NASCAR Weekly Preview: FireKeepers Casino 400

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This weekend we head to Brooklyn, Michigan for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. The race is Sunday at 3pm EST on FS1. I decided to move the weekly preview article from my fantasy NASCAR package this season. I hope it helps everyone get started on their fantasy NASCAR research.

Track Preview

Michigan International Speedway

- 2-mile D-Shaped Oval

- 400 Miles

- 200 Laps

- Surface: Asphalt

- Banks:

Turns: 18°
Start/Finish: 12°
Backstretch: 5°

Comparable Tracks

Fontana

Comparable Large Oval Tracks

Atlanta
Fontana
Charlotte
Chicago
Kansas
Kentucky
Michigan
Texas

Important Note:

Michigan was repaved prior to the 2012 season.

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Stats from 2005-Present

Top 5 Driver Rating

Chase Elliott – 125.1
Matt Kenseth – 102.2
Jimmie Johnson – 100.0
Joey Logano – 97.0
Dale Earnhardt Jr – 96.0

Top 5 Average Running Position

Chase Elliott – 4.3
Matt Kenseth – 11.22
Jimmie Johnson – 12.116
Brad Keselowski – 12.632
Joey Logano – 12.633

Top 5 Average Finish

Chase Elliott – 2
Matt Kenseth – 11
Kevin Harvick – 11.3
Brad Keselowski – 12.3
Joey Logano – 12.6

Top 5 Fastest on Restarts

- Average speed of first two laps under green.

Chase Elliott – 178.750
Clint Bowyer – 177.621
Jimmie Johnson – 176.711
Joey Logano – 176.404
Kyle Larson – 176.240

August 2016 Race Results

Driver Starting Spot Finishing Spot Diff Car
Kyle Larson 12 1 11 #42
Chase Elliott 5 2 3 #24
Brad Keselowski 18 3 15 #2
Ryan Blaney 7 4 3 #21
Kevin Harvick 4 5 -1 #4
Jimmie Johnson 2 6 -4 #48
Carl Edwards 9 7 2 #19
Jamie McMurray 8 8 0 #1
Denny Hamlin 3 9 -6 #11
Joey Logano 1 10 -9 #22
Greg Biffle 22 11 11 #16
Kurt Busch 19 12 7 #41
Matt Kenseth 13 13 0 #20
Kasey Kahne 11 14 -3 #5
A.J. Allmendinger 25 15 10 #47
Austin Dillon 17 16 1 #3
Ryan Newman 10 17 -7 #31
Paul Menard 20 18 2 #27
Kyle Busch 16 19 -3 #18
Martin Truex Jr. 14 20 -6 #78
Tony Stewart 15 21 -6 #14
Casey Mears 28 22 6 #13
Danica Patrick 23 23 0 #10
Trevor Bayne 24 24 0 #6
Aric Almirola 26 25 1 #43
Regan Smith 31 26 5 #7
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 29 27 2 #17
Brian Scott 30 28 2 #44
David Ragan 32 29 3 #23
Alex Bowman 6 30 -24 #88
Michael McDowell 35 31 4 #95
Matt DiBenedetto 34 32 2 #83
Michael Annett 36 33 3 #46
Cole Whitt 37 34 3 #98
Chris Buescher 21 35 -14 #34
Reed Sorenson 39 36 3 #55
Jeffrey Earnhardt 40 37 3 #32
Josh Wise 38 38 0 #30
Landon Cassill 33 39 -6 #38
Clint Bowyer 27 40 -13 #15

Top 5 Lap Leaders

Kyle Larson – 41
Jimmie Johnson – 37
Kevin Harvick – 33
Chase Elliott – 31
Joey Logano – 24

Top 5 Positive Place Differential

Brad Keselowski +15
Kyle Larson +11
Greg Biffle +11
A.J. Allmendinger +10
Kurt Busch +7

Top 5 Negative Place Differential

Alex Bowman -24
Chris Buescher -14
Clint Bowyer -13
Joey Logano -9
Ryan Newman -7

