MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY (TWO-MILE OVAL)
LOCATION: BROOKLYN, MICHIGAN
EVENT: NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES (RACE 24 OF 36)
TUNE IN: 2 P.M. ET, SUNDAY, AUGUST 28 (NBCSN/MRN/SIRIUSXM)
No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS / Kasey Kahne
Driver Kasey Kahne Hometown Enumclaw, Washington
Age 36 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2016 Season
17th in standings
23 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
2 top-five finishes
6 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
Career
455 starts
17 wins
27 pole positions
88 top-five finishes
162 top-10 finishes
4,607 laps led
Track Career
25 starts
1 win
3 pole positions
8 top-five finishes
10 top-10 finishes
67 laps led
KAHNE AT MICHIGAN: Kasey Kahne has earned three pole awards at Michigan — in 2006, 2010 and 2015. After starting the June 2006 race from the pole position, the 36-year-old led 19 laps and went on to take the checkered flag for his fifth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win. Kahne earned a 13th-place finish at the two-mile track earlier this season.
MICHIGAN LOOP DATA: According to NASCAR’s loop data, Kahne is second in green-flag passes with 1,829 and sixth in quality passes with 803. He ranks eighth in the following categories at the Irish Hills track: average speed early in a run with a speed of 181.590 mph, average speed late in a run at 178.107 mph and fastest laps run with 185.
RACING TO THE CHASE: As the Chase for the Sprint Cup cutoff nears, Kahne looks to capture a win before the series heads to Chicagoland Speedway in just a few weeks. The Enumclaw, Washington, native has a combined eight pole awards at the next three tracks on the schedule — Michigan, Darlington and Richmond. Four of those poles were earned at Darlington, and he has a win at both Michigan and Richmond.
SPEEDWAY STATS: At tracks two miles or longer, Kahne has made 135 starts and earned four of his 17 wins. Two of Kahne’s wins came at tracks two miles in length – Michigan and Fontana. He has also notched seven of his 27 career Sprint Cup poles and amassed 25 top-five finishes and 48 top-10 results at speedways.
FARMERS RACING ART SERIES: Nelson Cothran of Spartanburg, South Carolina, has been selected as the winning designer of the final autograph card in the Farmers Racing Art Series for the season. The autograph cards will be available beginning this weekend at Michigan. Fans now have the chance to win one of 10 poster-sized versions of the design signed by Kahne. The sweepstakes closes on Monday, Aug. 29 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
FIVE KAHNE 5K: For the seventh consecutive year, Kahne will hold his 5K charity run. The event will take place at 10 a.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 9, at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Interested participants can pre-register online by visiting https://fivekahne5k.racesonline.com/home. Over 8,000 children in the states surrounding North Carolina have benefited from the funds raised by the annual charity run.
No. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet SS / Chase Elliott
Driver Chase Elliott Hometown Dawsonville, Georgia
Age 20 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2016 Season
12th in standings
23 starts
0 wins
2 pole positions
6 top-five finishes
11 top-10 finishes
132 laps led
Career
28 starts
0 wins
2 pole positions
6 top-five finishes
11 top-10 finishes
132 laps led
Track Career
1 start
0 wins
0 pole positions
1 top-five finish
1 top-10 finish
35 laps led
24 IN THE 24: This weekend at Michigan marks a milestone of sorts for Chase Elliott – it will be his 24th points-paying race in the No. 24 Chevrolet SS for Hendrick Motorsports. The rookie driver started the season strong after taking over the No. 24 at Daytona International Speedway in February. He is the reigning Daytona 500 pole-sitter, the top-ranked rookie and boasts the eighth-most top-10 finishes among all drivers heading into his 24th points-paying race in the No. 24. Once he completes his 24th race at Michigan, there will only be 12 races remaining in his rookie season – nine of the 12 tracks he will compete at for the second time this year.
SEASON STANDINGS: Elliott currently sits 12th in the standings with 588 points. The rookie trails leader Kevin Harvick by 174 markers. The 20-year-old is younger than any other driver currently inside the top 16 – the amount of drivers NASCAR takes into its playoffs – while also being the highest ranked rookie.
TOP-RANKED ROOKIE: Elliott leads the 2016 Rookie of the Year contender standings heading into Michigan International Speedway by 48 points over second-place Ryan Blaney and 68 points over third-place Chris Buescher. Elliott has accumulated a total of 248 rookie points this year through the first 23 points-paying races.
TURTLE POWER: On Thursday, Aug. 25, Elliott will be in Chicago for his final victory tour of the season. Elliott will participate in an exclusive fan autograph session alongside the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the John G. Shedd Aquarium at noon local time before talking with media around the Windy City. Together, Elliott and the turtles will preview the first race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 – while highlighting various activities that will take place throughout the weekend. At Chicagoland Speedway for the race weekend, Elliott will also appear in the Green Flag Garage for a question-and-answer session with fans.
