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Tag: Pure Michigan 400

  • Kahne and Suarez taken out in late wreck at Michigan

    Kahne and Suarez taken out in late wreck at Michigan

    Kasey Kahne and Daniel Suarez’s day ended on Lap 140 of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 when the two collided in Turn 2 at Michigan International Speedway.

    Kahne was making a pass underneath Suarez in Turn 1 when he drifted up into Suarez’s path. Because he hadn’t cleared Suarez, he came across his nose, slid up the track and slammed the outside wall in Turn 2. Suarez, who was pushed up the track from the contact, partially submarined underneath the left-rear side of Kahne’s car, dealing terminal damage to his car.

    His car about spun out, before stabilizing and drifted down towards the apron. Kahne’s car, meanwhile, clung near the wall for a few more seconds, before the back-end came out from underneath him and sent him down onto the apron, where he came to rest.

    “We had to fight from the back and had a good Liftmaster Chevrolet. We kept working to get up there. Daniel (Suarez) was going backwards and I was going by and I ran the bottom,” Kahne said. “I expected we could be close off the corner, and I was just coming off and then we hit. So, I don’t know. I expected to run side-by-side down the backstretch, but not give a lot of room, because you don’t. Nobody does. But I was making the pass and I don’t know how we hit. Ruined it. It’s over.”

    “I was very, very tight. I was trying to hold my line. I think the 5 was passing me (and) went up a little bit too soon for me. I was trying to leave him some room. I (got) out of the throttle at that point, but I don’t know if he was told it was already time to go up. I don’t know. It’s just unfortunate because we came from a streak of top-fives and now this is going to be the end of it. We’re going to regroup and come back stronger next week.”

    While the wreck doesn’t affect Kahne’s playoff chances, as he has a win at Indianapolis to fallback on, it doesn’t help Suarez, who’s now 17th in points and 139 behind Matt Kenseth in the cutoff spot.

  • Dominant Keselowski drive ends in disappointing finish

    Dominant Keselowski drive ends in disappointing finish

    Brad Keselowski led a race-high of 105 laps, but got shuffled back on the final restart and wound up with a mediocre finish in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

    Starting from pole position, Keselowski led all but three laps that fell during a cycle of green flag stops, and won the first stage.

    He continued his dominant run through the second stage, only ceding the race lead on Lap 111 to hit pit road. This time, however, Martin Truex Jr., who pitted a few laps earlier, cycled ahead of him in the running order. This lead to Truex taking over the race lead when the pit cycle concluded and winning the second stage, with Keselowski finishing second.

    On the ensuing restart on Lap 128, Keselowski raced side-by-side with Truex for 75 percent of the lap, before edging ahead of Truex exiting Turn 4 to take the race lead. But Truex powered by him to retake the lead the next lap, and Keselowski didn’t return to the lead again.

    He took just right-side tires on, what was originally, the final round of stops with 39 laps to go to regain lost track position. Truex still cycled ahead of him, but he found himself in position to end the day with a solid finish. A flurry of late cautions, however, pushed him down the running order.

    Keselowski restarted 11th on the overtime restart, but was swallowed up on the bottom lane and wound up finishing 17th.

    “It just didn’t come together there at the end, but it was nice to lead a bunch of laps,” Keselowski said. “That was good and something I was really proud of, but I just didn’t have enough to really run with the 77 and the 78. We tried a little strategy to kind of get something out of it, but the way it all played out I ended up getting the bottom lane on the restarts and getting absolutely swallowed. We tried. We put in as much effort as we could. We knew we didn’t have as much as those two, but we gave it 100 percent effort and I was really proud of my team for that.”

    Keselowski leaves Michigan fifth in points, 213 back of Truex.

  • Larson splits Furniture Row duo in overtime to win at Michigan

    Larson splits Furniture Row duo in overtime to win at Michigan

    Kyle Larson extended his Michigan International Speedway win streak to three by passing the Furniture Row Racing drivers in overtime of the Pure Michigan 400.

