Aric Almirola is 14/1 to win Saturday's Michigan race

ARIC ALMIROLA Consistency Continues Ahead of Michigan Doubleheader  KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina (Aug. 5, 2020) – Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Hometown Original Heroes Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), will race for his 10th and 11th consecutive top-10 finishes during this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. “The consistency from this team is incredible,” Almirola said. “If we continue to run up front like this, we’re bound to put ourselves in position to win. It would be great to make the gap even larger between us and the playoff cutoff line, but a win is what we’re after in Michigan.” The last time Almirola raced a doubleheader weekend June 27 and 28 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, he posted solid finishes of third and fifth, respectively.  “Racing doubleheader weekends is obviously tough on the race team because they have to bring a setup they believe will perform twice, but these weekends are also tough on the driver’s physical and mental abilities,” he said. “Typically, we have an entire week to recover before getting back in the car, and now we only have the night to sleep it off. If you finish well, you feel confident about the next day, but if you didn’t have the day you wanted, you have to let it go and come back the next day ready to improve. I’m hoping my physical preparation will pay off again this weekend in Michigan.” Almirola is on a string of nine consecutive top-10 finishes, and it is the longest top-10 streak of his career. He finished fifth June 14 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, third June 22 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, third June 27 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, fifth June 28 at Pocono, third July 5 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, eighth July 12 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, 10th July 19 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, sixth July 23 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City and seventh last sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. In Almirola’s 15 previous starts at the 2-mile Michigan oval, he has one top-10 and three laps led. He has two starts in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series at Michigan, winning in June 2010 after leading seven laps for his second win in the series that season. Additionally, the Tampa native made three Michigan starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with a best finish of eighth in June 2015 while piloting the No. 98 DenBeste Water Solutions Ford. The No. 10 Ford driver sits eighth in the driver standings for his career-best points position after 20 races. In his first two seasons at SHR in 2018 and 2019, Almirola was ninth and 11th in the standings, respectively, after 20 races. Almirola has career totals of two wins, two poles, 23 top-five finishes, 73 top-10s and 792 laps led in 336 starts. He has led a total of 255 laps this year at seven different venues. Almirola continues to provide fans with content from his documentary series Beyond the 10, where they can get VIP, behind-the-scenes access by subscribing to his YouTube channel. Episodes showcase never-before-seen footage of the Smithfield driver at the racetrack, on family trips, and “A Day in the Life” during the week, as well as all that goes into a NASCAR Cup Series driver’s season. Click here to subscribe on YouTube and watch the latest episode. Almirola and his longtime partner Smithfield Foods have collaborated to honor frontline hometown heroes by showcasing a special paint scheme on the No. 10 Ford this weekend. Smithfield looks to honor those who are putting their own health and safety at risk in a selfless act to protect and nourish others around them. The Smithfield “Hometown Original Heroes” program provides the opportunity for fans to share the stories of their own “Hometown Hero.” Be it a nurse, doctor, food worker, public servant or anyone who is on the frontlines each and every day, Smithfield and Almirola want to hear their stories and give. To nominate a hometown hero, visit www.SmithfieldHometownHeroes.com and submit a one-minute video nominating the “Hometown Hero.” Ten heroes will be chosen to have their stories told and will have their names riding onboard the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang at a race during the NASCAR playoffs this fall. The heroes will also receive a VIP race day experience and full-year supply of Smithfield “Hometown Original” bacon.

Aric Almirola: Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Do you feel confident heading to Michigan? “Michigan is a weird place for me because, in my mind, I feel like I run well there. I won a Truck race there years ago and, from that point forward, I just always loved going to Michigan. My wife’s family is from Michigan, so I go to Michigan with such a great attitude. I felt like in our first race there last year we had a lot of speed. I felt we had a top-five car there at Michigan and didn’t execute and things didn’t go our way with the restarts and I didn’t get the result. I’m excited about going back. Going to Michigan, there’s always a lot of pride for the manufacturers. I’d love to go there and keep the trophy in Ford’s backyard.” How crazy are the restarts at Michigan, and are they the best times to take advantage of someone? “We’re seeing restarts get crazier and crazier at tracks that we go to. There’s no one track that they’re crazier at than the other anymore because that is the most opportune time to pass cars, besides on pit road. Pit road is the easiest place to pass but, once you line up for the restart, there’s opportunity to gain three, four, five spots in a lap, and there’s no other opportunity to do something like that throughout the run. I feel like restarts are definitely the time to gain or lose track position, so you have to be on offense and defense at the same time. Michigan is very wide and you want to be aggressive and go take spots away, but you can easily give up four or five spots that are really hard to get back once we get single file.”  Some tracks are very line-sensitive on restarts. Is Michigan one of them?  “Yes, Michigan is very line-sensitive on restarts. The outside lane is usually the dominant lane. The inside lane – the cars on the inside usually lose sideforce, they lose the air on the side of their car and they are very loose down there in turns one and two on the restart. The outside lane usually has the momentum and is the preferred lane going through (turns) one and two on the restarts.”

