed to be that for 70-plus years, and it’s still as relevant to its fan base and to the people that love it as it was in the very beginning. And I don’t see that changing in the future.
“But the things that we will have to change to are obviously electric cars, it’s the inclusion, it’s the social climate that we live in. It’s being a more inclusive sport, a more welcoming sport. And we need to be that for anybody that loves cars and loves going fast, we need to be that for everybody.”
The question of “why now” for Petty’s entry into the autobiographical record draws two responses – one is that the book is meant for his children to have an account of their father’s path as they grow up, the other is the timing of the pandemic. When COVID-19 first broke and society went on lockdown, Petty immersed himself in songwriting. Telling his story in book form provided another creative outlet.
But Petty’s story is still being written, through his involvement with racing as a broadcaster for NBC Sports, but also through his charity foundations – the Victory Junction camp and the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America. The book digs into the origin stories for both, plus how Petty met his wife, Morgan, as the two helped to guide those organizations into the future.
Both Victory Junction and the charity ride began with casual conversations and a shared vision that led to action. It’s a chapter of the book that’s still being written.
“It evolved over those years to be what it is, because it wasn’t perfect the first year, and at one point, we just kept moving,” Petty says. “And the title of the book, we just kept swerving and we never died. I mean, we just kept moving, and that’s the deal. That’s, to me, that’s what the title means, in a lot of ways is you just keep moving. You just keep moving.”
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway is a home game in a lot of ways for the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team at Hendrick Motorsports.
The state of Michigan is the home base for manufacturer Chevrolet and the team’s primary sponsor, Ally. If that weren’t enough, crew chief Greg Ives is from Bark River, Michigan, 436 miles from the location of Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN).
“Growing up about 7 hours north of Michigan International Speedway, I’ve been to the race track a few times as a fan,” said Ives, who is in his fifth full season working with driver Alex Bowman. “As a fan there was pressure for my driver, Jeff Gordon, who was my favorite at the time, to get the win.
“I feel the same way now as the crew chief for Alex, our great sponsor Ally and obviously our manufacturer Chevrolet and of course the fans that show up and want to see us do well.”
A strong run couldn’t come at a better for the No. 48 team, Ives and Bowman. The No. 48 team hasn’t finished inside the top 10 since the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, a stretch of eight races.
During that time, Bowman has finished 32nd or worse four times. That includes a 32nd-place finish last weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
Ives acknowledged his team’s recent struggles but said despite what the statistics show, the team isn’t lacking for speed. A little luck, on the other hand, would go a long way in helping the team turn things around before the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs begin at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 4.
“Ultimately it comes down to a fast car and I feel like never giving up,” Ives said. “Also making the right changes from practice to the race. I feel like we were able to do that at Indy and put ourselves in position to I think continue to march forward to the front and improve our track position every lap and every time we pitted.
“Unfortunately a flat left-front tire with contact with the 4 car (Kevin Harvick) and then ultimately the 4 car later on, contact kind of took us out of the race. Until then I thought we were executing the race as best we could and overcoming obstacles when they were presented.”
Rather than get down or get frustrated by the lack of performance by the team of late, Ives said it’s more important to look at this situation as a chance to grow and learn how they could be better as a team.
“I feel like this is an opportunity to not only work on relationships between Alex and myself, but put some accountability and responsibility on the guys on the team to continue to improve, step up and know that the Playoffs start in a few weeks, but the trend back upwards starts this week,” Ives said.
A strong run, or perhaps even a victory Sunday at Michigan, would go a long way towards righting the ship for Ives, Bowman and company.
Obviously that kind of performance would serve as a confidence booster for all parties, but it would mean even more given the proximity to the home bases for Ally and Chevrolet.
“There is never any doubt that we can go into each weekend and win a race,” said Ives, who has a NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Michigan as a crew chief for Regan Smith in 2013. “We may not be a favorite right now and may not be in consideration for the Power Rankings or what you want to talk about, but you can probably ask anybody, ‘Who can be a sleeper this weekend or has potential that hasn’t lived up to their potential in the last few weeks’ and we’ll probably be part of it.
“Ultimately just go out there and execute a race. If we do that we can easily be inside the top 10 and if we qualify well, easily in the top five. All in all, to come out of there with a win, especially for the manufacturer battle, for Ally, who is a big contributor and supporter of our race team and also always there for fans, it would definitely be a big deal.”
After a topsy-turvy blast through another road course, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Michigan International Speedway for a more traditional oval race this weekend.
The FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks one of the final four opportunities for drivers to lock their way into the playoffs, and the unknowns of the 2-mile oval might present higher chances for a new winner.
Catch up on everything you need to know ahead of this weekend’s action.
