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The NASCAR Cup Series will race their annual event at Michigan this afternoon and another playoff spot might be determined today if there is a new winner. It will be tough for the new winners though as eight drivers starting in the top 10 have won already this season so they will have their work cut out for them. Here are five drivers that I believe have a good shot at taking the checkered flag at the two mile speedway.
I always like to mention the driver who won at the track in the previous race and the last driver to find victory lane at Michigan was Kevin Harvick last season. Harvick is starting back in 22nd but he is the master of getting the most out of his car as he has been a part of the best Stewart-Haas Racing team by far for quite some time now. Harvick and his crew chief Rodney Childers have been a very successful duo in their time together and Childers is good at adjusting the car in the middle of the race to give Harvick what he wants. If Harvick is unable to repeat at Michigan, I still expect him to finish in the top 5 or top 10 since this is one of his best tracks and five of his six wins there have come since 2018.
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The runner up to Harvick last summer at Michigan was Bubba Wallace and he also started on the pole in that race too. This year, Wallace will start in the 11th spot as he just missed out on the final round of qualifying, coming up one position short. The #23 team has built up their gap on the cutoff line and this might be their best chance to extend it further or win to get themselves in the playoffs since Wallace struggles on road courses and Daytona is pure chaos. The Toyotas in general brought strong cars to Michigan this weekend as Christopher Bell won the pole, rookie Ty Gibbs qualified third, and Martin Truex Jr is starting fifth but I think Bubba Wallace will rise to the occasion at a track where he has won in the past back in 2017 in the Truck Series.
Kyle Larson is another driver who has found success at Michigan as he is a three-time winner at the track. Although those three wins all came with Chip Ganassi Racing, Larson has still ran well at the track while driving for Hendrick Motorsports, finishing third in 2021 and seventh last year. Fontana, a similar track to Michigan, is a track that Larson has also won at multiple times, including last year while driving the #5 car. Therefore, it is clear that Larson is always a threat to win at this type of track but he will have to work for it today as he is starting from the 17th spot.
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It is no secret that the Fords have dominated at Michigan over the last several years, as the manufacturer is coming into today’s race on an eight race win streak at the track. One of the drivers that has contributed to that streak is Joey Logano and he is another multi-time winner at Michigan, taking the checkered flag there three times in 2013, 2016, and 2019. Logano has had a quiet season so far for his standards, winning once so far this season back in the spring at Atlanta but he has shown a lot of speed this weekend which helped him grab the sixth starting spot. Another win at Michigan for Logano would get him into form a few races before the playoffs begin and then he will begin his title defense against the rest of the postseason field.
I mentioned earlier how Fontana is similar to Michigan as they are both two mile intermediate tracks so I think Kyle Busch should be highlighted for this race as he was the winner back at Fontana in the second race of the season. However, Fontana has been way better to Busch that Michigan in his career since Busch has won five times in southern California while he has only won once at Michigan back in 2011. Regardless, I think the #8 team has brought fast cars to races all season long for Busch on all types of tracks and that is how the team has already strung together three wins in 2023 and it looks like they have unloaded a fast car once again as Busch is starting eighth this afternoon. Like Harvick, Busch is also great at getting the most out of his race car and some mid-race adjustments can be all he needs for him to be in contention for the win today at Michigan.
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The race is set to start today at 2:30 ET but some rain might be in the forecast. Hopefully, NASCAR will be able to get the whole race in today despite Michigan being one of the tracks on the circuit that does not have lights installed.
