NASCAR Cup Series

YOU CHANGED AN ENGINE IN PRACTICE THIS MORNING. WHAT HAPPENED? “The guys saw something in warm up this morning and we were trying to sort through it before practice started. They took a deeper look at things right before practice started and decided to change it."

Each race weekend, SRT Motorsports Engineer Howard Comstock gives his insight on the ‘Keys for Success’ for the upcoming race. This week’s focus is on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

With the Camping World Truck Series and Sprint Cup Series heading to the 2 mile Michigan International Speedway and the Nationwide Series at the road course of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, there are many headlines to watch as the championship picture is becoming more and more relevant each weekend.

Jimmie Johnson piloting the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet will take the green-flag from the third starting position for the Pure Michigan 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday. This will be Johnson’s 15th top-10 start at the 2.0-mile speedway in the Irish Hills.

Parker Kligerman (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Qualified 17th “I wanted to be in the top 10 at least. We ended practice eighth and you kind of just want to backup practice. We went faster than we did in practice only by about two-tenths but you know we were faster than our teammate with the same setup so that was good."

Mark Martin captures his 55th career pole for Sundays NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway with a lap of 199.706 mph on the track’s new surface. This makes the fourth pole of the season for Martin, who is making only his 15th Cup start this season.

1st, MARK MARTIN 23rd, KYLE BUSCH 7th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 27th, REED SORENSON 9th, LANDON CASSILL 28th, BOBBY LABONTE 12th, CLINT BOWYER 30th, TRAVIS KVAPIL 16th, JOEY LOGANO 31st, DAVID STREMME 21st, DENNY HAMLIN 35th, JOE NEMECHEK

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET: - QUALIFIED THIRD - ON HIS LAP: “We didn’t come back for the tire test, we were road-course testing that week, and we took to the track right away and got going. So, it is different, but I can’t say it’s affected us a lot over today’s practice session."

MATT KENSETH, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion (Qualified 4th) – “I did the first lap and thought it was good but I thought maybe I could do a little better the second lap. I should have done it a little different though I guess. The car is really good and we drew a cloud, which was good. Hopefully the sun will come back out. I don’t know how fast the rest of these guys will go."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET met with media and discussed last weekend’s race at The Glen, the importance of racing at Chevrolet’s hometown track near Detroit, the upcoming race at Atlanta, and more.