    Restarting fourth, Larson gave a shove to race leader Martin Truex Jr., then dove under him, splitting him from teammate Erik Jones in second, and took the lead heading into Turn 1. The race was all Larson’s from there, as he drove on to his fourth career victory in 134 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts.

    “I was running a few options through my head of what to do if I got a good jump, and that was one of them and it worked out perfect. I can’t believe that happened. We were struggling all day. We were definitely not as good as the last two times we won here, but we preserved and had a great restart at the end.”

    Truex and Jones round out the podium.

    Ryan Newman and Trevor Bayne round out the top-five.

    “Oh, it was just a good run for the Velveeta Shells & Cheese Chevrolet,” Newman said. “Luke (Lambert, crew chief) did a great job making the call for us to stay out and caught the break there with the No. 22’s (Joey Logano) tire. We got a couple of good restarts and make it a little bit out of nothing. We were challenged all day and struggled a little bit, but it seems like whenever we’ve got this Velveeta name on the car we end up in the top 5.”

    “It’s refreshing. We’ve had a tough couple of months not getting the results we thought that we deserved. Today, to get a result feels really good,” Bayne said. “We had fast car early on. We had fuel strategy at the end. Probably gonna have a shot to beat the 78 if it stayed green. Got a caution and I was like, ‘Oh man, here goes Indy again.’ We had a good first restart. The second restart was even better. We were able to push the 42 up to the lead and getting into (Turn) 3 I tried to go for it from the top and hit the Speedy Dry, got loose, and came home fifth. Cost us a couple spots. Man, when you’re in that position you have to go for it. I wouldn’t have slept good at night if I didn’t stuff it in there and try something. It just didn’t stick. It feels really good for our team.”

    Chris Buescher, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch round out the top-10.

    RACE SUMMARY

    Brad Keselowski led the field to the green flag at 3:19 p.m. He led all but three laps (Erik Jones led those three during a cycle of green flag stops) on his way to winning the first stage.

    It was the mostly the same story through the second stage. Only this time, Truex, who pitted a few laps earlier than Keselowski, cycled ahead of him in the running order, took over the race lead when Kyle Busch pitted on Lap 114 and drove on to win the second stage.

    Keselowski regained the lead for a lap on the Lap 129 restart, edging out Truex exiting Turn 4, but Truex took it back going into Turn 1.

    Everyone started hitting pit road for the final cycle of green flag stops with 41 laps to go, with Truex doing so a lap later. Jones pitted from the lead with 39 to go, as did Keselowski, handing the lead to Denny Hamlin. He hit pit road with 23 to go, giving the lead to Busch.

    Joey Logano suffered a right-front flat running down the backstretch with 15 to go, and debris from said flat brought out a caution with 14 to go. Busch pitted under the caution, handing the lead back to Truex.

    He got an excellent restart with nine to go, diving down in front of Jones heading into Turn 1. But as he was pulling away from the field, caution flew for a two-car wreck in Turn 2, setting up the overtime finish.

    CAUTION SUMMARY

    The first caution flew on Lap 61 for the end of the first stage. The second caution flew on Lap 121 for the end of the second stage. The third caution flew when Kasey Kahne came across the nose of Daniel Suarez, sending them both into the outside wall in Turn 2 on Lap 139. The fourth caution flew with 14 laps to go for debris on the backstretch. The fifth and final caution flew for a wreck involving Michael McDowell and Paul Menard.

    NUTS & BOLTS

    The race lasted two hours, 40 minutes and 38 seconds, at an average speed of 150.903 mph. There were 14 lead changes among seven different drivers and five cautions for 28 laps.

    Truex leaves with a 129-point lead over Larson. Elliott, McMurray and Matt Kenseth leave maintaining the final three playoff spots.

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  • Chase Elliott says he just needed a better restart at the end

    Chase Elliott says he just needed a better restart at the end

    Asked what he needed on the last few laps to have gotten the win, Chase Elliott said he just needed “a better restart.”

