Here are five drivers worth keeping an eye on this weekend at Michigan International Speedway.
Joey Logano
Since moving to Team Penske in 2013, Michigan has been one of Logano’s strongest tracks. In his last seven starts at MIS, Logano has posted two wins (including in June), an average finish of fifth, and has finished no worse than ninth.
Brad Keselowski
Keselowski comes off his worst result of the season at Bristol (33rd) after his run-in with Kurt Busch, but he’s been on the cusp of a breakthrough at his home track. The Rochester Hills, Michigan, native has rattled off five straight top 10s at Michigan, including a fourth-place showing in June.
Austin Dillon
The mojo’s been working lately for Dillon who had a fine weekend at Bristol (Xfinity Series win, finished fourth in Sprint Cup race). Dillon also has been solid at Michigan with back-to-back top-10 finishes (fourth last August, eighth in June), and another such result would help his playoff push.
Jamie McMurray
McMurray isn’t especially great at Michigan (two top-10 finishes in last 15 starts) but did finish ninth there in June. He’s also notched four top 10s in his last six races, including back-to-back eighth-place runs at Watkins Glen and Bristol. Like Dillon, he’s another Chase hopeful who needs to keep doing what he’s been doing.
Kyle Larson
If Larson fails to make the Chase, he may look back at the last two races at Watkins Glen and Bristol as where it all went wrong – never mind his near-miss at Dover. Now 39 points behind the cutoff, he’s in the “win-or-bust” category entering Michigan but was impressive there in June with a third-place finish.