NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to the Michigan International Speedway this weekend for the fifteenth race of the 2013 points season, the Quicken Loans 400 held on Sunday June 16th.

This week JTG/Daugherty Racing announced that AJ Allmendinger will drive the No. 47 Charter Communications Toyota Camry in the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. The team co-owner, Tad Geschickter said, “We’re not replacing Bobby, he’s still our driver.” Geschickter continued saying, “It is a good opportunity for us to verify what Bobby thinks the main issue is.”

Todd Anderson who had been crew chief for the #93 BK Racing Toyota for driver Travis Kvapil since the teams inception, left the team after the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Todd has now been named crew chief for the #35 Front Row Motorsports Ford and driver Josh Wise. Anderson will make his debut atop the pit box at the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

There is a saying that goes, “Don’t fix it unless it’s broke.” While the grammar of the statement may be well off the message behind remains strong today. The last seven years in NASCAR have had a really dormant appearance on growth. The sport simply isn’t attracting new fans to the race track and the people running the sport don’t either which is really making the situation consistently poor.

“We are excited about the car. The car looks great. It’s not difficult to come up with a cool paint scheme when you are working with Superman and like we did last year with Batman and all that. It’s pretty simple to come up with something really cool and fun. Definitely makes that kind of a job easier. I think the car does look good. Hopefully it’s as fast as it looks good.

“I’ve been ready for a long time. We’ve been so close here. But, when it happens, it will make it all that sweeter for us. The exciting thing is we’ve been plenty fast here over the years. But getting to the final lap and seeing that checkered flag has been a little more difficult than I could imagine.”

Trevor Bayne, driver of the No. 6 Clean Tech Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and No. 21 Motorcraft Quick Lane Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, is coming off Ford Racing’s 200th NNS victory last weekend at Iowa Speedway. He spoke to the media about that victory before practice.

“I did know Jason fairly well. We had kind of somewhat drifted apart in the last four or five years since he was doing other stuff. Probably what weighs on me the most, and even this morning I was thinking about it, is his son Charlie. Somebody tweeted a picture of the two of them standing by a fence at the race track and I just can’t quit thinking about how tough that’s gonna be for him."

Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Give Kids A Smile 3M Ford Fusion, has three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins at Michigan International Speedway. He spoke to reporters before practice about having Give Kids A Smile on his 3M Ford Fusion this weekend, in addition to some other topics.

Last Sunday at Pocono, Jason Leffler finished last in his only Cup start of the season and the 73rd of his career. It proved to be his last, as he died during a dirt track race Wednesday in New Jersey. The native of Long Beach, California competed in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500 over the course of his career, with wins coming in the Nationwide and Craftsman series of NASCAR.