Track: Michigan International Speedway
Location: Brooklyn, Mich.
Track length: 2 miles
When: 3 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: Prime Video, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $11,233,037
Race distance: 200 laps | 400 miles
Segments: 45 | 120 | 200
Sunday’s starting lineup | Cup Series pit stall assignments
Michigan’s Irish Hills create a highway to high speeds
Michigan International Speedway has long been the site of some of the highest speeds on the NASCAR schedule. That won’t change in this weekend’s FireKeepers Casino 400.
Drivers routinely topped 200 mph in Saturday’s practice session, averaging lap speeds upward of 190 mph. The 2-mile track’s long straights and sweeping banked corners create an emphasis on drafting, but its wide turns also offer plenty of lanes for drivers to maneuver out of dirty air.
MORE: Weekend schedule | At-track photos
Toyota has been the manufacturer to beat every week this season, whether at superspeedways, intermediates, short tracks or road courses. But Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, hasn’t quite found what he’s looking for through seven Michigan starts. The daunting nature of what Michigan dares drivers to achieve is not lost on Bell, who is looking for his first Michigan win and first victory of 2026.
“You just have to hit it perfect at this track,” Bell said Saturday. “Like, it’s so fast, and it takes so much commitment that you can’t be loose, can’t be tight; you’ve got to have the car driving really well to have speed here. So yeah, I mean, the intermediate package has been really good for the Toyotas. Hopefully, I would expect it to translate here to Michigan, but you have to hit the balance. It doesn’t matter how good your cars are. If it’s not driving well, you’re not going to have pace.”
Brad Keselowski, the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion and a Michigan native, is also still seeking his first Michigan win after 28 starts. Michigan’s spot on the schedule may serve teams well as a precursor for the next two races, with the Irish Hills track preceding Pocono Raceway’s unique 2.5-mile triangular track, which offers some similarities to the D-shaped oval in Brooklyn, Michigan.
“I view Michigan and Pocono as kind of being the most similar tracks with the way they race, in the sense of the race tends to get strung out, strategy becomes really important, really easy to get involved in a crash because of just how edgy the cars are,” Keselowski said Saturday. “But of course, Michigan and Pocono are not the same tracks. Pocono has the three separate corners — Turn 1, really kind of a high-banked fast corner and Turns 2 and 3 really flat, and Turn 2 particularly really bumpy, and Turn 3 really easy to get in trouble as well.”
Two consecutive weeks with high-speed challenges start Sunday at Michigan, where drivers know they will need to balance bravery with strategy.
“I mean, this is one of those race tracks, man, that you have to be very smart,” said Daniel Suárez, winner of the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24. “I call it as it’s like a chess match, because [if] you have a run, you have to take it. You have to be very, very strategic and very smart on your moves. Being aggressive is important, but being smart is more important. So I love coming here. It’s not your typical mile-and-a-half style kind of race track, I mean, even though it’s a 2-mile race track. But yeah, it’s a lot of fun.”
In the details …
Fourteen races into 2026, there are still some surprise names who have yet to visit Victory Lane, including Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace, who need big days in the Irish Hills to feel comfortable above the Chase cutline.
MORE: Watch NASCAR video highlights
Here’s a look at seven drivers entered in this weekend’s race who have tallied the most points in the Next Gen car at Michigan:
| DRIVER | POINTS |
|---|---|
| Denny Hamlin | 169 |
| Chris Buescher | 150 |
| Brad Keselowski | 144 |
| Bubba Wallace | 128 |
| Erik Jones | 122 |
| Kyle Larson | 120 |
| Daniel Suárez | 118 |
Speed reads
Race-day essentials:
• Michigan hub: Key information, pit stalls, additional results | Read more
• Sunday Setup: Fuel mileage, new tire setup and OEM incentive in focus | Read more
• Paint Scheme Preview: New colors set for Michigan | View gallery
• Hauler Talk: Why Austin Dillon was not penalized for Keselowski incident at Nashville | Listen now
• Power Rankings: Who will take next big leap on Sunday? | This week’s ranks
• NASCAR Classics: Inside the video vault from Michigan | Watch now
Contributing: Cameron Richardson, Zack Albert