Goodyear tires that don't wear used at both Michigan races

Who needs to change tires when there's no dropoff in speeds?

Tire: Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials

Set limits:
Cup – Saturday: 6 sets for the race;
Cup – Sunday: 6 sets for the race;
Truck: 4 sets for the event

Tire Codes:
Left-side — D-4976;
Right-side — D-4978

Tire Circumference:
Left-side — 2,224 mm (87.56 in.);
Right-side — 2,252 mm (88.66 in.)

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front — 19 psi; Left Rear – 19 psi;
Right Front — 52 psi; Right Rear — 48 psi

Storyline – Popular tire set-up adds a shortcut for Michigan car set-ups: For the third time in five race weekends, NASCAR Cup teams will run the same combination of left- and right-side tires. With the track schedules not including practice or qualifying, this is a big advantage to teams as it removes one variable from honing in on their race set-ups. Michigan International Speedway, like recent stops at Kentucky Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, is a relatively smooth track surface that does not wear tires on its own. Goodyear has refined its tread compounds at these tracks to introduce wear, which helps tires run cooler and at a more optimum level. Along with that, this left-side tire has been changed since last season’s race and will increase the level of grip.

"With limited track time under the current schedules, teams enter this weekend’s races at Michigan already being familiar with this tire set-up," said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. "In the past, under more ‘normal’ conditions, teams would be able to work through the practice sessions to dial in on their car set-ups, with a big part of that being finding the balance on how the tire is working with the track. We’ve aligned this recent group of race tracks based on the smooth track surfaces and similar factors like speeds and loads, and that helps teams as they build their notebooks from which to work. That will be enhanced this weekend, of course, as Cup teams will run races on consecutive days, so it will be interesting to see who unloads strong on Saturday and who will be able to make adjustments and improve for Sunday."

Notes – Cup, Truck teams to run Texas/Kentucky/Las Vegas tire set-up at Michigan: Teams in both the NASCAR Cup and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series will run the same tire set-up at Michigan this weekend . . . this is the first time these teams have run these Goodyear tire codes at Michigan, though they have run them several times already this season . . . Cup and Truck teams have run this same combination of tires in recent weeks at Texas and Kentucky, as well as at Las Vegas in February . . . they also ran this right-side tire code (with a different left-side code) at Kansas two weeks ago . . . compared to what they ran at Michigan last August, this tire set-up features construction updates on both sides of the car and a compound change on the left-side for more grip . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Michigan . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.

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Cole Custer is 80/1 to win Saturday's Cup race at Michigan