Top 5 Average Running Position

1 4 Kevin Harvick – 3.56
2 24 Chase Elliott – 3.69
3 48 Jimmie Johnson – 5.04
4 42 Kyle Larson – 6.26
5 11 Denny Hamlin – 6.74

Top 5 Fastest Laps Run

Driver – Percentage – Laps

1 24 Chase Elliott – 21.1% – 37
2 42 Kyle Larson – 18.9% – 33
3 4 Kevin Harvick – 12.6% – 22
4 48 Jimmie Johnson – 9.7% – 17
5 2 Brad Keselowski – 8.6% – 15

Top 5 Quality Passes

1 20 Matt Kenseth – 60
2 42 Kyle Larson – 49
3 1 Jamie McMurray – 46
4 19 Carl Edwards – 44
5 5 Kasey Kahne – 43

June 2016 Race Results

Driver Starting Spot Finishing Spot Diff Car
Joey Logano 1 1 0 #22
Chase Elliott 10 2 8 #24
Kyle Larson 7 3 4 #42
Brad Keselowski 15 4 11 #2
Kevin Harvick 29 5 24 #4
Carl Edwards 11 6 5 #19
Tony Stewart 3 7 -4 #14
Austin Dillon 8 8 0 #3
Jamie McMurray 14 9 5 #1
Kurt Busch 17 10 7 #41
Ryan Newman 6 11 -5 #31
Martin Truex Jr. 2 12 -10 #78
Kasey Kahne 23 13 10 #5
Matt Kenseth 19 14 5 #20
Trevor Bayne 13 15 -2 #6
Jimmie Johnson 16 16 0 #48
Ryan Blaney 5 17 -12 #21
Paul Menard 32 18 14 #27
Greg Biffle 18 19 -1 #16
Chris Buescher 22 20 2 #34
Danica Patrick 25 21 4 #10
David Ragan 35 22 13 #23
Clint Bowyer 34 23 11 #15
Ty Dillon 21 24 -3 #95
Landon Cassill 28 25 3 #38
Aric Almirola 30 26 4 #43
Cole Whitt 36 27 9 #55
Michael Annett 39 28 11 #46
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 12 29 -17 #17
Josh Wise 37 30 7 #30
Reed Sorenson 40 31 9 #98
Casey Mears 24 32 -8 #13
Denny Hamlin 4 33 -29 #11
Matt DiBenedetto 31 34 -3 #83
Regan Smith 33 35 -2 #7
Brian Scott 26 36 -10 #44
Jeffrey Earnhardt 38 37 1 #32
A.J. Allmendinger 20 38 -18 #47
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 27 39 -12 #88
Kyle Busch 9 40 -31 #18

Top 5 Lap Leaders

Joey Logano – 138
Chase Elliott – 35
Brad Keselowski – 10
Martin Truex Jr. – 10
Jimmie Johnson – 4

Top 5 Positive Place Differential

Kevin Harvick +24
Paul Menard +14
David Ragan +13
Brad Keselowski +11
Clint Bowyer +11
Michael Annett +11

Top 5 Negative Place Differential

Kyle Busch -31
Denny Hamlin -29
A.J. Allmendinger -18
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -17
Ryan Blaney -12
Dale Earnhardt Jr. -12

Top 5 Average Running Position

1 22 Joey Logano – 1.91
2 42 Kyle Larson – 4.38
3 24 Chase Elliott – 4.91
4 14 Tony Stewart – 5.20
5 2 Brad Keselowski – 7.42

Top 5 Fastest Laps Run

Driver – Percentage – Laps

1 22 Joey Logano – 37.8% – 51
2 24 Chase Elliott – 23.0% – 31
3 78 Martin Truex Jr – 8.9% – 12
4 48 Jimmie Johnson – 8.2% – 11
5 42 Kyle Larson – 5.2% – 7

