The NASCAR Cup Series will join the Xfinity Series at Michigan International Speedway this weekend. The Cup Series only has three races left in their regular season, while the Xfinity Series has six races left before they start their playoffs in late September. Michigan is a good track for both series, so we can expect some exciting racing this weekend. It should be a good week for our season-long Fantasy NASCAR leagues and a good week to win some cash in our DFS Contests.
MICHIGAN SCHEDULE
The Xfinity Series will practice and qualify Friday evening and then they are scheduled to race Saturday afternoon. The Cup Series will practice and qualify Saturday afternoon and then race Sunday afternoon. It seems like NASCAR has a different schedule every week for practice, but it will be back to a normal schedule this week in the Irish Hills of Michigan.
Here is the schedule for the races at Michigan…
RACE RECAP AT MICHIGAN
Do you like lead changes? If so, Michigan is the race for you. There were 26 lead changes last year. Seven drivers were able to lead at least 12 laps, with Chris Buescher leading the most laps with 52. There were also 15 lead changes in the 2022 race at Michigan in the Gen-7 car. Denny Hamlin led the most laps in that race with only 38. This is a race of momentum and runs. If a driver gets out of the gas for a second, he will fall back in the field. The drivers who are able to navigate the traffic and keep the pedal to the medal are the drivers who run well at Michigan.
The best drivers in last year’s race included Martin Truex Jr., Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez.
Stage 1 Results: 1. Martin Truex Jr., 2. Bubba Wallace, 3. Ty Gibbs, 4. Brad Keselowski, 5. Kyle Larson, 6. Daniel Suarez, 7. Alex Bowman, 8. Denny Hamlin, 9. Erik Jones, 10. Corey LaJoie
Stage 2 Results: 1. Martin Truex Jr., 2. Daniel Suarez, 3. Brad Keselowski, 4. Bubba Wallace, 5. Alex Bowman, 6. Kyle Larson, 7. Joey Logano, 8. AJ Allmendinger, 9. Austin Cindric, 10. Chris Buescher
Click here for highlights of last year’s race: MICHIGAN 2023 RACE REWIND
FANTASY STATS FOR MICHIGAN
Michigan is considered an intermediate track but it is a lot faster than the 1.5-mile “cookie cutter” tracks. I will use the data from the two races at Michigan in the Gen-7 car and the races on the 1.5-mile tracks this year to help handicap the Firekeepers 400.
Here are the stats from the two races in the Gen-7 car at Michigan and the races at Las Vegas, Kansas, Texas and Charlotte, sorted by Driver Rating…
EARLY WEEK PICKS FOR MICHIGAN
ONE & DONE PICK: BRAD KESELOWSKI
DRIVER GROUP GAME PICKS: DENNY HAMLIN, KYLE LARSON., BRAD KESELOWSKI, CHRIS BUESCHER, TY GIBBS, BUBBA WALLACE, CHASE BRISCOE, NOAH GRAGSON
FANTASY LIVE PICKS: KYLE LARSON, WILLIAM BYRON, MARTIN TRUEX JR., BRAD KESELOWSKI, BUBBA WALLACE GARAGE: TY GIBBS
* I will update these picks this weekend.
Follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR
If you like Fantasy NASCAR, LIKE my Fantasy NASCAR Tips Page on Facebook