    The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will be able to say he finished runner-up in both races in the backyard of Chevrolet. He led 31 laps and was in prime position to score his first career victory in the Sprint Cup Series after he exited pit road ahead of eventual race winner Kyle Larson on the final round of green flag stops with 54 laps to go.

    He assumed the lead with 31 laps to go and was pulling away from Larson until a tire carcass from the No. 46 of Michael Annett brought out the caution with 13 laps to go.

    On the restart with nine laps to go, he spun the tires, Larson got a shove by Brad Keselowski and took the lead. Elliott made quick work of Keselowski, but couldn’t run down the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet in the closing laps.

    After the race, he was asked what he needed to get the win.

    “Just a better restart again,” he said. “That was what it was all about for sure. Once that guy (Larson) got out front it was really hard to pass.”

    As is usually the case with Elliott, he put most of the blame on himself.

    “My guys did such a good job today of making the most of pit road,” he added. “That was the only place you could make a large sum of ground in a short period of time. They did exactly what I asked them to do. I said ‘you guys are going to have to bail me out here I messed up.’ They did they got us the lead just like I asked and I gave it away again.  It’s one of those things where you do or you don’t and I didn’t. You just got to recognize your mistakes, look at the positives I guess and move on down the road.”

    When asked if he was frustrated and/or disappointed during his post-race media availability, Elliott said he’d “be lying if I said I wasn’t. If I wasn’t, that would mean I didn’t care. So, you know, for me, just have to try to take the positives out of it, recognize an issue when you see one. There’s only one way to fix it, and that’s to hit it head on. No need of hiding from it. Just try to fix it. Hope you have more opportunities to improve and to show that you can do it down the road…there’s no guarantees in life. There’s certainly no guarantees in racing. Have to recognize that, and like I said, hit it head on.”

    The same mishap befell him back in June on a late restart at Michigan where he spun the tires leading the race and lost the victory to Joey Logano.

    Elliott leaves Michigan 11th in points and 14th on the Chase grid if the Chase started today.

  • Larson Finally Earns his Maiden Cup Victory

    Larson Finally Earns his Maiden Cup Victory

    After two and a half years, Kyle Larson finally made his way into victory lane in the Sprint Cup Series with a win in the Irish Hills of Michigan.

    Under mostly cloudy skies, Joey Logano led the field to the green flag at 2:18 p.m. Eastern time. During the first 20 laps, there wasn’t much drama outside of Chris Buescher engine issues that were related to a broken spark plug. That would relegate him to a 35th-place finish seven laps down. The first caution flew on lap 21. It was a scheduled competition caution after rain had fallen on the track the previous day.

    The race restarted on lap 25 and the caution flew the same lap when Kyle Busch got loose exiting turn 4 and went for a spin. Kevin Harvick took the lead from Logano going into turn 1 prior to the caution flying.

    When the race returned to green on lap 30, it settled into a stretch of long green flag racing that’s normal of Michigan. It was broken up by two green flag stops that saw the lead cycle to Jimmie Johnson at the end of the first and Chase Elliott at the end of the second.

    Debris brought out the third caution of the race on lap 118.

    The race went back to green on lap 126. The final round of stops took place starting with 54 laps to go. During the green flag cycle, the lead changed hands four times before cycling to Elliott who beat Larson off pit road when the two pitted together with 54 to go.

    A tire carcass that came off the No. 46 Chevrolet of Michael Annett brought out the fourth caution of the race with 13 laps to go.

    On the ensuing restart with nine laps to go, Elliott spun the tires and Larson got a push from Keselowski to take the lead. The 2014 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of The Year went on to win the Pure Michigan 400.

    “I was teared-up that whole last few laps because I could just feel it,” Larson said of the emotion of winning the race. “It was finally going to be it. This one is for the Clauson family. We really miss Bryan. We love you guys. We’re going to miss him. We parked it for him, so that’s really cool.

    “We had a lot of work to do for that first third of the race, and got it done. Thanks to Target. Thanks to everyone on this team. Chad (Johnson, crew chief) and the pit crew and everybody. We messed up that last stop by we made it back.”

