Entry List

FireKeepers Casino 400

Sunday, August 7th, 2022

Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, MI

  • 15 Ford
  • 6 Toyota
  • 16 Chevrolet

  • Michigan International Speedway
  • 54th Annual FireKeepers Casino 400
  • Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Bubba Wallace
  • Age: 28
  • Team : No. 23 - McDonald's Toyota
  • Owner: Michael Jordan
  • Crew Chief: Robert Barker
  • Bubba Wallace won the Pole Award for the 54th Annual FireKeepers Casino 400 with a lap of 37.755 seconds, 190.703 mph.
  • This is his first pole in 171 NASCAR Cup Series races.
  • This is his first pole and sixth top-10 start in 2022.
  • This is his first pole in nine races at Michigan International Speedway.
  • Christopher Bell (second) posted his 15th top-10 start of 2022 and his second in four races at Michigan International Speedway.
  • Kyle Busch (third) posted his 17th top-10 start at Michigan International Speedway. It is his 11th in 23 races this season.
  • Austin Cindric (fifth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

  • Sunday, August 7th, 2022
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Kevin Harvick breaks 65-race drought with NASCAR Cup win at Michigan

On a blustery Sunday in the Irish Hills of Michigan, Kevin Harvick saved his season.

Grabbing the lead and pulling away after a restart on Lap 166 of 200 at Michigan International Speedway, Harvick won the FireKeepeers Casino 400 by 2.903 seconds over pole winner Bubba Wallace and leap-frogged bubble-riding Martin Truex Jr. in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings.

Harvick’s victory ended a 65-race drought for the 46-year-old former series champion from Bakersfield, California. The win was his sixth at Michigan and his fifth in the last seven races at the 2.0-mile track.

Harvick now has 59 victories in the series, 10th-most all-time. With the win, the eighth straight at the track for Ford drivers, he is likely to qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff. Harvick is the only driver to have earned a postseason spot every year since the current elimination format was introduced in 2014, the same year he won his series title.

“Everybody who doubted us doesn’t know us,” said Harvick, who led 38 laps on Sunday, 25 more than he had led in the previous 22 races combined. “They, obviously, know we thrive in these types of situations. And a lot of things went our way today, which we haven't had all year long—have things go our way and have things fall our way.

“And then there at the end we pitted, didn't go a lap down, and the caution came out, got control of the race. That's the thing I struggled with the most today was traffic and the restarts and just having to make up ground. Once I got clear track, that baby was hunting.”

As Harvick indicated, the race broke his way. The driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford brought his car to pit road on Lap 158 for a green-flag stop. A lap later, NASCAR called the seventh caution of the afternoon when Ross Chastain’s Chevrolet and Christopher Bell’s Toyota collided in Turn 4.

Harvick remained on the lead lap and inherited the top spot when the contending cars ahead of him pitted under the yellow. With Wallace bottled up behind Joey Logano’s Ford after the Lap 166 restart, Harvick opened a gap of more than four seconds in clean air and cruised to his first win since Sept. 19, 2020 at Bristol.

Wallace was disconsolate as he replayed the final restart in his head.

“Just replaying everything I could have done,” said Wallace, who led twice for 22 laps. “Took the top there on the restart. Thought I could hang with the 4 (Harvick), and just got to racing the 5 (Kyle Larson) and the 22 (Logano). And 22 did a good job of getting another Ford contract, helping a Ford win.

“Just all in all an incredible weekend. Appreciate my team. Wished we could have got Toyota in the Victory Lane. Wish we got (sponsor) McDonald's back in victory lane. She was fast all week, man. Just I'll wear this one on my heart for a while. I failed everybody.”

Denny Hamlin finished third in arguably the fastest car in the race. On his final pit stop under caution on Lap 160, Hamlin incurred a penalty for too many men over the wall when his crew corralled a runaway tire from an adjacent pit stall.

Hamlin restarted 22nd and charged to third, 3.910 seconds behind the race winner. 

Logano came home fourth, followed by Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney. Martin Truex Jr., Larson, Erik Jones, Alex Bowman and Ty Gibbs (subbing for injured Kurt Busch) completed the top 10.

The race was delayed just over an hour due to inclement weather. That didn’t deter the fans in the grandstands, the largest crowd at Michigan International Speedway since 2016. In addition, infield camping was sold out for the weekend for the first time since 2012.