CHASE UNIVERSITY: This past weekend, Elliott announced “Chase University” – a ticket-package program for collegiate fans looking to join in a unique NASCAR experience at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Chase University” will feature concerts, food, beverages and tailgating games before, during and after the Bank of America 500. The 20-year-old driver will make an appearance on race day, taking part in a cornhole challenge with select ticket holders. Students with a valid college ID can enroll in “Chase University” with a special $24 party pass available online here or by calling 1-800-455-FANS (3267).
No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS / Jimmie Johnson
Driver Jimmie Johnson Hometown El Cajon, California
Age 40 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2016 Season
9th in standings
23 starts
2 wins
1 pole position
7 top-five finishes
9 top-10 finishes
229 laps led
Career
530 starts
77 wins
35 pole positions
214 top-five finishes
323 top-10 finishes
17,938 laps led
Track Career
29 starts
1 win
0 pole positions
5 top-five finishes
11 top-10 finishes
650 laps led
CHICAGO TEST: Jimmie Johnson, crew chief Chad Knaus and the No. 48 team spent Tuesday testing at Chicagoland Speedway in anticipation of the Sept. 18 400-mile event that kicks off the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Johnson has never scored a win at the 1.5-mile Chicago track to date. The test session, originally scheduled for two days, was cut short due to impending weather in the Chicago area.
HOMETOWN CONNECTIONS: Michigan International Speedway is a hometown track for two members of the No. 48 team. Longtime gasman Brandon Harder went to Bowling Green State University and grew up in Oak Harbor, Ohio, roughly 90 miles from the track. Harder has been a member of the No. 48 team since 2009. Rear-tire carrier Ryan Patton is from Delphos, Ohio, which is 105 miles south of the track. Patton, who played football at Ohio State University, has been on the No. 48 team since 2012.
MICHIGAN DRIVER RATING: According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Johnson has the ninth-best driver rating at Michigan with a score of 92.2 during the past 10 years at the track. The driver rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The driver rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.
RICHMOND TICKET PACKAGE: Johnson has joined forces with Richmond International Raceway for another ticket package. The package for the Sept. 10 event includes a NASA hands-on activity, a race day question-and-answer session with Johnson and a ticket to the race. Tickets are $24 for kids 12 and younger and $48 for adults. Click here for more details.
CHICAGO TICKET PACKAGE: Fans can purchase a Jimmie Johnson Family Ticket Package for this year’s race at Chicagoland Speedway on Sept. 18. Johnson has teamed up with NASA to provide an educational experience for kids with the NASA Rockets 2 Racecars STEM Education program. The ticket package includes a question-and-answer session with Johnson on race day. The package is $48 for adults and $23 for children and is located in Section “L” at Chicagoland Speedway.
JJF ‘TEAM UP FOR TECHNOLOGY’: The Jimmie Johnson Foundation is offering one lucky K-12 public or charter school the chance to win a $48,000 technology makeover again this year. Nominations will be accepted from Thursday, Aug. 11, until noon ET on Thursday, Sept. 8. Click here to nominate a school.
JJF WELLNESS CHALLENGE EVENT: Registration is open for the Lake Davidson Sprint Triathlon taking place on Sunday, Sept. 11, at 8 a.m. ET on the Ingersoll Rand Campus in Davidson, North Carolina. Log on to www.jjfwellnesschallenge.org for more details.
No. 88 Axalta/University of Michigan Chevrolet SS / Alex Bowman
Driver Alex Bowman Hometown Tucson, Arizona
Age 23 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2016 Season
1 start
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
0 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
Career
72 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
0 top-10 finishes
3 laps led
Track Career
4 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
0 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
Alex Bowman, substitute driver of the No. 88 Axalta/University of Michigan Chevrolet SS, will be available to members of the media on Friday, Aug. 26, at 3:45 p.m. ET in the Michigan International Speedway media center.
EARNHARDT UPDATE: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet, has not been cleared by physicians to compete in at least the next two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events as he continues to recover from a concussion. Earnhardt, who will miss the races at Michigan International Speedway (Aug. 28) and Darlington Raceway (Sept. 4), underwent further evaluation Tuesday at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program.
BOWMAN RETURNS: Alex Bowman will return behind the wheel of the No. 88 Axalta/University of Michigan Chevrolet SS this weekend. The 23-year-old will fill in for Earnhardt for the second time this weekend in Michigan. He previously subbed for Earnhardt at Loudon and was running solidly inside the top 10 before a flat tire relegated him to a 26th-place finish.
IN THE IRISH HILLS: Bowman has raced at Michigan International Speedway four times in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with a best finish of 26th. He’s made three starts at the two-mile oval in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, most recently for JR Motorsports in June, where he qualified on the pole and finished seventh.
