NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series journeys to Brooklyn-Michigan the home of the Michigan International Speedway where they will present the Life Lock 400, race 15 of their 2009 schedule this Sunday. In the past fuel mileage has been a factor in this event. The same is true of the weather.
There’s also major bragging rights involved with any race at Michigan. The speedway is just a short drive from Detroit: the home of America’s big three auto makers. That means the VIP sections are going to be filled with executives and auto workers who will be on hand to cheer on their Ford, Chevy or Dodge teams.
Granted it’s still too early to predict exactly how the economy will impact the relationship between the auto makers and the NASCAR teams, but that fierce sense of all American pride, and who has the fastest car, will never diminish. Needless to say the Toyota teams will also be in full force with plans to upstage the proceedings.
THE RACE BREAKDOWN.
Opened in 1968, the Michigan International Speedway is a two mile D shaped oval with plenty of room for high speed racing and passing.
The long sweeping straightaways are fortified by 18 degrees of banking in all four turns.
The pit road speed for Sunday’s race will be 45 MPH
The track presently seats 137,243 fans.
The Life Lock 400 has 44 entries. That means one of the teams, outside of NASCAR’s top 35 in owner’s points, will have to go home after qualifying. The entries outside of the top 35, also known as the “go or go home” list includes:
#09 Sterling Marlin. Dodge
#21 Bill Elliot. Ford. Note: Elliot has a past champion’s provisional from 1988 available
#13 Max Papis. Toyota
#36 Mike Skinner. Toyota
#37 Tony Raines. Chevrolet
#66 Dave Blaney. Toyota
#71 David Gilliland. Chevrolet.
#82 Scott Speed. Toyota
#87 Joe Nemechek. Toyota
If Friday’s qualifying session gets rained out then the field will be set by the owner’s points. Mathematically Max Papis and his Germain Racing Toyota team will be the group that gets sent home. This is exactly what happened last June when Kyle Busch was placed on the pole position after qualifying was rained out.
The National Weather Service predicts cloudy skies on Friday for Brooklyn-Michigan. However there’s also a 50 percent chance of rain on Thursday and that storm could possibly spill over into Friday afternoon.
The track qualifying record, 194.232 MPH, was set by Ryan Newman in June of 2005.
David Pearson leads the all time list with 10 Michigan poles. Bill Elliot leads the active list with six.
Dale Earnhardt Jr is the defending race champion. It was his first, and still only, win with his new ride with Hendrick Motorsports. Weather and fuel mileage were the factors in this particular race. The event was halted early by extreme rain. Meanwhile, while under the yellow caution flag, Earnhardt was turning his engine off and on while cruising down the straightaways to conserve enough fuel before the race was called.
Carl Edwards won the August event last year at Michigan
David Pearson leads the all time win list with ten. Bill Elliot leads the active list with seven wins.
Cale Yarborough leads the all time list for top five finishes with 21. Bill Elliot leads the active list with 17. Mark Martin is right behind him with 16 top fives.
Bill Elliot also leads the active driver list in top ten finishes at Michigan with 29. Once again Mark Martin is right behind him with 28.
The highest number of yellow caution flags in a Michigan race was ten back in August of 2006.
However this race can be ran without any cautions. That has happened three time. The last time was June of 1999.
The closest margin of victory at this speedway came in 2001 when Jeff Gordon edged Ricky Rudd by 0.085 seconds.
The largest victory margin saw Morgan Shepherd trail race winner Rusty Wallace by 15.71 seconds in 1989.
The Michigan Speedway has been very kind to Ford over the years. They lead the manufacturer’s win list with 31.
Expect the command to start the engines to be both loud and enthusiastic from race Grand Marshall Kid Rock. You know he’s going to have a good time.
The 43 car field will take the initial green flag from Jim Schwartz, head coach of the NFL’s Detroit Lions.
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