Texas Schedule | Michigan Schedule
A Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series-Xfinity Series doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway is on tap while the Gander Outdoors Truck Series races at Texas Motor Speedway.
Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (MRN, 1 p.m. ET) is the 15th race of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the first of two visits to the two-mile Michigan track. Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick won last year’s two MIS races and the two Stewart-Haas Racing drivers are hoping to make a repeat trip to Victory Lane on Sunday.
“How you finish at Michigan depends on how your day is going,” explained Harvick, who is still in search of his first win of this season. “If you’re having a good day, it’s not really hard to tell your guys what you need and everyone is in a good mood. If you’re having a bad day, you can get behind at Michigan really fast.
“You’re going to end up with a green-flag pit stop and a whole bunch of green-flag laps. You just have to be going from the time the green flag drops and keep yourself in position at the end.”
Michigan Race Winners | Michigan Driver Averages
Kyle Busch remains the hottest driver in the series. The Joe Gibbs Racing pilot has four victories, eight top-fives, 13 top 10s and he’s led 763 laps just past the halfway point in the Cup Series regular season. Busch had two top-five runs at Michigan last season but is not clear what to expect this weekend especially about how the 2019 rules will impact racing.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Busch said. “We’ll just go into the weekend like we always do – keep working on our car to be the best it can be in practice on Friday and hope we have a shot to get back to victory lane there. We had a lot of struggles on the repave but turned that around a bit last year.
“Our whole team has shown how well we’ve worked together and Adam (Stevens, crew chief) has been able to make the right calls, so I’m looking forward to seeing what he has in store for me at Michigan this weekend.”
FireKeepers Casino 400 Entry List | LTi Printing 250 Entry List
Saturday afternoon the NASCAR Xfinity Series competes in the 28th annual LTi Printing 250 (MRN, 1 p.m. ET). Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Cole Custer have separated themselves from the rest of the field in the win column. But there are a number of other capable drivers looking to get on the board including JR Motorsports pilot Justin Allgaier.
Michigan is a track where Allgaier has had success. In eight series start at Michigan, he has posted one top five and four top 10s, including a ninth-place finish last season.
“I’m really looking forward to getting to Michigan this weekend,” Allgaier said. “It’s such a fun race track and this Brandt Professional Agriculture team has been working hard to prepare a fast Camaro. We didn’t exactly get the finish we were looking for at Pocono, so I’m hoping we can get the momentum we had back on track this weekend.”
Meanwhile the Gander Outdoors Truck Series visits Texas Motor Speedway for the second time this season in Friday night’s SpeedyCash.com 400 (MRN, 8:30 p.m. ET). It’s the first race of the new “Triple Truck Challenge,” the special bonus program takes place at three consecutive races – Texas, Iowa Speedway (June 15) and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (June 22). All drivers earning series points are eligible and drivers who win one of the three races receive a $50,000 bonus.
Plus If a driver wins two of the three events, they will be awarded the $50,000 bonus per race and an additional $50,000 bringing the total bonus winnings to $150,000. And If a driver wins all three events, he/she will be crowned the Triple Truck Challenge champion and will receive an additional $300,000, bringing the total to $500,000 in prize money.
Greg Biffle will be making his first NASCAR start since 2016 and his first Gander Outdoors Truck Series start since 2004 on Friday at Texas driving the No. 51 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
“Well, I always said it was the right opportunity to come back into NASCAR,” Biffle said. “I’ve been talking to Kyle since I got out of the Cup car about maybe running some races, and he had a need for this particular Truck race and the 51 didn’t have a driver and we talked over a sand dune trip and decided that I’d come run this one race for him.”
