Event:               Irish Hills 250 (Round 13 of 33)
Date:                 June 17, 2017
Location:          Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn
Layout:             2-mile oval

Cole Custer Notes of Interest

• The Irish Hills 250 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn will mark Cole Custer’s 18^th career NASCAR XFINITY Series start and his first XFINITY Series start at Michigan.
• Custer doesn’t have an XFINITY Series start at Michigan but he does have a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at the 2-mile oval. Custer started 18^th in the Truck Series race last August and drove his way toward the front of the 31-truck field to lead twice for a total of 18 laps. But an accident less than 20 laps short of the finish ended Custer’s strong run. He finished 22^nd.
• Custer is striving to be the highest-finishing XFINITY Series regular and winner of the Rookie of the Race award for the fourth race in a row in the Irish Hills 250. He comes into Michigan fresh off a seventh-place finish last Saturday at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. It was his seventh top-10 finish in 17 career XFINITY Series starts. 
• Custer’s best finish in the 12 XFINITY Series races run this season is fourth, earned in the 11^th event June 3 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. It was his fifth top-10 and second top-five of the season.
• Custer is third in the XFINITY Series Rookie of the Year standings, 11 points behind leader William Byron and three points behind second-place Daniel Hemric.
• Custer has earned the most Rookie of the Race awards (five) this season. Rookie of the Race awards are given to the highest-finishing XFINITY Series rookie at each respective track.
• Custer is ninth in the NASCAR XFINITY Series driver standings, 129 points behind series leader Justin Allgaier.
• Custer’s best qualifying effort in the 12 XFINITY Series races run this season is third, earned in the seventh race of the season April 22 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and the 12^th race of the season June 10 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. Custer has eight top-10 starts and three top-five starts this season.

Cole Custer, Driver Q&A

What is it like getting around a track like Michigan?

“Michigan is just pretty much fast. It’s one of the fastest tracks we go to all year and you’re racing on some fairly new pavement, so you’re pretty much trying to find clean air and searching for ways to keep your speed up. It’s just a big momentum race.”

Do you feel like you’ve shaken the bad luck and are on a steady path to consistent runs?  

“Well, we have a 20-week stretch here. Whenever you have days like Dover and Pocono, when things are going our way between setup and handling and we still pull out a great finish, that’s what you kind of want to see. Hopefully, we can keep having these consistent runs and stay away from the bad luck in this long stretch.”

Are you a fan of two-mile tracks?  

“We ran well at Fontana this season, but it’s a bit different because California is so worn out compared to Michigan. I think if we unload a Haas Automation Ford Mustang as well as we did at Fontana and stay out of trouble, we’ll be in good shape.”

Jeff Meendering, Crew Chief Q&A

What are your thoughts on racing at Michigan? 

“I always enjoy going to Michigan because it’s kind of where I grew up as a kid. It’s a big, wide track and there are a lot of speedway elements to it where they draft a lot. You’re able to pass and, when you’re setting up the car, you have to keep the speed in mind and keep as much drag out of the car as possible. We had a good run going in California, so we’re confident in the car we have going into the weekend.”

As Kurt Busch heads to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400, he happily wears a blue Ford oval for his 33^rd career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start at the ultrafast two-mile oval.

Fifteen of Busch’s 29 career NASCAR Cup Series wins have come with Ford, and after 11 years away from the brand (2006-2016), Busch came back in a big way in 2017 by wheeling his No. 41 Ford Fusion into victory lane in the season-opening Daytona 500.

In keeping with the oval theme, it was a full-circle win for Busch. He brought Ford its last NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2004, and the Daytona 500 victory automatically earned him and his Monster Energy/Haas Automation team one of the 16 playoff spots available for this year’s championship drive.

Busch has never been one to rest on past success, and the taste of victory has only made him hungry for more. With 13 races having passed since feasting at Daytona, Busch is ready for another hearty meal, and no place is better than the backyard of the United States’ Big Three auto manufacturers – Michigan International Speedway.

For Dearborn-based Ford Motor Company, the 70-mile drive from the Detroit area into the lush green of the state’s Irish Hills region only whets the appetite for what 400 miles on Sunday can bring.