    He spoke about the final restart.

    “We both spun our tires really bad,” Larson said. “And, the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski) pushed me really good. He could have probably pulled underneath me and went by. But he stayed with me and got me the lead. So, thanks to him. I had a lot of fun.”

    He was also asked if he thought he lost the race after he was beat off pit road by Elliott on the final round of green flag stops with 54 laps to go.

    “Yeah, we fell back to fourth and I thought we were done,” he said. “I’m sort of at a loss for words right now. My Adrenalin is going crazy right now. Thanks to all the fans who are watching. I had a good time.”

    It’s his first career victory, eighth top-10 finish of the season and third in six starts at Michigan. He’s also the first driver of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program and NASCAR Next program to win a Sprint Cup Series race.

    His win also ends a 99-race winless drought for Chip Ganassi Racing.

    “It was a big one. It was a big one,” team owner Chip Ganassi said. “I hate to put the onus on somebody else, but boy I’m sure glad to. And I can’t thank Target enough and all of our other sponsors that make up the team in all the series’ that we’re in. It’s one big team…all the engineers and all these people work so damn hard. And to go winless for so long is really difficult. Only one person wins in this sport. It’s like golf. There’s only one winner. And we’re just proud to be here right now. I’m really proud to represent out team and proud to represent our sponsors.”

    Elliott led 31 laps on his way to a runner-up finish in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

    “Just a better restart again,” Elliott said of what he would’ve needed to be the one standing in victory lane instead of Larson. “That was what it was all about for sure. Once that guy (Larson) got out front it was really hard to pass. My guys did such a good job today of making the most of pit road. That was the only place you could make a large sum of ground in a short period of time. They did exactly what I asked them to do. I said ‘you guys are going to have to bail me out here I messed up.’ They did they got us the lead just like I asked and I gave it away again. It’s one of those things where you do or you don’t and I didn’t. You just got to recognize your mistakes, look at the positives I guess and move on down the road.”

    It’s his 12th top-10 finish of 2016 and second at Michigan.

    Brad Keselowski led 14 laps on his way to rounding out the podium in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

    “It was a typical crazy restart at Michigan here at the end,” Keselowski said. “It is about getting a good launch and push. It looked like Kyle got a good launch and maybe something happened to the 24. I was able to give him a push, a really hard push, and got sideways there and was able to get the lead. The 42 just drove away. Those two cars, the 42 and 24 were pretty close. They both had a lot of speed. We were right there though, just a notch behind.”

    It’s his eighth top-10 finish in 15 starts at Michigan.

    His car failed post-race laser inspection. Any penalties that results from this will be announced on Wednesday.

    Ryan Blaney finished fourth in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford.

    “We were up towards the front most of the day and some runs were better than others,” Blaney said. “It is kind of a decent day for us. It is nothing to complain about. I thought we were in a decent spot there that last restart and it didn’t work out great. Congrats to Larson. That is cool to see a rookie winning. These are the days we need. These are the days this team deserves. We always want to win in Ford’s backyard but we will go on to Darlington and try to get it done there.”

    Kevin Harvick led 33 laps on his way to rounding out the top-five in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

    “We just lost the handle there on the last couple of runs,” Harvick said of his race. “For whatever reason we got really loose in and then after that on the restart we were tight on two tires. Everybody on our Jimmy John’s/Busch Beer Chevrolet did a good job we just didn’t quite have what we need to to win the race today.”

    Jimmie Johnson led 37 laps on his way to a sixth-place finish in his No. 48 HMS Chevrolet. Carl Edwards led one lap on his way to a seventh-place finish in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “We really struggled badly most of the day,” Edwards said of his day. “Dave (Rogers, crew chief) did a great job there at the end. Just a little disappointed, I thought we would have been a lot better than that. We’ll just have to regroup, figure it out and talk to our teammates. We’ll figure it out.”