UP TO SPEED
NASCAR Cup Series teams practice on Saturday afternoon (12:35 p.m. ET, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio), with the 37-car field split into Group A and Group B based on NASCAR’s metric formula. Each group will get 15 minutes of practice ahead of qualifying (1:20 p.m. ET, NBC Sports App, MRN Radio).
Qualifying features single-car, single-lap runs for each group. The fastest five in each group will advance to the second round, where those 10 drivers will fight for the Busch Light Pole Award.
— Kevin Harvick is on a 65-race winless streak, the second longest of his career. Twenty-one drivers won since Harvick’s last win.
— The good news for Harvick is that he has won three of the past four races at Michigan and four of the last six. With five total wins at Michigan, Harvick is the active leader in wins at Michigan and has finished inside the top two in an astounding 29% of his 41 Michigan starts.
— The longest top-10 finish streak by a driver this year is six races by Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott.
— The longest active top-10 streak is three races by Bubba Wallace, marking his longest top-10 streak and 23XI Racing’s longest top-10 streak.
— Chase Elliott’s 7.7 average finish at Michigan is the best of all drivers and is nearly 3.5 positions better than any other active driver, despite being winless there.
— Kyle Busch finished outside the top 10 in the last seven races, the longest streak of his full-time Cup career.
— Tyler Reddick won two of the last five races. Richard Childress Racing failed to win in the previous 71 races.
— Both Front Row Motorsports cars finished top 10 at the Indy Road Course. That was the third time the organization had two cars finish top 10 in a race; the other two came in the two Talladega races in 2013.
Source: Racing Insights
GOODYEAR TIRES
After a mid-spring tire test around the 2-mile oval, Goodyear will bring new left- and right-side tires to Michigan for this weekend’s activities.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon circled the track May 31 and June 1, allowing the tire manufacturer to determine the best compounds for the 400-mile event. Heat will be a factor with temperatures forecast in the mid-80s, providing yet another challenge for Goodyear.
“Excessive and sustained heat is the enemy of a race tire,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “When you have a smooth track surface, like the one at Michigan, tires just don’t wear naturally. Heat gets generated the more a tire is run, but on most tracks that heat gets dissipated as the tread wears. At Michigan, as on other low-wear tracks, we design the tire with an appropriately formulated tread compound and minimal tread gage to help control the heat generation, and enable the tire to run at a more optimal performance level.”
MICHIGAN HISTORY
— Michigan was built in the late 1960s by Michigan land developer Larry LoPatin and his short-lived racing empire American Raceways Inc. (ARI) that grew to include tracks in Michigan, Atlanta, and Texas.
— Michigan, located on more than 1,400 acres, was designed by Charles Moneypenny, who also designed Daytona International Speedway.
— After ARI went bankrupt in 1973 the track was placed in receivership. Roger Penske purchased the facility. Under Penske’s 25-year ownership, seating capacity grew from 25,000 to over 125,000 and many buildings and facilities were added, making MIS one of the premier tracks on the Cup circuit.
— International Speedway Corporation acquired Michigan in 1999.
— The 2012 repave consisted of removing the top two inches of the existing pavement and placing two lifts of asphalt – each 1½ inches thick – as a leveling course and a final wearing course. About 646,000-square feet of asphalt was removed and another 22,000 tons of new asphalt went in its place. Pit road was repaved in 2011. A laser survey of the existing track surface collected approximately 100 million data points, allowing engineers to replicate the original pavement yet smooth out the dips and bumps. Those data points have shown the race track has variable banking in its 18-degree turns.
— In June 2012 after the repave, 19 drivers time-trialed at more than 200 mph. Forty drivers were faster than the previous record.
Source: Racing Insights
BETTING THE HOUSE?
Despite having a combined one win at Michigan International Speedway, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch enter Sunday’s race as co-favorites at 6-1 odds, according to BetMGM.
Busch scored the duo’s lone victory 11 years ago, leading 60 laps on the way to the 2011 win. But don’t be fooled by the win column — Busch has finished seventh or better in eight of the last nine Michigan races, including each of the last seven. Elliott, on the other hand, remains winless but holds the best average finish of anybody at Michigan at 7.7.
The potential steal of the week is Kevin Harvick, who enters at 22-1 odds. The No. 4 Ford has dominated Michigan in recent years with four wins in the last six Michigan races and 327 laps led in that span.
Want to manage a team and race your way to the top of the leaderboards? Check out NASCAR Fantasy Live, which is open now. The free-to-play game lets you choose your drivers each week and show off your crew-chief instincts by garaging a driver by the end of Stage 3, and there is a $25,000 prize for the winner.
The 2022 Fantasy Live points leaders are Chase Elliott (815), Ryan Blaney (688) and Ross Chastain (681).
Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week a select number of in-car cameras will be available — as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.
NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement in the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more — and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.