Ford has won nearly half the NASCAR Cup Series races run at the track since it opened in 1969. Of the 95 NASCAR Cup Series races contested at Michigan, Ford and its Mercury brand have won 47 of them (35 wins by Ford and 12 by Mercury). Busch is credited with one of those triumphs – June 2003 when he snatched the lead from Jeff Gordon with 24 laps to go to claim his seventh career Cup Series win.

Busch has scored two more Michigan wins since – August 2007 and June 2015 – to tie Matt Kenseth for the most wins at Michigan among active Cup Series drivers. Those victories are augmented by two poles (June 2010 and June 2011), five top-threes, 11 top-10s and a total of 448 laps led, which is second only to Jimmie Johnson’s tally of 687 laps led.

Now back with the blue oval, Busch is intent on getting a second championship and Ford’s first since the one Busch delivered for the marque in 2004. After 14 races, Busch is tracing a similar path in 2017 as he did in 2004. He has a win and two top-fives, just like he did in 2004, and his seven top-10s are actually one better than the amount he had in 2004.

Busch comes into the 15^th race of 2017 fresh off a strong fourth-place drive at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. It was his fourth top-10 finish in the last six races. Now he’s eyeing a fourth win at Michigan with a Monster Energy/Haas Automation team that thinks outside the box and inside the oval.

KURT BUSCH, Driver of the No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You’re back with Ford where you won your first 14 NASCAR Cup Series races. But in this go-round, there’s a One Ford mentality instead of a team-by-team philosophy. How is it working out?

“Right away at Daytona everybody from Ford was there, and there was a big meeting with all the Ford teams about how we need to all work together at the restrictor-plate tracks. Then as we moved forward to the mile-and-a-halves and the short tracks, there are little things that we’ve been doing at SHR versus what Penske has been doing or Roush or RPM (Richard Petty Motorsports), and so we want to try to share the information but, at the same time, you’ve got to keep the technology in-house. So, Ford has a nice balance of what they’ve asked us to do and how we’re all sharing information moving forward. Really, it’s a unique situation with having Doug Yates as our engine builder. He’s really smart. He’s on top of everything. So whether it’s the oiling system, the water cooling system, different gear ratios and things, we’ve been working closely together on those.”

What’s been the key to your success at Michigan?  

“The biggest thing about Michigan is respecting the speed. It’s a very fast racetrack.”

What does it take to be fast at Michigan?

“Michigan is a tough place because of the way the cars have that grip level on fresh tires versus old tires. What I mean by that is, when you put on fresh tires, your tires are cold and they don’t grab the asphalt as well. A lot of guys try to stay out at Michigan with the hot tires on and they get better restarts. Restarts at Michigan are already pretty wild with how wide the track is and how many lanes there are for options. It comes down to just trying to put yourself in the best position with the best-percentage chance of whether it’s fresh tires, or it’s staying out, or it’s making spots up on restarts.”

What do you feel like is the toughest part of Michigan?

“The toughest part is turn three. It seems like the cars do this weird, four-wheel, light drift getting down in there. If your car is dialed in, and I’ve won there three times, it feels like turn three is the easiest corner. Turn three to me is the challenge each time I go there.”

After back-to-back solid runs at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Danica Patrick and the No. 10 TaxAct Ford Fusion team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) travel to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race.

Two weeks ago, Patrick finished 10th at Dover and, last weekend, the No. 10 team took home a 16th-place effort at Pocono. Now, the series ventures to one of Patrick’s top tracks on the circuit. She finished 13th in the June 2013 event and has a total of four top-20 finishes in eight NASCAR Cup Series starts at the 2-mile oval.

Her 13th-place run was the third top-15 finish in her career and came when her team elected to take only right-side tires on the final pit stop. She drove hard for the final stint and wound up with the solid finish.

In June 2014, she went down a lap early in the race but got it back on lap 147 and drove to a solid top-20 finish. The following August, she once again earned a top-20 result at Michigan.

The next year, Patrick started the Michigan 400 in June from the 19th position, led two laps and scored a 16th-place finish in the rain-shortened event.

In addition to scoring solid runs at Michigan in the NASCAR Cup Series, Patrick had done a good job in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and IndyCar Series prior to that.

In August 2012, she started an impressive fifth and led one lap en route to an 18th-place Xfinity Series finish. And, in August 2007, she started ninth, led five laps and finished seventh in the IndyCar Series.