Blaney now leads Truex by 19 points for the final Playoff berth, which will be determined on points if there are no additional unique winners in the next three races.

An early nine-car accident in Turn 2 eliminated two of the top five qualifiers—Kyle Busch and Austin Cindric. Moments after a restart on Lap 25, J.J. Yeley’s No. 15 Ford got loose, checked up and turned sideways in the middle of the pack. 

In the ensuing melee, Cindric’s No. 2 Ford crashed nose-first into the outside wall and Buch’s No. 18 Toyota also sustained terminal damage. The cars of Yeley, Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and rookie Harrison Burton also were knocked out of the race.

“Just chaos ensued on the restart there, and I don’t know what started it, but the 10 (Almirola) got spun in front of me, and then I got wedged between him and the wall,” said Busch, who had elected to pit on Lap 22 under a competition called because of a rainstorm that delayed the start of the race.

“When you get back there, things happen on restarts, especially when you have guys that stayed out and don’t have tires versus those that have four tires. Was not really in a hurry and knew we were coming to stage points in another 40 laps or so and it was going to be a long run to get there—and then we all just crashed.”

  • Drivers Entered: 37
  • Laps Scheduled: 200
  • Margin of Victory: 02.903 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 2 Hours 54 Minutes 8 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 137.825
  • Cautions: 7 for 36 laps
  • Lead Changes: 15
  • Green Flag Passes: 2,207 (13.5 passes per green flag lap)

