Re-Paved And All About Speed
Joey Logano, driver of the #20 The Home Depot Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR at Pocono Raceway on June 10, 2012, in Long Pond, PA
Credit: Drew Hallowell/Getty Images
Congratulations to Joey Logano on winning his second ever Sprint Cup race this past weekend in the Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR at Pocono Raceway. He is the first driver to win from the pole this season.
This week the series heads to Michigan and the running of the Quicken Loans 400. Michigan International Speedway is a 2-mile oval track that is similar to California Speedway. The drivers will not have to worry about shifting here like they did at Pocono last weekend. Now it is all about speed.
Quicken Loans 400
Denny Hamlin: Denny is my pick to win once again this weekend at Michigan. He has won two of the last four races at Michigan and finished runner-up in one of the other two races there. After a top-5 finish at Pocono last week, this will be the team to beat this week.
Matt Kenseth: Matt is one of the most consistent drivers you will find at Michigan. He has five top-10 finishes in his last 10 starts here and always seems to lead at sometime during every race. He is also having a very good season and has taken the points lead after the Pocono race.
Kyle Busch: Kyle finished 3rd in this race last year and won the fall race last year. It looks like the Joe Gibbs teams have a very good handle on this track and should run well once again this year.
Tony Stewart: Tony got back on track at Pocono last week and has four straight top-10 finishes at Michigan. He might not have a car that is good enough to win this week, but he will be good enough to finish in the top-10 once again.
Carl Edwards: Carl has not lived up to the expectations of himself, his team, his fans, or those who consider themselves NASCAR experts, this season. However, he has finished in the top-10 at Michigan in 12 of his 15 starts there, with nine of those being top-5 finishes. This could be the week he breaks into the win column.
Jeff Gordon: Jeff has struggled even more than Carl this year, but this has always been a pretty good track for him. He finished runner-up in both races in 2009 and led 50 laps in the fall race here last year. All he needs is a mistake free race and he has a chance to win this week.
Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie has led a lot of laps here over the last five seasons, but he has never won a race here. He did finish 2nd in the fall race last year and runs very well at California, which is a similar track.
Greg Biffle: Greg just lost the lead in the NASCAR point standings this past weekend and wants to try and get that back. Last year he led a bunch of laps in both of the races run here but didn’t finish well. This year he is finishing well and that will be the difference.
Mark Martin: Mark came up just short for the seventh time at Pocono last weekend and has always run well at Michigan. He has five career wins here, the latest coming in June of 2009. All of the MWR teams have been very strong this season and that makes Mark someone for the other drivers to worry about this weekend.
Kasey Kahne: Kasey has improved a lot since the start of his first season with Hendrick Motorsports getting his first win with them at Charlotte a couple of weeks ago. Now that they are gelling, they are a serious threat to win this week at Michigan.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Dale has been having an excellent season and won this race during his first season with Hendrick Motorsports back in 2008. This could be the race that everything goes perfect for this team and they break their long winless streak.
Yahoo Fantasy NASCAR Picks for Michigan International Speedway
Yahoo Driver Group A
- Denny Hamlin
- Carl Edwards
Yahoo Driver Group B
- Greg Biffle
- Kasey Kahne
- Mark Martin
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Yahoo Driver Group C (Depending on entry list.)
- David Ragan
- Trevor Bayne
My Top-5 For Michigan International Speedway
- Denny Hamlin
- Carl Edwards
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Busch
- Kasey Kahne
Dark Horse: Joey Logano
Stay Away From: Marcos Ambrose
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