    Jamie McMurray finished eighth in his No. 1 CGR Chevrolet. Denny Hamlin finished ninth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota. Joey Logano led 24 laps on his way to rounding out the top-10 in his No. 22 Penske Ford.

    Greg Biffle, who led one lap, finished 11th. Matt Kenseth, who led eight laps, finished 13th. Austin Dillon, who led one lap, finished 16th. Ryan Newman, who led one lap, finished 17th. Martin Truex Jr., who led seven laps, finished 20th. Regan Smith, who led one lap, finished 26th.

    Eighteen cars finished the race on the lead lap and 39 were running at the finish.

    The race lasted two hours, 27 minutes and 29 seconds at an average speed of 162.730 mph. There were 20 lead changes among 13 different drivers and four cautions for 17 laps.

    Harvick leaves with a 25-point lead over Keselowski in the points standings.

    Next up for the Sprint Cup Series is one of the crown jewel events, the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

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  • Hamlin fastest in final practice

    Hamlin fastest in final practice

    Denny Hamlin topped the chart in final Sprint Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 36.386 and a speed of 197.878 mph. Chase Elliott was second in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 36.403 and a speed of 197.786 mph. Jimmie Johnson was third in his No. 48 HMS Chevrolet with a time of 36.420 and a speed of 197.694 mph. Kasey Kahne was fourth in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet with a time of 36.464 and a speed of 197.455 mph. Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-five in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 36.472 and a speed of 197.412 mph.

    Kurt Busch was sixth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Joey Logano was seventh in his No. 22 Penske Ford. Kyle Larson was eighth in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Carl Edwards was ninth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Alex Bowman rounded out the top-10 in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet.

    Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 196.346 mph. Elliott was second at an average speed of 196.015 mph. Johnson was third at an average speed of 195.995 mph.

    During the session, Hamlin got loose exiting turn 4 and his car went nose-first through the frontstretch grass. He suffered minor damage to the left front-end of his car. Whether they chose to repair the damage or go to a backup car was unknown at the time of this piece’s publishing.

    The session was shortened by lightning in the area.

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  • Stewart fastest in second practice

    Stewart fastest in second practice

    Tony Stewart posted the fastest time in second Sprint Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 35.622 and a speed of 202.122 mph. Ryan Blaney was second in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 35.745 and a speed of 201.427 mph. Chase Elliott was third in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 35.786 and a speed of 201.196 mph. Kurt Busch was fourth in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet with a time of 35.805 and a speed of 201.089 mph. Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 35.833 and a speed of 200.932 mph.

    Martin Truex Jr. was sixth in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Kevin Harvick was seventh in his No. 4 SHR Chevrolet. Alex Bowman was eighth in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet. Jimmie Johnson was ninth in his No. 48 HMS Chevrolet. Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-10 in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet.

    Kyle Busch, who’s fastest single lap was 12th fastest, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 199.713 mph. Johnson was second at an average speed of 199.578 mph.

    The Sprint Cup Series is back on track later today at 11:30 a.m. for final practice.

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  • Logano Grabs the Pole at Michigan

    Logano Grabs the Pole at Michigan

    Joey Logano will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday in the Irish Hills of Michigan.

    The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford scored the pole for the Pure Michigan 400 after posting a time of 35.697 and a speed of 201.698 mph.

    “I was surprised after the first couple of rounds when we weren’t as fast as the last time we were here,” Logano said. “We were eighth going into the final round, but we made great adjustments to find a little bit more speed out of this thing. I was down there waiting and Todd (Gordon) said ‘Take it!’ So I said ‘Yeah, I am going to take it.’ So I got pumped up and I had the attitude that we were going to grab it or we were going to crash. It worked out well.”

    It’s his 17th career pole in 279 career Sprint Cup Series starts, third of 2016, third at Michigan International Speedway and his 18th top-10 start of the season.

    Jimmie Johnson will start second in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet after posting a time of 35.728 and a speed of 201.523 mph.

    “We keep stacking pennies and making this car better and better,” Johnson said. “My hat’s off to everyone at Hendrick Motorsports and all the hard work they’re putting into things. Great practice and great qualifying. We need some more practice sessions tomorrow and roll them into a good race.”