Kevin Harvick arrived at Michigan International Speedway in early June 2020 as a 44-year-old NASCAR betting favorite with nearly 700 career NASCAR Cup Series starts and a loaded resume – highlighted by three wins, including two in his last two starts, and six more second-place finishes since 2013 – at the 2-mile track.
Tyler Reddick arrived at Michigan International Speedway in early June 2020 as a little-known 24-year-old rookie who did win the Xfinity Series’ race (LTi Printing 250) in Michigan 14 months earlier but had a non-existent Cup Series resume at the 2-mile track.
All eyes were on Harvick as he sought one-track dominance, an increasing rarity in the Cup Series. And he exceeded the hype with back-to-back wins in the FireKeepers Casino 400 and Consumers Energy 400. Reddick, meanwhile, was largely irrelevant, finishing 18th and 24th.
Two years later, all eyes are on Reddick in the 2022 Firekeepers Casino 400, while oddsmakers expect Harvick to be largely irrelevant.
One week after his win in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indy Road Course – his second win in five races to become the first Richard Childress Racing driver with a multi-win season since 2013 – Reddick is within earshot of the favorites for the FireKeepers Casino 400.
As of Thursday in NASCAR odds at BetMGM, Reddick has the sixth-best race-winner odds (+1000) and, with Kyle Busch atop the board at (+650), his smallest gap behind the favorite all season.
“We just know what we’re capable of, and we did that at Road America,” Reddick said after winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “And if we change nothing, we keep working really, really hard, we find a way back to Victory Lane.”
Despite a vote of confidence from oddsmakers, the public isn’t pounding Reddick at the sportsbook. He has just 3.7% of race-winner tickets, tied with Austin Dillon for the 11th-most, and a modest 5.1% of tickets, narrowly behind Joey Logano for the sixth-highest share.
If Reddick finds a way back to Victory Lane on Sunday, he’ll do so in his fourth career Cup Series start at the track and become the ninth different active driver to win the event, all of whom trail Harvick and his five career wins.
Harvick is buried in an unfamiliar spot for a Michigan race; although he owns Cup Series-highs in career wins (five), top-five finishes (15), top-10 finishes (21), and laps led at the track (699), he’s at +1800. Only Chase Elliott and Chase Briscoe have a better average finish, though they have just 12 combined starts to Harvick’s 41.
The public likes Harvick’s chances in start No. 42. His handle share of 12.7% trails only Kyle Larson (15.2%) for the highest this weekend. If that holds, it’d be one of the highest handle shares for any driver with odds of +1500 or greater this season. Only Austin Cindric (+6600) and Brad Keselowski (+10000) are bigger liabilities for BetMGM.
Oddly, Harvick isn’t a popular pick in featured matchup betting, nor is Reddick. Here’s a look at the four featured matchups for the FireKeepers Casino 400:
Joey Logano (-120) vs. Kevin Harvick (-110)
Joey Logano has been just as good as Kevin Harvick at Michigan. He’s done so in fewer races – 25 to Harvick’s 41 – but has similar rates for wins, top-five finishes, top-10 finishes, and laps led.
Last year’s 33rd-place finish in the FireKeepers Casino 400 was unusual for Logano. In 16 starts from 2013-20, he won three times and had an average finish of 6.6. He had finished worse than 17th only one other time since 2012.
Logano has 80% of the tickets and 95% of the handle to finish ahead of Harvick.
Denny Hamlin (-130) vs. Tyler Reddick (+100)
Hamlin’s “delightfully bizarre” season – as dubbed by Pat DeCola in dropping the two-time Michigan winner (Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 in both 2010 and 2011) to ninth in this week’s NASCAR Power Rankings – continued with a 14th-place finish at the Brickyard.
Hamlin has just 38% of the tickets in his head-to-head with Reddick, but those tickets account for 95% of the handle.
Ryan Blaney (-115) vs. William Byron (-115)
Ryan Blaney is the defending champion after holding off William Byron last August for his first win in 13 starts at the track, where he had three previous top-five finishes. He’s routinely been in contention but has struggled to capitalize on good starting positions.
He leads active drivers in average starting position (9.4) but also leads active drivers with 10+ starts in worst average start-to-finish drop-off (-5.8) at the 2-mile oval.
It appears the public cares more about last year’s race than the start-to-finish drop-off; Blaney has 94% of the handle (on 67% of the tickets) against Byron.
Daniel Suárez (-125) vs. Bubba Wallace (-105)
Bubba Wallaceis having the best stretch of his Cup Series career – three straight top-10s for the first time – and returns to a track where he won in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He has, however, struggled for relevancy in Michigan in recent years, posting just one top-10 in eight starts.
While Wallace has a respectable 2.9% race-winner handle share (with +2500 odds), he’s not a popular pick against Daniel Suárez, who owns 74% of the handle (on 60% of the tickets) in featured matchup betting.
