Three keys to the Pure Michigan 400
BROOKLYN, Mich. – It’s a relatively quiet weekend for NASCAR in the peaceful Irish Hills of Michigan.
With three races to go until the Chase for the Sprint Cup begins, the field is mostly set (12 of the 16 drivers have clinched spots) and there are no tracks like Michigan International Speedway in the 10-week playoff.
But there’s still plenty on the line, so here are three keys to watch in Sunday's Pure Michigan 400:
CHASE IMPLICATIONS
Just when we thought the favorites for the Chase were the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas and the Team Penske Fords, eight Chevrolet drivers qualified in the top 12 for Sunday’s race.
That included Jimmie Johnson, who will start on the front row for just the second time this season. Johnson seemed optimistic that qualifying could translate into a good run at Michigan, but he was cautious in making too big of a leap.
It’s one thing to qualify well, he said; it’s another to race and finish well. Still …
“(A solid finish) really would give us a lot of much-needed momentum,” he said. “… Past history shows when you get hot, you can stay hot. We hope we’re heating up and on the verge of getting hot.”
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The prospect of Johnson getting his record-tying seventh championship this year hasn’t been talked about much since he won two of the first five races this season and then went quiet. But a test earlier this week at Chicagoland Speedway was very helpful, Johnson said, and what the No. 48 team learned might translate to Michigan.
“I do believe we’re showing signs (of being a contender again),” Johnson said. “I really try hard not to B.S. you guys when you ask the questions, but I could say in the last couple of months we have seen some bright spots.”
FUEL MILEAGE
Michigan has a penchant for producing fuel-mileage races, which Carl Edwards credited to a fast surface and durable tire.
“We’re prepared for it to be a fuel-mileage race,” Edwards said. “You tend to get those long runs. It just seems to happen more often.”
So who has the advantage in situations like that? Regardless of which engines produce the best gas mileage, the edge goes to drivers who have been through those races before.
“I think it’s something a veteran driver has a better handle on for sure,” rookie Ryan Blaney said. “That takes a lot of practice and a lot of experience. ... I’ve never max-fuel-saved in a race. So I haven’t even had experience with that. That’s a very fine tool the best guys are very good at.”
Edwards, who won last year’s Coca-Cola 600 on fuel mileage and finished second to Brad Keselowski in a fuel-mileage race at Kentucky Speedway in July, said he enjoys the challenge – “especially when you’re not leading.”
“You’re trying to beat someone you can’t beat all day, and you’re thinking, ‘Here’s an opportunity to outsmart them,’ ” he said. “Sometimes it’s fun.”
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LOW-LOW DOWNFORCE
The Michigan race in June was a wreckfest, which drivers credited to the revised lower downforce rules that made the cars harder to drive.
This is the third and final tryout for the aero package, which is likely to become the basis of the one used weekly in 2017. And although it makes their jobs harder, the drivers are pleased with NASCAR’s decision to continue removing downforce and sideforce from the cars.
“It was a little more treacherous, but that’s what we want,” Edwards said. “That’s what all of us drivers have pushed for, to put (the outcome) more in our hands.”
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But one team in particular might enjoy the low-low downforce package more than others. That’s Team Penske, whose drivers have won the previous two races where the rules were used (Joey Logano at Michigan and Keselowski at Kentucky). And Logano has the pole for Sunday’s race as well.
Is there anything to that?
“I think there actually is a really good reason for it,” Keselowski said. “NASCAR took all the cars after Pocono (for a wind tunnel test), and from an aero perspective right now the Fords are the worst. So when you go to a lower downforce (package) we aren’t at quite a disadvantage.”
If that trend continues Sunday, it will be interesting to keep in mind for next season.
Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck
