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Mash The Gas – Pure Michigan 400

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads back to the Irish Hills of Michigan as the Michigan International Speedway hosts the Pure Michigan 400 Sunday afternoon. Michigan is a wide two mile oval that often features four and sometimes five abreast racing on its straightaways and the track is also known to produce few caution flags making fuel mileage strategy important. The speedway is also located in the backyard of American automobile manufacturers Ford and GM, providing an incentive to win for the auto-makers for marketing opportunities and bragging rights verses their rivals at Toyota.

The green flag is scheduled to start the Pure Mishigan 400 at 1:16pm EDT on Sunday at the Michigan International Speedway. The drivers will look to complete 200 laps on the two mile oval to make up the 400 mile distance. This race is one of four left on the schedule as the teams try to lock themselves in for the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.

Here are some drivers we think you should be watching this weekend.

Carl Edwards
Dan Margetta: The Roush-Fenway Fords have traditionally been dominant at Michigan and the time is now for Carl Edwards and the #99 team to capture a victory and prove they are capable of challenging the Hendrick and Gibbs teams for the championship. Their one victory so far this season is not going to cut it if they want to be champions and Carl Edwards already owns two career Michigan wins to go along with his 8.2 average finishing position. He holds the third best driver rating at Michigan and if he and the team can stay focused enough to challenge for the win late, the #99 could wind up in victory lane on Sunday.

Kyle Busch
John Wiedemann: Following up last week’s road course win with a win at Michigan would put Kyle Busch solidly on the map as a championship contender. Kyle has a win at MIS to go along with four top five and six top ten finishes. One of those top five runs was a fourth place finish earlier this year. In the last ten Sprint Cup races, Kyle has eight top ten finishes so he clearly is heating up as the Chase approaches. All Kyle needs heading into the Chase is wins, and Michigan is a great track for him to find one.

Greg Biffle
DM: Greg Biffle also drives one of the potent Roush-Fenway Fords and he has four Michigan wins to his credit including the race here earlier in the season. He owns the best driver rating at Michigan and should once again be tough on Sunday. However, the team is involved in the mad scramble for the limited Chase slots and they may have to think about points over taking a chance for the win as the number of weeks until the Chase cut off is down to four. Currently 9th in the standings and only 5 points out of 12th, they can’t afford to give away any positions and they’re in a tough spot when it comes to deciding how much they want to gamble.

Kurt Busch
JW: One couldn’t be more on the edge of getting into the Chase than Kurt Busch. Just three points are keeping Kurt out of the top ten in points and a win would give him a wild card at this point. Busch doesn’t necessarily need a win but solid top five/ten runs in the next four races should get him in. What can’t happen is a mistake or incident that drops him in the standings. It is too late to make a big climb in the points. A wreck like the one he had at Michigan earlier this season after leading the race would be devastating at this point. Busch led twenty-one laps at that race and has two wins at Michigan, he will be at the front again this weekend.

Matt Kenseth
DM: Leave it to Matt Kenseth and the #20 team to spoil the Roush-Fenway party at Michigan. Kenseth has two Michigan wins and the two mile oval has been one of his best race tracks, albeit with most of that success coming behind the wheel of a Roush car. The #20 team has been in a bit of a funk lately as what can only be described as “bad racing luck” has hindered their finishes. Michigan suits Kenseth’s driving style well and is the perfect place for them to re-establish the dominance the team showed earlier in the season.

Dale Earnhardt Jr
JW: We can’t talk about Michigan without talking about Junior. Earnhardt has two wins at Michigan and those are the last two wins he has had in the Sprint Cup series. Both of those races were the earlier June races and Earnhardt was leading this season’s June race when his engine failed him. Junior will be strong at Michigan again this weekend and should be in contention for a win, a win he needs badly as he is one of three drivers in the top ten without a victory. Victories pay bonus points when the Chase rolls around, meaning those drivers without victories will be passed up quickly in the standings when the Chase starts/

Brad Keselowski
DM: Brad Keselowski and the #2 team have been running well lately after virtually falling off the map in the first half of the season. They finished second last week at Watkins Glen after Brad chose not to rough up Kyle Busch for the win. They’re hanging on to a Chase spot but are in desperate need for a win and as the old saying goes “nice guys finish last.” Keselowski’s hoping that doesn’t ring true and his decision last week doesn’t ultimately cost them a spot in the Chase. Besides, Michigan is his home track and with family and friends on hand, don’t expect the defending Sprint Cup champion to be as courteous this week as a Michigan win would mean a lot in many ways.

Joey Logano
JW: It is coming down to crunch time for Joey Logano. Currently fifteenth in the standings and twenty-seven points out of the top ten, it is now or never for Logano to make the Chase this season. With three straight top ten runs, Logano has made a slow climb into an outside shot at the Chase. Michigan has been ok for Logano with four top ten finishes nine tries including a ninth back in June. Logano knows where victory lane is located at Michigan, he visited it last year in the Nationwide Series. If Logano can find victory lane this weekend in the Sprint Cup Series, it will be an interesting shake up in the standings.

Mark Martin
DM: Mark Martin is my long shot pick this week. That’s right..Mark Martin. Martin opened up at 75-1 odds in Las Vegas and is definitely worth looking at. He started on the pole in this race last year and has five Michigan wins to his credit. I know he hasn’t finished better than 26th at Michigan the last two years but his 2011 finishes were 9th and 4th. Even though the announcement was made this week that Brian Vickers will run the #55 car full time next season, leaving Martin’s future uncertain, don’t count the old guy out this Sunday.

Austin Dillon
JW: Driving Tony Stewart’s car this weekend is a great opportunity for Austin Dillon to show his stuff. Dillon has already had his best finish in the Sprint Cup Series at Michigan earlier this season when he took the checkers in eleventh. It’s not easy to jump in someone else’s car and run well and the pressure from sitting in a champion’s ride will be there, but I expect Dillon to brush it off and finish well. A top ten is not out of the question and Dillon may just surprise those doubters with a run at the front.

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