NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Will Find FireKeepers Casino 400 Victory Lane at Michigan?
On paper Sunday appears to be the last normal race for NASCAR’s regular season. The two-mile Michigan International Speedway typically rewards drivers and teams with year-long pace and consistency. Despite this, Michigan 12 months ago saw one driver blow up the Playoff standings with a breakthrough win. Can a similar performance take place in this year’s FireKeepers Casino 400? Here are a few drivers to watch out for, including some still searching for a first win of 2023.
Kevin Harvick
More than any track on the circuit, Michigan has been Kevin Harvick’s playground in recent years. Five of Harvick’s six career Michigan victories have come in the last seven races, dating back to 2018. One of these triumphs was last year. The 4 won their way into Playoff contention from the Irish Hills. Laps led in seven of the last eight trips to Michigan have the 4 as a strong winning contender for Sunday.
“Michigan is just unique because of the speed and the things that you have at Michigan,” Harvick said. “California Speedway is just so much different. And while you have the mile-and-a-half stuff that we do on a normal basis at some of those places, it’s something that is just different at Michigan. So you just kind of go off of what you’ve done in the past with the differences in the tracks and apply that to the new car with that mindset. But everything in the new car is different. We had a good car there last year. We were able to get the track position we needed to show it off and we wound up going to victory lane. Last year will be more of a base than the evolution of the things that have happened this year since the rules on the big tracks are the same.”
“Michigan is one of those places where you don’t want to miss the center of the corner. You want to be on the throttle at the center of the corner and get that good exit speed to make the straightaway as long as you can. So the less you can touch the brake pedal and the more time you can spend on the throttle to make those straightaways as long as possible, the better speed you’re going to make. Michigan in the past has been pretty line-sensitive. You’ve just got to be careful about where you are on the racetrack. And if you miss that on the entry, it just screws the whole corner up.”
Riding a three-race top-10 streak into one of his best tracks, Michigan may finally be where Harvick puts everything together. All of Stewart-Haas Racing showed promise on the short track in Richmond. Hopefully Harvick can continue this hot hand on the superspeedway in Michigan.
Kyle Larson
The last non-Ford winner at Michigan, the two-mile oval was very kind to Kyle Larson in his early career. Back in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42, three of Larson’s first four career wins came at Michigan. Since the threepeat from 2016 and 2017, Larson has a best Michigan finish of third. Two-for-two in Michigan top-10s with Hendrick Motorsports, Larson eyes a return to his most familiar victory lane.
“Our team is looking forward to running at Michigan this weekend,” Larson said. “My first ever Cup win was at Michigan, so it’s certainly a special place to me. With only two 2-mile tracks on the schedule, our team is looking for redemption following Fontana. I’ve had two solid top-10 finishes with the No. 5 team in my last two starts, so I hope to be able to repeat that. The guys have been putting in hard work at the shop to build a fast HendrickCars.com Chevy. I’m eager to hit the track and give it our best.”
Two Mile Kyle could easily return this weekend with another shot at Michigan victory lane. Between Michigan and Auto Club, Larson has five checkered flags. The 5 car needs some good momentum heading into the Playoffs. A step in the right direction could come this week for Yung Money.
Brad Keselowski
A week after RFK Racing’s first 2023 win, team co-owner Brad Keselowski eyes back-to-back victories. The Rochester Hills, Michigan native is still winless across 25 starts at his home track. BK’s been second three times at Michigan, most recently in 2020.
“Racing in Michigan is special because of the fact of how close it is to all the OEMs and all the people that work on the lines or work in the corporate offices and make things happen in the OEM world,” Keselowski said. “That makes it really, really special and any success you have in front of them means the world.”
Fords have an impressive Michigan streak of eight-straight victories. Keselowski and the 6 team will try and make that nine Blue Oval checkered flags in Motor City’s shadow. Out of all tracks he’s not won on, Keselowski most desperately wants a Michigan win. Expect the 6 to have a prime chance at their maiden win of 2023 this weekend. RFK Racing aims to lock up another Playoff spot in Roush’s hometown.
Joey Logano
Michigan and Joey Logano have quite an interesting history. Driver 22 has a trio of Irish Hill wins, all coming from the pole. As mentioned above, Ford has eight-straight Michigan victories coming into this weekend. Shockingly only one of those wins came from Logano (2019).
Logano started and finished fourth in this race last year, one of three top-10s since his last Michigan win. Team Penske’s cars are always stout at bossman Roger’s home track. Do not be surprised to see the 22 up front again.
Kyle Busch
Surprisingly just a one-time Michigan winner, Kyle Busch’s lone triumph here came all the way back in 2011. Before crashing out early in last year’s race though, Busch boasted a nine-race top-10 streak. The 8 won at Michigan’s sister track Auto Club back in February. They are likewise favored for a two-mile sweep. Busch did go in-depth describing the nuanced differences in both tracks and why he’s optimistic about Sunday.
“Even though they’re two miles, the same distance – man, Fontana and Michigan are so vastly different from each other,” Busch said. “But I’m looking forward to it. We’ve had good speed at the fast race tracks this year – the 1.5-mile to 2-mile speedways, even the 2.5-mile tracks. So I would like to think that we’ve got a good shot going to Michigan. I remember, I think, running second and third with the No. 8 car there last year with Reddick – he was fast, we were fast. We both had good cars and unfortunately I got caught up in a wreck early on and didn’t get to finish. But it seems like they’ve got a good baseline package for that place. I’d like to think we’d be fine.”
“Michigan is always a difficult track just because it’s so fast. You’re going through the corners at such a fast speed that you’re sustaining high speeds all the way around. I’ve won at Michigan once years ago but that was on the old asphalt. Now it’s finally getting to where the current racetrack asphalt is aging and leading itself to wider grooves that you can kind of maneuver around the racetrack a little bit better. Hopefully that’s the case this time around when we go back to Michigan.”
Poor New Hampshire and Pocono finishes hurt Busch’s bid for the regular season championship. The 8 tumbled from 36 points out of the lead to 96 points back in fifth. Still with a mathematical shot at the bonus points wealth, top-10s will help Busch increase his Playoff seeding. Teammate Austin Dillon always runs well at Michigan, so a big day could be ahead for Busch.
Bubba Wallace
Last year’s FireKeepers Casino 400 was one of the most complete races of Bubba Wallace’s career to date. Starting on pole, the No. 23 led laps and finished second to Kevin Harvick. A year removed from this close loss, Wallace is in a much different points position for 2023. Now in the Playoffs by 54 points, Wallace is in a pivotal spot for his first ever postseason appearance.
If not bettering last year’s result by one, the 23XI Racing team should be a constant top-10 presence on Sunday.
As the last traditional oval in the regular season, Michigan offers a great opportunity for a few winless drivers. The FireKeepers Casino 400 will go green Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Can Ford’s amazing Motor City streak stay alive? Can a 13th driver lock up a Playoff berth? 200 laps on Sunday will answer both of these questions.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Mike Mulholland/Getty Images
