Michigan Early Week Preview
- RoundersKyle
- Aug 12, 2024
- 3 min read
NASCAR heads to the large high speed track at Michigan this week as the Cup Series and Xfinity Series will be in action. We do not have any other 2 mile tracks on the schedule like Michigan now that they have tore Auto Club down, so we don't have exact comparison to go off of except for recent Michigan races. Although we can use some of the other high speed intermediates data to supplement information to try to determine who will be fast this week.
Michigan historically has been a track that we see fuel mileage races more often than other tracks so some strategy could come into play depending on when cautions fall. Also with Michigan being a larger track with less laps, picking the correct few dominators will be even more important this week.
Cup Series
When looking at the Driver Track Stats, we once again see Martin Truex and Denny Hamlin at the top for average running position over the last two races. After last weeks performance I do not trust Truex moving forward this season. He was not good on a track that he has a better history than Michigan at and was good in practice. I do not trust him this week but we will see what practice looks like. Hamlin on the other hand is hard to count out most weeks. He has been up front and should be there again this week.
Chris Buescher won this race last season and the Fords should be good again this season. Buescher and his teammate Brad Keselowski should both have good runs as they both ran top 5 here last year and Ford puts a focus on this race in their backyard.
Two other teammate that have ran good here and I expect to run well again this week is Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace. Wallace has an 8th and 10th average running position in the last 2 Michigan races so he should have top 10 potential this week. Reddick has had speed in the previous Michigan races but has had issues and did not get the finishes he deserved.
Some cheaper option for this race include Erik Jones as he has finished top 10 in the last 2 Michigan races. However, that team has really struggled recently so we will have to see how practice goes for them. Austin Cindric had an 11th place average running position last year at Michigan and is in another Ford so he could be another solid option this week.
We will see what practice times look like for these drivers to see if their history lines up with the speed that it looks like they will have this weekend.
Xfinity Series
For the Xfinity Series this week, two of the top options are going to be Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer. They both are good on high speed tracks and Allgaier led the second most laps in the race at Michigan last year. Another driver I expect to be good this week is the winner of the last race in the Xfinity Series, Riley Herbst. Herbst was tied for the best average running position last year at Michigan and he just won at a speed track in Indy. His best tracks are larger high speed tracks and he should run well this week.
Ryan Sieg is a cheaper option that should have a good run and will have top 10 potential for the race this weekend.
We will see who is in the Gibbs cars this week when the entry list comes out tomorrow, but I am sure there will be some contenders in their cars this week as well.
We will keep an eye on practice on Friday to see who has the best cars going into the race on Saturday.
Check out the Driver Track stats for each Series here:
