AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET SS – EXPERIENCE AN ENGINE ISSUE AT THE END OF THE FINAL PRACTICE SESSION - WHAT HAVE THEY TOLD YOU MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED? “We really don’t have a really good explanation yet."
Matt Kenseth's No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota crew woke a sleeping giant just in time for qualifying for Sunday's Pure Michigan 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN) at Michigan International Speedway.
Matt Kenseth, the last of 12 drivers to make a pole qualifying attempt Friday, made the most of it at Michigan International Speedway. He bumped teammate Denny Hamlin off the provisional pole to capture the coveted No. 1 starting position for Sunday’sPure Michigan 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
Austin Dillon led the way for Team Chevy by qualifying fourth for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race. He ran a fast lap around the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway (MIS) of 195.918 mph in 36.750 seconds aboard his No. 3 Dow Chevrolet SS.
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Starting Position: 1st - Did you expect all the Joe Gibbs Racing Camrys to qualify so well? “Maybe the one, two, three, but I didn’t think I’d be in the three. This is all about Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) and everybody that works on this Dollar General Camry and really everybody in Huntersville (N.C.) that builds these things and TRD (Toyota Racing Development)."
Michigan International Speedway president Roger Curtis congratulated NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jeff Gordon on his final event at MIS with a vacation at the iconic Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 18 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - How does it feel to race at Mid-Ohio for the first time? “First timer in Mid-Ohio and I’m really looking forward for this race track. I feel like it’s a very, very technical race track. You need to have forward speed, a lot, a lot of patience, so let’s see – let’s see how everything works out. Hopefully, it will be better than last week.”
A special guest will ride along with Roush Fenway Racing’s Bubba Wallace and the No. 6 team in this weekend’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Seven-year-old Dominic Clarke’s face appears on the quarter panel of the No. 6 Ford EcoBoost Mustang as part of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Patient Champion program.
JOEY LOGANO, No. 21 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion (Qualified 10th) – “Well, we aren’t in first so we aren’t satisfied with it. Qualifying here is very interesting, for sure. I had my hands full I can tell you that much. I was sawing away at it but I had a lot of fun out there in the Shell Pennzoil Ford and we will be close enough to the front there that we will get a decent starting spot and we will get a good pit stall so the guys have that going for them and we will go to work on dialing it in some more tomorrow during the practice sessions.”
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
The three-time Daytona 500 champion from Chesterfield, Virginia, posted a pole-winning lap at 195.117 mph in 36.901 seconds to become the 10th competitor to reach 50 poles in NASCAR's premier series.
The reigning Truck Series champion led the final 15 of 125 laps and fended off teammate Kaden Honeycutt to notch his third Truck victory of 2026 and first at Michigan.