COLE CUSTER Gearing Up for Michigan Doubleheader KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina (Aug. 4, 2020) – This weekend, Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com/Jacob Construction Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) and his fellow NASCAR Cup Series competitors head to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn for a doubleheader at the 2-mile track. The world’s best stock car drivers are scheduled to complete over 600 miles combined Saturday and Sunday in the backyard of manufacturer Ford, which is located approximately 65 miles northeast of the track in Dearborn. HaasTooling.com will share the No. 41 machine this weekend with Jacob Construction. Jacob adorned Custer’s Ford Mustang earlier this season at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jacob is a multifaceted firm with a focus on construction, development, design and technology services. Jacob provides clients with a wide range of services in the design build and construction management sectors of the construction industry. In conjunction with these services, Jacob self performs structural concrete, architectural and structural precast erection. So far this season, the Mustang has earned 11 wins for Ford. Custer and his SHR teammate Kevin Harvick have both earned wins for the Blue Oval this season. A win this weekend would be huge for Ford and SHR. Not only because it’s close to Ford headquarters, but this weekend’s events have a unique trophy. The Michigan Heritage Trophy was created in 2013 and is awarded to the winning manufacturer of each race. Custer heads into this weekend coming off of an eighth-place finish in last Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. Custer was able to work through a tight-handling Mustang and race his way up through the field. The top-10 finish marked his fourth top-10 in his last five starts. He was also the highest finishing rookie in the race. The Ford driver has three starts in the Xfinity Series at Michigan. All three resulted in finishes of 12th or better, with a best of third earned in June 2018. In total, he has an average Michigan Xfinity starting position of 5.7 and an average finish of 8.3, along with 35 laps led. In the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, Custer has one start at the Brooklyn track. In August of 2016, Custer started 18th and finished 22nd. With Custer’s Cup Series July 12 win at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, he became one of 10 drivers who have won in each of NASCAR’s top three national series, as well as in ARCA and NASCAR’s developmental K&N Pro Series. Team co-owner Gene Haas’ newest holding, Haas Tooling, was launched as a way for CNC machinists to purchase high quality cutting tools at great prices. Haas’ cutting tools are sold exclusively online at HaasTooling.com and shipped directly to end users. Beginning July 1, HaasTooling.com products became available nationally. The cutting tools available for purchase at HaasTooling.com are even more important during the current COVID-19 pandemic as CNC machines have become vital to producing personal protective equipment. There are six races left in the regular season before the playoffs start Sept. 6 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, and Custer’s win at Kentucky earned him one of the coveted playoff spots. Harvick also owns a playoff spot after multiple wins this season. In 70 starts at the Brooklyn track, SHR has four victories – Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer each with one win, and Harvick with two. In total at Michigan, SHR has 17 top-fives, 28 top-10s and 512 laps led. Haas Automation, founded by Haas in 1983, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers and rotary tables and indexers. All Haas products are constructed in the company’s 1.1-million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Oxnard, California, and distributed through a worldwide network of Haas Factory Outlets. Even though Custer had a trio of starts in the Cup Series in 2018, 2020 officially marks his Rookie of the Year campaign in NASCAR’s most prestigious series. He’s competing for rookie honors with notables Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick. The three have battled against each other in the Xfinity Series and are making the full-time transition to the Cup Series together. Custer is the first of the 2020 rookie class to earn a win this season.

Cole Custer: Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com/Jacob Construction Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

How has your relationship with your crew chief Mike Shiplett progressed? “This is our second year working together. We worked together last year in the Xfinity Series and we moved up together this year in the Cup Series. It has been great. Mike has a lot of experience and a lot of success. He is really level-headed and keeps us guided in the right direction. I think that’s one of his biggest strong suits. We also brought our lead engineer Davin (Restivo) with us from the Xfinity Series.” When you go to a track you haven’t been to before in the Cup Series, what is the process you do to get ready? “I think I have a good rhythm down for going to a track I haven’t been to before. You really have to work into it. That first run up until the competition caution is really important. You have to make sure you put yourself in a good spot and don’t put your car at risk. Once you get to the competition caution, then you really go racing. You try and adapt as fast as you can and make sure you’re paying attention to what is working and what is not. In my opinion, the race starts right after the competition caution.” With a win that locked you into the playoffs, is your rookie season a success at this point? “For a rookie season, I look at it as a success with a win. I feel like we are getting to the point where we are consistently running competitively. At the same time, I’m not going to be satisfied if we get to the playoffs and we get knocked out in the first round and don’t run well. I want to go in the playoffs and make a run at it, not just be part of it. If the end of the season doesn’t work out, I don’t think I’ll be satisfied.”

