With the 32-driver field for the In-Season Challenge set, Michigan International Speedway will begin a three-race run to determine the seedings for the five-race bracket tournament for $1 million.
The winner Sunday at Michigan will be guaranteed one of the top three seeds in the In-Season Challenge, which will begin June 28 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Seeding will be based on best finishes over the next three races at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono Raceway with tiebreakers based on the second- and third-best finishes in those races (points standings after Pocono is the final tiebreaker).
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to one of its fastest tracks this weekend with a trip to Michigan International Speedway.
The bracket-style tournament will begin at Atlanta with the top 32 drivers in the points standings after the June 1 race at Nashville Superspeedway. Eliminations will take place over four races until two drivers face off at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the $1 million prize.
There have been four different winners in the last four races at Michigan: Tyler Reddick (2024), Chris Buescher (2023), Kevin Harvick (2022) and Ryan Blaney (2021), who is coming off his first victory of the 2025 season at Nashville.
Kyle Larson and Joey Logano lead active drivers with three wins apiece at Michigan, where only one of the past 12 races has been won by a driver earning his first win of the season. The past two races at Michigan each tied a track record with 16 leaders.
The only time the NASCAR Cup Series has had a podium celebration was for the Clash at the LA Memorial Coliseum exhibition races from 2022-24.
A Michigander has yet to celebrate a Cup victory at the Brooklyn, Michigan, track. There are three Michigan natives in the field Sunday: Brad Keselowsk (a three-time runner-up at Michigan), Erik Jones and Carson Hocevar, who just tied a career best with a second at Nashville.
Joe Gibbs Racing is in a peculiar drought at Michigan — winless in its past 14 races on the 2-mile oval despite having won five of the past seven stages there. Its most recent victory was in Aug. 16, 2015 with Matt Kenseth. JGR since has won 96 times on 25 other tracks.
This will mark the first Cup race in June at Michigan since 2019. The past seven races at the track (which was downsized to one annual Cup weekend) were held in August.
Details for Sunday’s Cup race at Michigan
(All times Eastern)
START: The command to start engines will be given at 2:10 p.m. by Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph. … The race is scheduled to begin at 2:19 p.m.
PRERACE: The Cup garage will open at 11 a.m. … The drivers meeting is at 1 p.m. … Driver introductions are at 1:25 p.m. … The Canadian national anthem will be performed by Lisa Bascom at 2:02 p.m. The U.S. national anthem will be performed by Staff Sergeant MeLan Smartt, United States Air Force Band of Mid-America, at 2:03 p.m.
DISTANCE: The race is 200 laps (400 miles) on the 2-mile oval.
STAGES: Stage 1 ends at Lap 45. Stage 2 ends at Lap 120.
ENTRY LIST: Click here for the 36 cars entered at Michigan.
TV/RADIO: Prime will broadcast the race starting at 1:30 p.m. … Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will have radio coverage.
FORECAST: WeatherUnderground —Partly cloudy with a chance for a shower or thunderstorm and a high of 77 degrees and winds from the south at 5 to 10 mph. It’s expected to be 74 degrees with a 15% chance of rain at the start of the Cup race.
LAST TIME: Tyler Reddick held off William Byron for a victory in overtime. The race was completed Monday, Aug. 18, 2024 from a postponement after 51 laps Sunday.
Read the full article here