In July 2006, Patrick was running eighth when she ran out of fuel just three laps from the end of what would have been a top-10 IndyCar finish. She ended up 17th.

As NASCAR Cup Series teams head to Michigan, TaxAct, a leading provider of affordable digital and downloadable tax software for individuals, business owners and tax professionals, will serve as primary sponsor of Patrick’s No. 10 Ford on Sunday. The race marks the fifth event this year in which TaxAct, the official DIY tax prep partner of SHR and Patrick, has served as the primary sponsor of the No. 10 Ford. The company’s mission is to empower people to navigate the complexities of tax and finance with ease and accuracy – at a clear, transparent and fair price.

TaxAct is back on Patrick’s No. 10 Ford this weekend to help remind taxpayers who filed an extension on their 2016 tax return that all returns must be submitted to the IRS by October 16. To help filers beat the extension deadline, TaxAct is offering a 20 percent discount on all TaxAct Online 2016 editions. Filers can choose the product that best fits their tax situation and file their federal and state returns with ease. Tax filers can take advantage of the discount by visiting http://www.taxact.com/michigan. The offer is available through July 31.

After earning solid results the past two weeks, Patrick and the No. 10 TaxAct Ford team will be looking to bring home another good run this weekend at Michigan.

DANICA PATRICK, Driver of the No. 10 TaxAct Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What are your thoughts on racing at Michigan?

“Michigan is a wide, fast track. There’s lots of room to move around and try different lines. I think it’s a momentum track and you have to focus on being smooth. At the end of the day, the car has to handle well. It has to feel good. It has to be a fast car. I think those are the challenges – getting your car to handle well and being smooth and consistent, lap after lap, at such a fast track.”

What kind of challenges does Michigan present?

“It’s really easy to have an imbalance at Michigan, whether it be getting the power down on exit or most of the time being tight. I feel like it produces some great racing and there’s a lot of drafting, so you can use that to help pass cars.”

Kevin Harvick is heading to the Irish Hills of Michigan with Jimmy John’s on the hood of his No. 4 Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) for Sunday’s FireKeepers 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn looking to score his first win of the season.

Jimmy John’s prides itself on being “Freaky Fast” and “Freaky Fresh,” which is the perfect fit for when the NASCAR Cup Series heads north to Michigan International Speedway. The wide racing surface, long straightaways and sweeping corners make Michigan the fastest track on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

The good news for Jimmy John’s and the No. 4 team is that Harvick has been among the best in the series at the 2-mile oval in recent years, scoring top-five finishes in seven of his last eight starts there.

Harvick scored four consecutive second-place finishes at Michigan from June 2013 through August 2014. He was runner-up to Greg Biffle by 2.989 seconds in June 2013. In August 2013, Harvick finished 1.018 seconds behind Joey Logano. In 2014, he followed Hendrick Motorsports drivers Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon across the finish line in the June and August races, respectively. That’s four races, four second-place finishes, to four different drivers.

His lone finish outside the top-five over the last eight NASCAR Cup Series races at Michigan came in June 2015, when he started second and led 63 laps. But rain shortened the scheduled 200-lap event to just 138 laps and he finished 29^th. He followed that by posting yet another runner-up effort in August 2015, when he started seventh, led 15 laps and finished 1.722 seconds behind race-winner Matt Kenseth.

Harvick scored back-to-back top-five finishes at Michigan in 2016. In June, he started 29^th and raced his way to a fifth-place finish. His next start in August, he started fourth, led 33 laps and finished fifth.

For his career, Harvick has been to victory lane at Michigan in each of NASCAR’s top three national touring series.

He scored an Xfinity Series win at Michigan in August 2003, when he led 10 laps and beat Kasey Kahne to the finish line under caution. His NASCAR Cup Series win came in August 2010, when he led 60 laps and outran Denny Hamlin to the finish line by 1.731 seconds. He scored a Camping World Truck Series win in August 2011, when he led 13 laps and finished ahead of Timothy Peters as the race ended under caution.

The 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion would like to add a fresh Cup Series win to his resume on Sunday at Michigan. A win would be Harvick’s first of the 2017 season and secure his place in NASCAR’s 2017 Playoffs.