Kyle Busch odds rise to 10/1 to win at Michigan

KYLE BUSCH Luck of the Irish (Hills) HUNTERSVILLE, North Carolina (August 4, 2020) – As the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn for the 2-mile oval’s first-ever doubleheader weekend, Kyle Busch is looking for a little bit of the Luck of the Irish. The driver of the No. 18 M&M’S Fudge Brownie Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is looking to bounce back from some terrible luck last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, where a cut tire just 15 laps into the race resulted in contact with the outside wall to end his day prematurely. The good news is that Busch will have not one, but two chances to turn his luck around this weekend. The series heads to the lightning-fast track situated in Michigan’s “Irish Hills” approximately 80 miles southwest of Detroit for Saturday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 and Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400. While the area near the track is known as the Irish Hills, it’s not because of any Irish heritage. During the 19th century, that area of Michigan, located near U.S. 12 just about halfway between Detroit and Chicago, was a well-known stopping point during the five-day stagecoach trip between the two large Midwest cities. At the turn of the 20th century, the Irish Hills turned into an enjoyable tourist destination with its plush, green landscape and more than 30 lakes for vacationers and residents to enjoy in peace and quiet. Busch scored his first Michigan Cup Series win in August 2011. Then the track was repaved prior to the 2012 season and, while he scored a solid fourth-place finish on the new surface in June 2013, he has not had the results to match his high standards since. However, his 2018 and 2019 stops on the Michigan circuit netted three top-five finishes and no finish worse than sixth, which has gotten Busch closer to what he looks for week in and week out at any track. So, as Busch and the M&M’S Fudge Brownie team head to the Upper Midwest this weekend, they hope to find the Luck of the Irish (Hills) with two chances to make it to victory lane for the first time this season and the second time in his career in the Irish Hills of Michigan.

KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 M&M'S Fudge Brownie Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing:

You brought home top-five finishes in three of your last four races at Michigan. What do you expect this weekend? “I’m not entirely sure. We’ll just go into the race with our best guess and go from there. We had a lot of struggles on the repave but turned that around the last several times there. We’ve certainly gotten a better handle on the place the last several races there, so I don’t know if it’s because the surface has worn in a little bit more, or we’ve been able to put things together better. Much like Pocono, I’m hoping we can have a solid run on Saturday, and then work on our car overnight and even have a better handle on it Sunday. At Pocono, we just weren’t able to see the results because of getting wrecked out there about halfway, so we’ll look to get in a better position at Michigan this weekend and have a good run with our M&M’S Fudge Brownie Camry.” How do you feel going into Michigan and what does that track mean for you guys on the schedule? “We just try to figure out what we can continue to do to evolve and get better there. The setup there equates nothing to anything that we race throughout the playoffs, so really it’s just a track that we have to go to and do the best we can. But, beyond that, you never want to give away any opportunities to go out there and have a solid day with our M&M’S Fudge Brownie Camry so we con solidify ourselves a bit more. We’ve put a focus on that track for the last two years and we’ve gained. We’ve certainly made improvements. I think we’ve run well there and our finishes are starting to show it.” Do you expect the track surface to be worn in a little bit more this year? “I expect it to be fast, still. There’s still a lot of grip, but I’m hoping it’s starting to get worn in like Kansas did. But if you’re just a little bit loose there, now you’renervous that just any little bit of getting outside the groove or having a little bit too much yaw will lead to a wreck, like it has in the past. It was really intense last year in the races there. You are hauling there now in the turns, for sure, and we know that corner speeds are up overall this year at other places.” What are the most critical adjustments you can make between each race at Michigan? “Obviously springs, shocks, bars, whatever you can change, all that sort of stuff – making some adjustments. Knowing how much the track changes in that first race will give you a basis to how much you expect it to change in the second race, barring any weather or the track. If it’s a 68-degree day one day and a 90-degree day the next, there are going to be some big differences you’re going to want to adjust for and compensate for. Having a good notebook will certainly, I think, help with us and our team, and Adam (Stevens, crew chief) being on board since 2015 with some experience there. I think Adam did a great job of adjusting between races at the Pocono doubleheader. We just weren’t able to see the results for it.”