    It’s his 10th top-10 start of the season and 20th in 30 races at Michigan.

    Denny Hamlin will start third in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 35.747 and a speed of 201.416 mph.

    “It was good and my runs were good – all of them were good,” Hamlin said of his qualifying runs. “Just really, just a little off obviously. That was the closest we were to the fastest speed. We were one of the top cars in every session and can’t really complain, no real balance complaints, just a little off on speed really.”

    It’s his 22nd top-10 start of the season and 11th top-10 start at Michigan.

    Kevin Harvick will start fourth in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 35.753 and a speed of 201.382 mph. Chase Elliott will round out the top-five starters in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet after posting a time of 35.767 and a speed of 201.303 mph.

    Alex Bowman will start sixth in his No. 88 HMS Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney will start seventh in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Jamie McMurray will start eighth in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Carl Edwards will start ninth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Ryan Newman will round out the top-10 starters in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

    Kasey Kahne will start 11th and Kyle Larson will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    Forty cars were entered, so nobody was sent home.

    Twenty-two Chevrolet’s, 11 Ford’s and seven Toyota’s will comprise the 40-car field in Sunday’s race.

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  • Keselowski on driving a Ford Sweepstakes replica: ‘I got it up there pretty good’

    Keselowski on driving a Ford Sweepstakes replica: ‘I got it up there pretty good’

    Driving a Sweepstakes replica car around the Irish Hills of Michigan earlier this morning, Brad Keselowski said he “got it up there pretty good.”

    Speaking to the media on pit road earlier today, the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford spoke about taking a 1901 Ford Sweepstakes replica car for a drive around the speedway.

    “I got it up there pretty good, up to about 50 or 60,” Keselowski said. “I had a rider and Kelli (Stavast) didn’t want to get anyone hurt but we still got it going pretty good. Those cars there are all about horsepower. Now you look at our cars and it is about horsepower and handling and everything that matters to win here on the Cup side. Back then it was about just running. The race that Sweepstakes won, there were 40 entries and only two finished. The others all blew up or broke down and had all kind of issues.”

    He also talked about how motorsports “has changed a lot. It changed a lot from there, that’s for sure. It was fun to drive. There are a lot of little things we probably take for granted now as far as amenities are concerned. The sport is building and getting better all the time. The cars we have now are really phenomenal pieces. Under appreciated by me at least.”

    He drove the car as part of a pre-race segment for NBC Sports. He, along with his passenger Kelli Stavast of NBC Sports, delivered the Heritage Trophy, which is handed to the winning manufacturer of every NASCAR race at Michigan, to track president Roger Curtis.

    Both were dressed up in clothing from the era with Keselowski dressed in a grey suit, bowtie, brown hat and goggles, and Stavast wore a white dress.

    Asked about the handling of the car, Keselowski said the car had “the new low, low, low downforce (package). It is good we gave Roger his trophy back, the manufacturer trophy that Ford had from Joey’s win here in the spring. Hopefully, we can get that back here on Sunday. That would be great. I am glad to be in Michigan. Happy to be here.”

  • Truex Fastest at Michigan in First Practice

    Truex Fastest at Michigan in First Practice

    Martin Truex Jr. topped the chart in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 35.724 and a speed of 201.545 mph. Jimmie Johnson was second in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 35.797 and a speed of 201.134 mph. Joey Logano was third in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 35.827 and a speed of 200.966 mph. Ryan Blaney was fourth in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 35.861 and a speed of 200.775 mph. Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 35.869 and a speed of 200.730 mph.

    Kyle Busch was sixth in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Chase Elliott was seventh in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet. Kasey Kahne was eighth in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet. Tony Stewart was ninth in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Carl Edwards rounded out the top-10 in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

    Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 194.178 mph. Stewart was second at an average speed of 193.710 mph.

    The Sprint Cup Series is back on track this evening at 5:15 p.m. for qualifying.

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