BROOKLYN, Mich. — A hometrack race just means more.
And for Brad Keselowski and Erik Jones, who both cut their teeth at local Michigan tracks including Waterford Hills, that home track in the Cup series is Michigan International Speedway.
Neither has won a Cup race at MIS (in fact, no Michigan-born driver has won a Cup race at MIS), but this might be the weekend that changes. Both are very fast so far this weekend.
Keselowski’s speed came through in qualifying Friday, when he went out last in qualifying and beat everyone with a speed of 190.471 MPH. He previously won the pole at MIS in August 2017.
“I think the track was in really good shape,. I don't know if there was anything that really favored us, mostly it was just the team doing a great job with the preparation and executing a flawless lap driving the car. Most of the credit goes to my team for sure.”
BROOKLYN, Mich. — I’ll start with a proclamation: The Truck Series is the best and most competitive of the three top-tier series in NASCAR, so when Saturday’s race at MIS kicked off, I had high expectations.
In the end, as per usual, I was not disappointed.
With the exception of the opening 20-lap segment, which was dominated by Ross Chastain before he had some bad luck and incurred damage on pit road, the race was one of the best all season.
Ben Rhodes, in a smooth-looking Havoline throwback paint scheme, threatened to take the win and enter the playoffs. Brett Moffitt was in the hunt for yet another win. Young Tyler Ankrum was on the front row for several restarts, and even the KBM trucks made appearances up front as they battled in their final attempt to make the playoffs.
It was a dream finish, Cinderella-like you could say, for Justin Haley at Daytona on Sunday, when he took home the victory In the brand-new, underfunded Spire Motorsports #77 car, after staying out on track following a caution, and being scored the leader when the race was called due to inclement weather.
Sunday’s race was declared official with 33 laps remaining and with Haley sitting in the No. 1 position.
It’s not a stretch to call this the biggest upset in Cup series history, as Sunday was only the third MENCS career start for Haley, and he hadn’t sniffed a strong finish in those three starts prior to his turn of good luck.
Haley’s talent is not in doubt, as he has shown at the Xfinity level what he is capable of doing, nearly winning on Saturday in that series at Daytona as part of a Kaulig Racing 1-2 finish.
The day was strong overall for Chevy, who finished 1-2-3-4 with Haley, William Byron, Jimmie Johnson and Ty Dillon. Kurt Busch was also a contender for the win, giving up the lead by pitting just before the race was red-flagged to hand the victory over to Haley.
Below is the full transcript of the press conference featuring Haley, crew chief Peter Sospenzo and Spire team owner T.J. Puchyr:
With so much focus on the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas and Penske Fords so far this year, Sunday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway was refreshing for fans to see.
New faces up front, struggles from the usual leaders, and some hope that maybe the battle for the Cup will not be a runaway for Joe Gibbs Racing and the killer duo of Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.
Alex Bowman, it seems has different thoughts about this season. So does Hendrick Motorsports. And Chevy isn’t dead yet.
A few thoughts on the day’s action:
* A big congratulations to Alex Bowman. He has been constantly questioned by many who follow the sport since taking over the 88 car from Dale Earnhardt Jr. But he is finally living up to his potential in this 2019 season and has emerged as a team leader in terms of performance. After a long string of 2ndplace finishes, he finally climbed up that one final spot to the summit, and it was not easy. Passing Kyle Larson back after being passed with a few laps remaining was a tough chore, but Bowman came through.
BROOKLYN, Mich.— It was a dreary day Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, and the fans who showed up held out hope of getting the race in, but it was not to be. Despite the track’s best efforts not to lose the track, and drivers Bubba Wallace and Corey Lajoie cheering up the fans with some football toss fun, Mother Nature would not cooperate and let us get a race in.
So here we are, on a Monday, awaiting a 5 p.m. start in Brooklyn, the start time delayed both by ongoing weather on Monday and FS1’s commitment to air Women’s World Cup matches.
Leading the field to green this afternoon/early evening will be Joey Logano of Team Penske, who led a strong qualifying effort by the Ford camp.
Logano said he anticipates teams will use different approaches throughout the race, but he’s happy to have the first pit stall.
“I am sure strategy will change things up. There will be two-tires, four-tires, no-tires and everything will get mixed up at some point, but I think being in that first pit stall is going to lessen that risk of getting back there and getting stuck. If you can kind of keep yourself up there I think it will be important for tomorrow's race,” he said.
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