JUSTIN HALEY | CODY WARE
Michigan Advance
Event Overview
● Event: FireKeepers Casino 400 (Round 24 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 18
● Location: Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn
● Layout: 2-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 200 laps / 400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 45 laps / Stage 2: 75 laps / Final Stage: 80 laps
● TV/Radio: USA Network / MRN Radio / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Justin Haley, Driver of the No. 51 Fraternal Order of Eagles Ford Mustang Dark Horse
● Justin Haley, driver of the No. 51 Fraternal Order of Eagles Ford Mustang Dark Horse, will make his fourth NASCAR Cup Series start Sunday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. The 25-year-old has completed 599 of 600 available laps in his three previous starts at the 2-mile, D-shaped oval with a best finish of 17th earned in August 2022.
● In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Haley competed at Michigan twice, earning a 10th-place finish in his first race there in 2019. Haley also owns two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts there, leading three laps in 2017 en route to a 10th-place finish, then returning in 2018 to finish ninth.
Cody Ware, Driver of the No. 15 Parts Plus Ford Mustang Dark Horse
● Cody Ware will also make his fourth NASCAR Cup Series start at Michigan. Ware finished 22nd in his last race at the track in 2022 – his best finish and the best result for RWR in 24 total starts at Michigan.
● The Parts Plus brand, part of The Pronto Network, is the largest and the most diverse automotive program distribution group in North America, will make its debut on the No. 51 Ford Mustang Dark Horse this weekend as co-primary partner. Parts Plus began 2024 with an expansion of its partnership with RWR and its Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series Top Fuel driver Clay Millican.
Rick Ware Racing Notes
● The Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series returns to action this weekend at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway. RWR’s Top Fuel driver Clay Millican is currently seventh in the standings. In the most recent event July 26 – 28 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, Millican was the second-fastest qualifier but wasn’t able to advance past the first round of eliminations. However, at the Northwest Nationals the week prior at Pacific Raceways in Kent, Washington, the Parts Plus dragster was knocked out of contention for the Wally after advancing to the semifinals.
● American Flat Track takes a week off after two events last week. In Tuesday’s event at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City, South Dakota, AFT Singles rider Kody Kopp finished third, his 11th podium finish to that point. He followed that up on Sunday with his sixth win of the season, extending his podium streak to eight straight top-three finishes and increasing his lead to 34 points in the championship standings. Mission SuperTwins rider Briar Bauman finished second to earn his fourth podium of the year and advance to third in the standings.
● Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age six when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver seat and into fulltime team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that fields two fulltime entries in the NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track and FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX), where RWR won the 2022 SX2 championship with rider Shane McElrath.
Justin Haley, Driver Q&A
What are some of the characteristics of racing at Michigan?
“Fast and edgy. You really have to commit when you’re headed into turn one. It’s so fast and the groove isn’t as wide as some other places, so that’s usually where you’ll see guys have problems. You get just a little bit out of line and it could be bad. We haven’t been terrible on the bigger tracks, so I feel like we’ll be OK this weekend and hopefully we can get back on track with top-20 results.”
Ford has won nine consecutive Cup races at Michigan. Does that add a bit of confidence?
“It’s like going to superspeedways. The Fords were always so good and it was something I was really looking forward to when I moved over to the Ford camp. It does add some confidence to know that Ford is the one to beat, but you also know everyone is trying to match that and take the win this time.”
Cody Ware, Driver Q&A
What are your expectations for the No. 15 team heading to Michigan?
“Michigan is a place where we have had decent success as a small team in the past, so I’m looking forward to seeing how we have progressed there with our RFK Racing alliance. Staying clean on restarts is the most important thing, because that’s where 99 percent of the chaos happens there.”
There are just three races before the playoffs begin and there seems to be more desperation among drivers sitting below the cutline. Do you have to adjust your race plan to account for more aggressive driving throughout the field?
“I don’t think so. We still want to run our own race and be as aggressive as we can without making mistakes. Obviously, if we see certain cars around each other, we probably want to be on our toes, but other than that I feel like our strategy at Michigan will be pretty straightforward. We just need to get the best finish possible and bring home a clean car.”