Top 5 Quality Passes

1 48 Jimmie Johnson – 49
2 2 Brad Keselowski – 46
3 31 Ryan Newman – 38
4 21 Ryan Blaney – 35
5 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr – 34

August 2015 Race Results

Driver Starting Spot Finishing Spot Diff Car
Matt Kenseth 1 1 0 #20
Kevin Harvick 7 2 5 #4
Martin Truex Jr. 22 3 19 #78
Austin Dillon 4 4 0 #3
Denny Hamlin 2 5 -3 #11
Carl Edwards 3 6 -3 #19
Joey Logano 10 7 3 #22
Ryan Newman 17 8 9 #31
Brad Keselowski 14 9 5 #2
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 9 10 -1 #88
Kyle Busch 6 11 -5 #18
Paul Menard 24 12 12 #27
Kyle Larson 34 13 21 #42
Aric Almirola 30 14 16 #43
Kasey Kahne 11 15 -4 #5
Jamie McMurray 18 16 2 #1
Jeff Gordon 21 17 4 #24
David Ragan 13 18 -5 #55
Sam Hornish Jr. 15 19 -4 #9
Kurt Busch 16 20 -4 #41
Tony Stewart 5 21 -16 #14
Trevor Bayne 25 22 3 #6
Greg Biffle 20 23 -3 #16
Ryan Blaney 19 24 -5 #21
Danica Patrick 23 25 -2 #10
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 27 26 1 #17
Cole Whitt 35 27 8 #35
A.J. Allmendinger 26 28 -2 #47
Justin Allgaier 28 29 -1 #51
Matt DiBenedetto 32 30 2 #83
Alex Bowman 33 31 2 #7
David Gilliland 36 32 4 #38
Jeb Burton 29 33 -4 #26
Brett Moffitt 38 34 4 #34
Michael Annett 39 35 4 #46
Landon Cassill 31 36 -5 #40
Josh Wise 41 37 4 #32
J.J. Yeley 37 38 -1 #23
Jimmie Johnson 8 39 -31 #48
Travis Kvapil 42 40 2 #33
Clint Bowyer 12 41 -29 #15
Casey Mears 40 42 -2 #13
Timmy Hill 43 43 0 #98

Top 5 Lap Leaders

Matt Kenseth – 146
Austin Dillon – 19
Kevin Harvick – 15
Kyle Busch – 10
Carl Edwards – 5

Top 5 Positive Place Differential

Kyle Larson +21
Martin Truex Jr. +19
Aric Almirola +16
Paul Menard +12
Ryan Newman +9

Top 5 Negative Place Differential

Jimmie Johnson -31
Clint Bowyer -29
Tony Stewart -16
Kyle Busch -5
David Ragan -5
Ryan Blaney -5
Landon Cassill -5

Top 5 Average Running Position

1 20 Matt Kenseth – 2.19
2 4 Kevin Harvick – 6.49
3 78 Martin Truex Jr – 7.10
4 19 Carl Edwards – 7.14
5 22 Joey Logano – 7.67

Top 5 Fastest Laps Run

Driver – Percentage – Laps

1 20 Matt Kenseth – 48.4% – 75
2 78 Martin Truex Jr – 15.5% – 24
3 3 Austin Dillon – 11.6% – 18
4 4 Kevin Harvick – 11.0% – 17
5 48 Jimmie Johnson – 3.9% – 6

Top 5 Quality Passes

1 2 Brad Keselowski – 85
2 78 Martin Truex Jr – 73
3 27 Paul Menard – 66
4 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr – 65
5 19 Carl Edwards – 64

About the Author

stevietpfl
Stephen Young (stevietpfl)

The Head of Motorsports at RotoGrinders and the long-time host of the popular Morning Grind podcast, Stephen Young (aka stevietpfl) has been one of the top NASCAR, NFL, NBA, and MLB analysts in the industry since its inception. He has accumulated numerous Live Final seats and is a multiple-time finalist for the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Racing Writer of the Year. Follow Stevie on Twitter – @stevietpfl