Clint Bowyer is 40/1 to win at Michigan Saturday

CLINT BOWYER No. 14 DEKALB Mustang Racing in Ford’s Backyard KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina (Aug. 4, 2020) – It’s 65 miles from Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn to the Ford Motor Company’s worldwide headquarters in Dearborn. Clint Bowyer would walk every mile if he could hand deliver the speedway’s Heritage Trophy to Ford executives after sweeping Saturday’s and Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series races at the 2-mile oval. “I know how important winning in their own backyard is to Ford because we’ve done it before at Michigan,” Bowyer said. “I’d love to hand that trophy to Mark Rushbrook (Ford Performance Motorsports’ global director) again this weekend, especially since it’s Michigan’s first doubleheader weekend.” The Michigan Heritage Trophy, created in August 2013, is awarded to the winning manufacturer of each Michigan Cup race. Each manufacturer and the track donates $10,000 to a youth-related, STEM-related charity in Michigan. Since its inception, Ford and Chevrolet own six Michigan victories each while Toyota has one. The trophy will be awarded on a points system if different manufacturers win Saturday and Sunday. The trophy, inspired by the NHL’s Stanley Cup trophy, is 3 feet tall, weighs about 30 pounds and features an original sculpture similar to the Greek goddess of victory, Nike. The original bronze artwork sits atop a wooden base, like the architecture of Detroit landmarks such as the Fisher Building and Guardian Building. “I’ve been able to drive for every manufacturer in the Cup Series and know how much each one of them means to our sport,” said Bowyer, whose 10 career victories include two in Fords, three in Toyotas and five in Chevrolets. “We don’t race without our manufacturers and I know how much each takes pride in their results on the track, especially at Michigan.” Bowyer fondly remembers winning the Heritage Trophy for Ford on June 10, 2018. His No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Fusion had just taken the lead during the break before the final stage of the race. Rain clouds out of the northeast drew closer, spitting a fine mist with most of the 39-car field suspecting the race wouldn’t last much longer. Bowyer held the lead but only because his then-crew chief Mike Bugarewicz elected to take two tires while most of the field took four. It was up to Bowyer to hold the position just ahead of his Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammate Kevin Harvick, who had led 49 laps, more than any other driver. “I looked in the mirror – everybody behind me is on four tires,” Bowyer said. “(I’m thinking that) I don’t know what you’re looking at, but there’s an army of people on pit road who saw the same forecast, same radar, they took four.” The green flag waved and Bowyer drove as hard as he could for three-and-a-half laps. He edged just ahead of Harvick before the rain fell hard enough for NASCAR to end the race with 67 laps remaining, giving Bowyer his 10th career victory and second of the 2018 season. Then-teammate Kurt Busch’s was third to give SHR its first 1-2-3 finish. Ford has swept all three races since Bowyer’s victory at Michigan. He hopes for a repeat this weekend as he pilots the No. 14 DEKALB Ford in Michigan. DEKALB has been helping farmers ensure a future of performance with industry-leading corn seed products for more than 100 years. “I grew up in farm country and saw firsthand the hard work that goes into growing crops and taking care of livestock,” said Bowyer. “Farming takes time, energy and incredible attention to detail. DEKALB understands all of that, and they know what farmers need to take care of their crops. It really is an honor to represent DEKALB.” Bowyer operates a 650-acre farm in North Carolina and points out the similarities between farming and racing. “Winning is more than a goal, it’s a state of mind,” he said. “Just ask any farmer or NASCAR driver pushing themselves. You are always trying to improve performance each and every season. Once you get a taste of success and winning, that mindset takes hold, it drives everything you do, shaping families and defining who you are. Winning has roots.” Bowyer could use a victory Saturday or Sunday at Michigan. He arrives 12th in the season’s point standing after an 18th-place finish Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. He earned nine bonus points by finishing seventh and sixth in the first two stages before handling issues plagued his final stage. Bowyer is 14th in the playoff standings with a 43-point cushion over the final transfer spot into the 16-driver playoff field. A win in either Michigan races secures a spot in NASCAR’s postseason, but a good run helps in padding his points cushion. It will be a busy weekend with late-afternoon races both Saturday and Sunday in Michigan. And for Bowyer, if he wins both, a long hike to Dearborn on Monday.

CLINT BOWYER, Driver of the No. 14 DEKALB Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

How excited are you for this weekend’s doubleheader in Michigan? “Definitely looking forward to Michigan. Fast racetrack and, when you talk about a fast racetrack you need fast hot rods, and our Ford Mustangs have been extremely fast up there. You know that Roush-Yates horsepower is second to none when you’re talking about up-on-the-pipe, baby, and that track keeps it up there. You are sailing around that place and I look for that track to be a track that we can contend for a win at and get back in the right swing of things for these stage points.” What is the strategy at Michigan? “At the end of the day, Michigan is about track position. If you lose that track position, it’s a fight to try and get back up there. You look at the restarts, they are wild. We are four-wide, gouging, trying to get every spot you can. If you’re going to gain spots, that’s where you’re going to gain the majority of them. Throughout the fuel run, you might gain one or two. Keeping the track position, I think, is key all day long.” What is it like to drive for Ford? “You know, every business says it operates as a family but, when you drive for Ford, you really are driving for the family. Before the race, you look over and Edsel Ford is standing there. That means a ton. Think about it, since the very first race there was a Ford in it. They treat everyone like family and we appreciate that. The thing I’ve noticed in my years at Ford is how often you are talking to the head honchos. Whether it’s a meeting at the shop or going over to Ford Performance, the top guys are the ones you talk with, making sure you have what you need to be successful at the racetrack. That means a lot to a racecar driver.” What is the secret to Ford’s success? “It is all about people. I am at home here with Ford. It is a family atmosphere. It literally is a family with the Ford family. It is all about people. The Ford Performance organization and program are a ton of fun to work with. They are all in. You want to be with the ones who are investing the most and pushing the hardest to get the results, and I don’t think anyone is doing more than Ford these days.”

