Official Release

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.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 PEPSI CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) and discussed his memories of racing at MIS, his thoughts on the high downforce package teams are competing with this weekend and many other topics.

ERIK JONES, No. 4 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports - Are you looking forward to your first NCWTS race at your home track of Michigan? “I stayed in my own house last night and I’ll stay there tonight, it’s only an hour-and-a-half down the road for me. Pretty cool to be making my first start here at a place I’ve wanted to run at for a long time."

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will run Saturday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway with hometown product Brad Keselowski and his racing team fielding a pair of entries with Ryan Blaney and current series leader Tyler Reddick. Both met with the media Friday morning ahead of track activity to talk about the weekend ahead.

Aric Almirola is under the weather today with what the team hopes is a 24-hour virus. In an effort to allow Almirola to rest and recover, two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion Matt Crafton has been tapped to practice the No. 43 Armour Ford today at Michigan International Speedway. The plan is for Almirola to make limited laps in practice in order to qualify the car today and retain his starting spot in Sunday's race. Updates will be distributed as more information is available.

Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Ortho Ford Fusion and team owner Jack Roush, met with media members at Michigan International Speedway Friday morning to kick off race weekend in the Irish Hills. Roush and Biffle are no strangers to success at MIS over the years with Biffle securing a series-best 4 wins among active drivers, including the 1,000th win for Ford in June of 2013.

KHI Management has inked a multi-year agreement on behalf of reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick with the legendary New Era Cap company.