KEVIN HARVICK, Driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Ford Fusion:

What does it take to have a good finish at Michigan?

“How you finish at Michigan depends on how your day is going. If you’re having a good day, it’s not really hard to tell your guys what you need and everyone is in a good mood. If you’re having a bad day, you can get behind at Michigan really fast. Usually, when you’re hooked up at Michigan, the leaders have clean air and move through traffic pretty well. But, if you’re in the middle of the pack, you find yourself getting behind and going a lap down pretty quickly. You’re going to end up with a green-flag pit stop and a whole bunch of green-flag laps. You just have to be going from the time the green flag drops and keep yourself in position at the end.”

 Do you enjoy racing at Michigan International Speedway?

“I think we’ve finished really well there over the last couple of years and scored a lot of second-place finishes and top-fives. I learned a long time ago that sometimes those things happen, so it’s better to be on a top-five streak than a 10^th-place streak. The good thing about the racetrack is that it has definitely aged and the groove has spread out over the last couple of races, so you have a lot more options than you did a few years ago when they repaved it. Every time we go back there, it gets a little more racey. When we go back this time, there should be lots of room to race and you’ll see lots of speed. As we go through the restarts and traffic and different things, we’ll have to see how it all goes, but it should be interesting.”

What’s the fastest track on the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule?

Daytona? Talladega?

The answer is Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.

The wide, sweeping corners and long straightaways of the 2-mile, D-shaped oval in the state’s scenic Irish Hills region provided the fastest two qualifying laps in 2016. Joey Logano won both poles at Michigan in 2016 with laps of 201.698 and 199.557 mph. The track record is 206.558 mph set by Jeff Gordon in August 2014.

Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 14 Haas Automation Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), shakes his head when he describes Michigan.

“She’s a fast, fast racetrack,” Bowyer said. “It always gets your attention.”

Bowyer hasn’t won at Michigan, but his one top-five finish and 11 top-10s in 22 starts lends credibility when he talks about what it will take to win Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 Cup Series race.

“You have to have grip and a ton of horsepower,” said Bowyer, who has scored the ninth-most points in the last 10 Michigan races. “If you have both of those, you will be just fine.”

Bowyer said finding grip will also be a key to success at the high-speed track and even wondered if NASCAR and track officials will add VHT resin to the surface to increase grip, like it did at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway last month.

“I think Michigan is relatively one groove, so it will be interesting to see if the old VHT is going to show up in an attempt to make it a multi-groove track,” Bowyer said. “As the track ages, it will keep getting better and better. Right now, it seems the middle groove is where you want to be.”

Bowyer arrives at Michigan with momentum despite finishing 17th at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway last weekend after contact with the wall early in the race. It’s been a good run in 2017 for Bowyer and the Mike Bugarewicz-led team. Bowyer replaced three-time champion Tony Stewart, who retired from NASCAR racing at the end of the 2016 season. In his first year at SHR, Bowyer has posted two top-fives and five top-10s.

Bowyer will debut a new Haas Automation paint scheme this weekend. His car will reverse the red and black the No. 14 has campaigned in 2017. SHR plans to run this scheme in the remaining races it carries the Haas Automation livery.

Bowyer will enjoy a little extra support this weekend. Ford Performance headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan is about 70 miles from the speedway. Ford joined SHR in 2017 and the combination has already produced a Daytona 500 victory, nine top-fives and 22 top-10s.

Bowyer has driven for each current manufacturer in NASCAR. He said Ford support has been key to SHR’s success this year.

“It’s been really cool getting to know the Ford folks this season,” Bowyer said. “What I like about Ford is the people you see in our race shop or at the track are the decision makers. If you have a suggestion, they are right there to listen to anything you have to say. I know we are going to visit with a ton of Ford folks this weekend, so winning at Ford’s home track would be pretty awesome.”

CLINT BOWYER, Driver of the No. 14 Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Does stage racing reduce the number of fuel-mileage races?

“The stages, for the most part, have helped the fuel-mileage racing. Fuel mileage showed up at Charlotte, but that was a 600-mile race. That’s an exception. Hopefully, we won’t see that this weekend in Michigan. It’s part of the sport’s strategy and it’s cool every now and then, but I think all of us want to see a cool, side-by-side finish.”