Odds to win 2020 Firekeepers Casino 312 at Michigan

Aric Almirola is 14/1 to win this weekend at Michigan.

NASCAR CUP SERIES

WESTGATE LAS VEGAS SUPERBOOK

ODDS TO WIN 2020 FIREKEEPERS CASINO 312

MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2020 - 4:15 PM ET

Kevin HARVICK 4/1
Denny HAMLIN 5/1
Ryan BLANEY 8/1
Brad KESELOWSKI 8/1
Joey LOGANO 8/1
Kyle BUSCH 10/1
Martin TRUEX JR 10/1
Chase ELLIOTT 14/1
Aric ALMIROLA 14/1
Kurt BUSCH 25/1
Erik JONES 30/1
Matt DIBENEDETTO 30/1
Alex BOWMAN 40/1
Clint BOWYER 40/1
Jimmie JOHNSON 40/1
William BYRON 40/1
Christopher BELL 40/1
Tyler REDDICK 60/1
Austin DILLON 80/1
Cole CUSTER 80/1
Matt KENSETH 80/1
Ryan NEWMAN 100/1
Ricky STENHOUSE JR 200/1
Chris BUESCHER 300/1
Darrell WALLACE JR 500/1
John Hunter NEMECHEK 500/1
Michael McDOWELL 1000/1
Ryan PREECE 1000/1
Ty DILLON 2000/1
Corey LaJOIE 5000/1
Daniel SUAREZ 10000/1
Brennan POOLE 10000/1
Quin HOUFF 10000/1
JJ YELEY 10000/1
Timmy HILL 10000/1
Joey GASE 10000/1
Josh BILICKI 10000/1
Garrett SMITHLEY 10000/1
BJ McLEOD 10000/1
Reed SORENSON 10000/1

Brad Keselowski wins in dominating fashion at New Hampshire

Keselowski was 10/1 to win Sunday at New Hampshire.

August 2, 2020

 

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

 

With two wins in his pocket heading into Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Brad Keselowski was already in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but it was this third win of 2020 that came in the sort of dominating style the championship contender hoped would show his team’s readiness to challenge for the season title.

 

Keselowski, 36, led a race best 184 of the 301 laps around the "Magic Mile" and held off runner-up Denny Hamlin by 1.647-seconds to hoist his 33rd career NASCAR Cup Series trophy and mark the fifth consecutive season he’s had at least three wins.

 

"We’ve had a lot of great races this year with the 2-car, but we just hadn’t really gone out and dominated a race, you know," Keselowski said. "I was talking with [crew chief] Jeremy Bullins and we were like maybe that’s what we need to get to the next level. We’re right there. We need to just go and dominate a race and that’s what today was for us.

 

"I’m really proud of my team and the effort they gave today and great race car. Thank you."

 

Although Keselowski’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford certainly topped all the important statistics, Hamlin  and his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota kept him honest for most of the day. The two accounted for 18 of the race’s 23 lead changes, with Keselowski ultimately passing Hamlin and holding the point for the race’s final 81 caution-free laps.

 

"We just kind of were second there to the two (Keselowski)," the five-race winner Hamlin conceded. "We could really do well on restarts and we were going back-and-forth. Wow, that was some really, really good short track racing there. Hopefully the fans liked what they saw there with me and the two (Keselowski) for most of the day.

 

"Some great side-by-side racing. We treated each other fair and it’s good that we got one-two out of it."

 

Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. finished third, followed by Keselowski’s teammate Joey Logano and the season’s championship leader Kevin Harvick. Matt DiBenedetto, Aric Almirola, rookie Cole Custer, Chase Elliott and rookie Tyler Reddick rounded out the top 10.

 

It marked Almirola’s series-best ninth consecutive top-10 finish. And was the second time in the last four races that at least two rookies finished inside the top-10.