You can view updated FireKeepers Casino 400 and more NASCAR betting odds at the BetMGM online sportsbook.
Buddy Arrington, a longtime independent driver with a 25-year career in NASCAR’s top division, has died. He was 84.
Arrington, a native of Martinsville, Virginia, made 560 starts in what is now the NASCAR Cup Series, posting 15 top-five finishes in his career. His best result was third place, achieved twice — in 1965 at Nashville and 1979 at Talladega.
“Buddy Arrington was the epitome of a successful car owner and driver during his era in NASCAR,” Martinsville track president Clay Campbell said in a statement. “As an owner, he knew how to use his resources to compete with the top teams. As a driver, Buddy had all the talent to get the job done, so it was never a surprise to see his red and blue No. 67 Dodge trading paint with some of the best in the sport.
“From a personal perspective, I will always remember him as the first person to give me a ride around Martinsville Speedway when I was a teenager. To this day, it remains one of the most thrilling things I’ve ever done. I will never forget his kindness sharing that experience with me. I think he may have enjoyed it as much as I did and I’m pretty sure he was wearing his signature sunglasses when he did it! That was Buddy.
“He made an impact on the sport that will never be forgotten. My condolences go out to his family during this time.”
RacingOne
Arrington’s third-place Talladega finish represented his closest brush with victory. He qualified fourth and led two laps until a late-race miscue on pit road dropped him from contention. Arrington’s crew left the gas can attached, forcing their driver to pit again and finish two laps down to race winner Bobby Allison.
“We almost won that race at Talladega,” Arrington, who drove a car acquired from Richard Petty that offseason, told the Windsor (Ontario) Star in 1983. “We outran ’em all, every last one of ’em.”
Arrington remained loyal to Chrysler products for the bulk of his racing career, even during times when the automaker was less involved in the sport. Arrington stockpiled Dodge and Chrysler parts, frequently running outdated equipment as a means to save money.
“When I began racing in 1964, I was a mechanic at a Chrysler dealership,” Arrington told Al Pearce in 1985. “It was almost natural that I would begin by racing Plymouths and Dodges since that’s what I knew best. Before I realized it, I had accumulated so much Chrysler equipment and cars that I had to stick with them even though the cars were big and bulky and didn’t run very good.”
Arrington’s career ended in 1988 with a mix of starts with Ford and Chevrolet after his obsolete Chrysler Imperial became ineligible for NASCAR competition in 1985.
Arrington’s ties to NASCAR’s past were not limited to his roots as an independent driver on the circuit. He also had connections to the transport of illegal liquor and was caught by law enforcement in December 1971 with a loaded-down Ford Torino Cobra Jet 429 near his hometown. Arrington posted bond and served no time as a first-time offender.
“To tell the truth, that is probably where racing got its start,” Arrington told the Anniston (Ala.) Star in 1981. “I got caught, paid the price and hung it up. I haven’t touched it since.”
Arrington seemed to take his winless record in stride, saying candidly that he had no doubts he could contend in top-flight equipment.
“It doesn’t affect me in any way,” Arrington told the Anniston paper. “This is just what I do. It’s like a guy working in a factory. He knows he’s never going to be president of the company. It’s just the way things are. And it’s a good living …
“I’ve probably accumulated as nice a shop and equipment as anybody (independent), in the business,” he added. “I’ve done all right for myself, but we’ve worked for it, day and night. And when I say night, I mean all night long. But I would do it all over again. I sure would.”
For the third consecutive week, Kurt Busch was not medically cleared to race, meaning he will miss Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Busch released the following statement via social media: “While I am continuing to make improvements every day and can’t wait to get back in the No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD, I have yet to be cleared to return to competition and will not be participating in the NASCAR Cup Series race this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. I know Ty (Gibbs) will continue to do a great job representing 23XI and the No. 45 Monster Energy team this weekend in Michigan. I am working hard to get back to 100% and it’s my hope to be back in the car at Richmond Raceway. Thanks to everyone for the continued support and I look forward to being back on track soon.”
Busch suffered concussion-like symptoms after a qualifying crash on July 23 at Pocono Raceway, resulting in Ty Gibbs filling his role for the 23XI Racing team’s No. 45 entry at Pocono and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
Beginning with Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions, Gibbs is on tap to drive the No. 45 Toyota again this weekend, looking to build off a pair of top-17 finishes in his first career premier series starts. Sunday’s test at Michigan (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports APP, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) will be his first on a traditional oval.
Though Busch will now miss his third race of 2022, he has been granted a waiver to compete for the championship if he qualifies for the 16-driver playoff field. In current playoff standing, he is locked in by virtue of his win in May at Kansas Speedway.
Busch will be evaluated further to determine if he is fit to race in next Sunday’s action at Richmond Raceway.