  • Michigan International Speedway
  • 54th Annual FireKeepers Casino 400
  • Race Winner: Kevin Harvick
  • Age: 46
  • Team : No. 4 - Busch Light Apple BuschelOfBusch Ford
  • Owner: Tony Stewart
  • Crew Chief: Rodney Childers
  • Kevin Harvick won the 54th Annual FireKeepers Casino 400, his 59th victory in 777 Cup Series races.
  • This is his first victory and 12th top-10 finish in 2022.
  • This is his sixth victory and 22nd top-10 finish in 42 races at Michigan International Speedway.
  • Bubba Wallace (second) posted his second top-10 finish in nine races at Michigan International Speedway. It is his sixth top-10 finish in 2022.
  • Denny Hamlin (third) posted his 17th top-10 finish in 32 races at Michigan International Speedway.
  • Todd Gilliland (27th) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • Chase Elliott leads the point standings by 119 points over Ryan Blaney.
Ryan Blaney takes the checkered flag to win at Michigan International Speedway
Brooklyn, Michigan - August 22, 2021 : Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Menards/Cardell Cabinetry Ford,takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Logan RileyGetty Images
FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway Entry List
ENTRY # DRIVER HOMETOWN DOB AGE MAKE SPONSOR TEAM CREW CHIEF
1 10 Aric Almirola Tampa, FL Mar 14, 1984 40 Ford Smithfield Stewart-Haas Racing Drew Blickensderfer
2 6 Brad Keselowski Auburn Hills, MI Feb 12, 1984 40 Ford Castrol RFK Racing Matt McCall
3 11 Denny Hamlin Chesterfield, VA Nov 18, 1980 43 Toyota FedEx Freight Joe Gibbs Racing Chris Gabehart
4 15 JJ Yeley Phoenix, AZ Oct 5, 1976 48 Ford Rick Ware Racing Rick Ware Racing Kevyn Rebolledo
5 22 Joey Logano Middleton, CT May 24, 1990 34 Ford Shell Pennzoil Team Penske Paul Wolfe
6 4 Kevin Harvick Bakersfield, CA Dec 8, 1975 48 Ford Busch Light Apple #BuschelOfBusch Stewart-Haas Racing Rodney Childers
7 18 Kyle Busch Las Vegas, NV May 2, 1985 39 Toyota Interstate Batteries Joe Gibbs Racing Ben Beshore
8 19 Martin Truex Jr Mayetta, NJ Jun 29, 1980 44 Toyota Auto-Owners Insurance Joe Gibbs Racing James Small
9 34 Michael McDowell Phoenix, AZ Dec 21, 1984 39 Ford Martin Transportation Systems Front Row Motorsports Blake Harris
10 3 Austin Dillon Lewisville, NC Apr 27, 1990 34 Chevrolet Dow MobilityScience Richard Childress Racing Justin Alexander
11 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Olive Branch, MS Oct 2, 1987 37 Chevrolet Kroger Health/ SweetLeaf JTG Daugherty Racing Brian Pattie
12 5 Kyle Larson Sacremento, CA Jul 31, 1992 32 Chevrolet HendrickCars.com Hendrick Motorsports Cliff Daniels
13 48 Alex Bowman Tuscon, AZ Apr 25, 1993 31 Chevrolet Ally Hendrick Motorsports Greg Ives
14 12 Ryan Blaney High Point, NC Dec 31, 1993 30 Ford Menards\Cardell Cabinetry Team Penske Jonathan Hassler
15 7 Corey Lajoie Kannapolis, NC Sep 25, 1991 33 Chevrolet Schluter Systems Spire Motorsports Ryan Sparks
16 42 Ty Dillon Lewisville, NC Feb 27, 1992 32 Chevrolet Ferris Petty GMS Motorsports Jerame Donley
17 9 Chase Elliott Dawsonville, GA Nov 28, 1995 28 Chevrolet UniFirst Hendrick Motorsports Alan Gustafson
18 17 Chris Buescher Prosper, TX Oct 29, 1992 31 Ford LeBron James Family Foundation RFK Racing Scott Graves
19 43 Erik Jones Byron, MI May 30, 1996 28 Chevrolet FOCUSfactor Petty GMS Motorsports Dave Elenz
20 78 BJ McLeod Wauchula, FL Nov 17, 1983 40 Ford Blaster Live Fast Motorsports Lee Leslie
21 99 Daniel Suarez Monterrey, Mexico Jan 7, 1992 32 Chevrolet Worldwide Express TrackHouse Racing Travis Mack
22 51 Cody Ware Greensboro, NC Nov 7, 1995 28 Ford Nurtec ODT Rick Ware Racing Billy Plourde
23 1 Ross Chastain Alva, FL Dec 4, 1992 31 Chevrolet Advent Health TrackHouse Racing Phil Surgen
24 23 Bubba Wallace Mobile, AL Oct 8, 1993 31 Toyota McDonald's 23XI Racing Bootie Barker
25 24 William Byron Charlotte, NC Nov 29, 1997 26 Chevrolet Liberty University Hendrick Motorsports Rudy Fugle
26 41 Cole Custer Ladera Ranch, CA Jan 23, 1998 26 Ford HaasTooling.com Stewart-Haas Racing Mike Shiplett
27 77 Josh Bilicki Menomonee Falls, WI Jun 3, 1995 29 Chevrolet Michigan State / Zeigler Auto Spire Motorsports Kevin Bellicourt
28 8 Tyler Reddick Corning, CA Jan 11, 1996 28 Chevrolet Guaranteed Rate Richard Childress Racing Randall Burnett
29 31 Justin Haley Winamac, IN Apr 28, 1999 25 Chevrolet LeafFilter Gutter Protection Kaulig Racing Trent Owens
30 20 Christopher Bell Norman, OK Dec 16, 1994 29 Toyota Sirius XM Joe Gibbs Racing Adam Stevens
31 2 Austin Cindric Columbus, OH Sep 2, 1998 26 Ford Discount Tire Team Penske Grant Hutchens
32 33 Austin Hill Winston, GA Apr 21, 1994 30 Chevrolet Bennett Transportation Richard Childress Racing Jim Pohlman
33 14 Chase Briscoe Mitchell, IN Dec 15, 1994 29 Ford Rush Truck Centers / Cummins Stewart-Haas Racing Johnny Klausmeier
34 21 Harrison Burton Huntersville, NC Oct 9, 2000 24 Ford Ford 20 Year Sr Master Techs Wood Brothers Racing Brian Wilson
35 16 Noah Gragson Las Vegas, NV Jul 15, 1998 26 Chevrolet Chevy Accessories Kaulig Racing Matt Swiderski
36 45 Ty Gibbs Charlotte, NC Oct 4, 2002 22 Toyota Monster Energy 23XI Racing Billy Scott
37 38 Todd Gilliland Sherrills Ford, NC May 15, 2000 24 Ford First Phase Front Row Motorsports Seth Barbour