 

Harvick’s fifth-place finish was good enough to hold onto an 81-point advantage over second place Keselowski in the series driver standings.

 

Jimmie Johnson finished 12th to keep his Playoff hopes alive in the seven-time champion’s final fulltime season in the series. The result represented a huge rally on the day for Johnson, who was involved in an incident with Clint Bowyer early in the race. In earning his seventh top 10, he crept closer to the all-important top 16 in the standings that will represent the Playoff field. 

 

He trails 16th place William Byron – his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, by 25 points. Reddick is 15 points behind Byron with only six races remaining to decide the Playoff challengers.

 

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch suffered more bad luck in what’s been a frustrating season for his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team. Busch’s car had a tire go down only 15 laps into the race – while he was running among the top five - and it put his car hard into the wall.

 

Busch has three runner-up finishes (at California, Atlanta and Darlington, S.C.) this season but hasn’t won a race since his championship-clinching victory in the 2019 season finale at Homestead. He arrived in New Hampshire ranked ninth, but his last-place finish (one of four finishes of 30th or worse) leaves him ranked 10th in the standings.

 

"Way too early in the going for anything to be wrong or even to build enough brake temp or brake heat," a clearly disappointed Busch said. "I don’t know. Just hate it for our Pedigree team and the fight that we’ve been having this year seems to be continuing."

 

The series moves to the two-mile Michigan Speedway for a Saturday-Sunday double-header next weekend.

 

NASCAR Cup Series Race - 28th Annual Foxwoods Resort Casino 301

New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Loudon, New Hampshire

Sunday, August 2, 2020

 

               1. (4)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 301.

               2. (2)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 301.

               3. (11)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 301.

               4. (9)  Joey Logano, Ford, 301.

               5. (7)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 301.

               6. (19)  Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 301.

               7. (1)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 301.

               8. (14)  Cole Custer #, Ford, 301.

               9. (3)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 301.

               10. (13)  Tyler Reddick #, Chevrolet, 301.

               11. (16)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 301.

               12. (20)  Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 301.

               13. (23)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 301.

               14. (31)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 301.

               15. (8)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 301.

               16. (30)  Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 301.

               17. (10)  Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 301.

               18. (6)  Clint Bowyer, Ford, 301.

               19. (18)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 301.

               20. (12)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 301.

               21. (22)  Ryan Newman, Ford, 300.

               22. (25)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 300.

               23. (15)  Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 300.

               24. (17)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 300.

               25. (24)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 300.

               26. (37)  Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 299.

               27. (34)  Brennan Poole #, Chevrolet, 299.

               28. (35)  Christopher Bell #, Toyota, 299.

               29. (29)  JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 299.

               30. (26)  James Davison, Chevrolet, 298.

               31. (27)  Garrett Smithley(i), Chevrolet, 295.

               32. (32)  Quin Houff #, Chevrolet, 294.

               33. (38)  Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 294.

               34. (28)  Joey Gase(i), Ford, 293.

               35. (33)  Corey LaJoie, Ford, 262.

               36. (36)  John Hunter Nemechek #, Ford, Accident, 212.

               37. (21)  Matt Kenseth, Chevrolet, Accident, 203.

               38. (5)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, Accident, 15.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  100.372 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 10 Mins, 22 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.647 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  11 for 52 laps.

Lead Changes:  22 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   A. Almirola 1-2;B. Keselowski 3-57;D. Hamlin 58;B. Keselowski 59-60;D. Hamlin 61-64;R. Blaney 65-69;D. Hamlin 70-97;K. Harvick 98-103;D. Hamlin 104-141;B. Keselowski 142;D. Hamlin 143-145;B. Keselowski 146-172;D. Hamlin 173;A. Dillon 174-176;B. Keselowski 177-183;D. Hamlin 184;B. Keselowski 185-191;D. Hamlin 192-200;B. Keselowski 201-204;D. Hamlin 205;C. Elliott 206-214;D. Hamlin 215-220;B. Keselowski 221-301.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Brad Keselowski 8 times for 184 laps; Denny Hamlin 10 times for 92 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 9 laps; Kevin Harvick 1 time for 6 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 5 laps; Austin Dillon 1 time for 3 laps; Aric Almirola 1 time for 2 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,19,4,95,2,12,14,22,37,10

Stage #2 Top Ten: 2,11,22,10,24,14,3,19,9,21