MAIZE AND BLUE: Axalta and the University of Michigan recently partnered to support engineering and business students in addition to coatings research and other projects, leading to a joint paint scheme that Bowman will run this weekend at Michigan. The maize and blue No. 88 Axalta/University of Michigan Chevrolet SS was unveiled in June at Axalta’s Mt. Clemens manufacturing plant in honor of the organization receiving the General Motors Supplier of the Year award for the second consecutive year. For a photo of the scheme, check out the paint scheme preview on hendrickmotorsports.com. Students from the university will be on hand to get a behind-the-scenes experience of the race weekend.
MICHIGANDERS: In addition to crew chief Greg Ives, who hails from Bark River, Michigan, several members of the No. 88 Axalta team also have ties to Michigan. Doug Wojcik, a Wisconsinite and a race engineer for the No. 88 team, attended Michigan Tech to get his engineering degree. In the summer of 2014, following his junior year, Wojcik interned at Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports for the summer, where he got to know Ives, who was the crew chief on the No. 9 XFINITY team at the time and is also a graduate of Michigan Tech. Wojcik interned at Hendrick Motorsports on the setup plate while finishing his classes at UNC Charlotte and had his credits transferred back to Michigan Tech so that he could graduate in May 2015. He began traveling with the No. 88 team as a race engineer in the fall of 2015. Andy “Squigz” Quillan, hauler driver for the No. 88 team, was born and raised in Orleans, Michigan, which is approximately two hours from the racetrack. He has had a passion for motor sports since he watched a NASCAR race at his home track as a kid. Quillan started his racing career as a car chief in the ARCA series 10 years ago before joining Hendrick Motorsports. Scott Brzozowski, the front tire changer for the No. 88 team, grew up in Sterling Heights, Michigan, which is outside of Detroit. He was a member of the No. 24 over-the-wall crew before he switched to the No. 88 last fall. Brzozowski lists Jeff Gordon’s victory in the 2014 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motors Speedway as his favorite moment in racing to date.
Hendrick Motorsports
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT MICHIGAN: Hendrick Motorsports drivers have led 2,410 laps en route to eight wins, 50 top-five finishes and 91 top-10s in addition to 11 pole positions at Michigan. The organization swept both races at the two-mile oval in 2014, and in the June 2015 race at Michigan, Earnhardt earned a runner-up finish.
MASTERING MICHIGAN: Hendrick Motorsports’ eight Sprint Cup victories at Michigan have come via five different drivers: Jeff Gordon (3), Earnhardt (2), Johnson, Mark Martin and Ricky Rudd.
ORGANIZATION STATS: To date, Hendrick Motorsports has totals of 242 victories, 209 pole positions, 1,000 top-five finishes and 1,669 top-10 finishes in Sprint Cup competition. Its teams have led 65,431 laps since 1984.
QUOTABLE /
“Michigan is a very fast track and restarts can be really tough sometimes. Our car was really good there at times during the race earlier this year. It’s Chevrolet’s backyard and they are very supportive of our program, so it would be great to get another win there.”
Kasey Kahne on racing at Michigan
“Our guys have been working really hard these past few weeks. Everybody is fired up at Hendrick Motorsports, (Hendrick Motorsports owner) Mr. (Rick) Hendrick himself is fired up — he has been around the shop a lot. We are all just trying to give it the best effort we can to try and make the most of these next 13 weeks. We’re all working hard and everyone is all-in. Hopefully, Michigan will be a step in the right direction. It’s hard to believe I will have run 24 races already this year, but I’m excited to get back to Michigan. It’s always been a place I enjoy going to. We have some family and friends up there that I enjoy seeing. I also have fun memories of going to watch my dad run up there every year. It’s definitely a special place for me — I like it. Obviously, it depends on how you run to determine whether or not you like it as much that day or not. We had a fast car there the first trip, which doesn’t mean it’s going to be fast again, but you hope that we can take what we learned and try to improve upon that and take back something better.”
Chase Elliott on running his 24th points-paying race at Michigan International Speedway
“I think it is good to go back a second time to Michigan and let the teams have another shot at the downforce package. From my standpoint, the first Michigan, with the lower downforce, it was still Michigan. It still raced the same. It was still tough to pass. It’s been that way ever since we’ve resurfaced the racetrack. So, I don’t put a lot of weight in the package as the culprit there. Going back a second time with it, hopefully we refine our cars and we can race a little bit better.”
Jimmie Johnson on returning to Michigan
“I’m excited about the opportunity to drive the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports again. I hate that it’s under these circumstances, obviously, and hope that Dale can get back soon, but I’m going to try to make the most of every opportunity I have to drive this car. I know I learned a lot working with Greg (Ives, crew chief) and the team in New Hampshire, so hopefully we’ll be able to pick right up where we left off and have a solid weekend in Michigan. It’s a fast racetrack, but I’m actually more comfortable there than I am at New Hampshire, so that gives me a lot of confidence heading into the weekend.”
Alex Bowman on returning to the No. 88 Chevrolet at Michigan
