NASCAR Cup Round 23: Pure Michigan 400 - Michigan International Speedway

[fieldodreams79]

JAYSKI

I believe it's now four races til the chase.

Practice and q'ing today with Happy Hour tomorrow.
ESPN has the coverage this weekend. Race at 116pmest Sunday.

Points after the Glen from Jayski:

2011 Sprint Cup Driver Championship Points Standings:
[after Watkins Glen, race 22 of 36]:
rank, car#, driver, points, behind
1) #18-Kyle Busch [3 wins], 752
2) #99-Carl Edwards [1 win], 752, -0
3) #48-Jimmie Johnson [1 win], 746, -6
4) #29-Kevin Harvick [3 wins], 738, -14
5) #17-Matt Kenseth [2 wins], 724, -28
6) #22-Kurt Busch [1 win], 712, -40
7) #24-Jeff Gordon [2 wins], 700, -52
8) #39-Ryan Newman [1 win], 686, -66
9) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr., 670, -82
10) #14-Tony Stewart, 659, -93
current wild cards
11) #2-Brad Keselowski [2 wins], 601, -151 [14th in points, 2 wins]
12) #11-Denny Hamlin [1 win], 626, -126 [12th in points, 1 win]
others in contension for the wild card
14) #27-Paul Menard [1 win], 599, -153 [15th in points, 1 win]
Three race winners are not inside the top-20: #9-Ambrose is 22nd, 1 point out of 20th; #6-David Ragan is 23rd, 5 pts out of 20th; #78-Smith is 25th, 82 pts out of 20th

[gomick]

Hopefully the #9 doesnt go from hero to zero this weekend - gotta back it up & crack the top 20...

[nickyf1]

How does this ''wildcard'' thing work? I'm not too clued up on the workings of The Race for the Chase for the Cup for the Thing.

[fieldodreams79]

Greg "Watch your back for Boris Said" Biffle grabs the pole at MIS, followed by Hamlin, Martin, Keso and Regan.

Taz goes off 16th...

LINEUP

Originally Posted by nickyf1

How does this ''wildcard'' thing work? I'm not too clued up on the workings of The Race for the Chase for the Cup for the Thing.

He's got all your answer's...
Jayski Chase Page:

Positions 11 and 12 are "wild card" qualifiers and will go to non-top-10-ranked drivers with the most wins, as long as they're ranked in the top 20 in points. Ties are broken by points position, then by 2nd place finishes, 3rd, etc.

[rustyfan]

Nice battle for the lead between Biffle and Kyle Busch. This race needed some excitement.

Edit - Rain on the camera lens. Caution out. Bah.

Edit 2 - Caution for debris, not rain. Phew.

[fieldodreams79]

Kyle wins; glad I spent most of the afternoon in the back yard.

[Jacques Rabbit]

I thought the racing was pretty good. Michigan and Fontana went through some really boring spells, but I've found in the last two seasons, I actually like these tracks. I guess I like anything that isn't 1.5 miles...

Not a Kyle Busch guy, but he's damn good. Jimmie Johnson's damn clever. The two of them are fun to watch against each other.

[gomick]

Was a good race, 3 wide etc, different lines...

I dont understand why Ambrose pitted under last caution (where he got shunted) from P17 with g-w-c finish! Stay out, take a risk & get track position. You never know, it may pay off, bit like Regan Smith's win - probably what he needed if he wanted to give himself a chase chance, or did i miss something?

[Jacques Rabbit]

I'm assuming the logic was that the car wasn't quick enough to hold the track position when it's really hard to defend at Michigan. At a track like Darlington or Martinsville, track position's big. Michigan? You'd have to make your car damn wide.

Bobby Labonte did the stay-out strategy, moving from P18 to P8. At the end, he finished P16. Didn't really gain much from it. They were eating his lunch as soon as they hit start/finish.