NASCAR Cup Series

No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota driver Clint Bowyer heads to Michigan International Speedway for this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race with a 65 point cushion compared to 11th place with four races remaining before the field is set for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford, whose win on Sunday at Watkins Glen International put him in contention for one of the two Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Wild Card spots, currently sits 17th in points heading into the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday (Aug. 19).

This week Roush Fenway travels north to its ‘home track’ of Michigan International Speedway in the Sprint Cup Series and for road course action at Montreal in the Nationwide Series.

Richard Childress Racing in the Motor City ... In 130 starts at Michigan International Speedway, RCR teams have earned three wins, two with Dale Earnhardt (June 1987 and June 1990) and the most recent with Kevin Harvick (August 2010). Additionally, RCR has claimed 17 top-five and 43 top-10 finishes with 10 different drivers including Richard Childress, a former driver in NASCAR's top division, who recorded top-10 finishes at MIS in June 1978 and August 1979. The Welcome, N.C.-based organization has an 18.5 average starting position, a 16.9 average finishing position, has completed 24,320 of the 25,729 contested laps (94.5 percent) and has led 677 laps in the Irish Hills.

Jeff Gordon is not a big believer in it, but maybe he can find the luck of the Irish (Hills) in the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.

PAYBACK COMING FOR MICHIGAN: The last time the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visited the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway, Joey Logano was coming off of his win at Pocono Raceway and was looking to possibly make it two in a row. And with the tire issues the series experienced during the weekend putting a lot of teams behind the eight ball, Logano and the No. 20 Home Depot team looked to have it figured out, running in the top-five for much of the early portion of the race.

Race fans will definitely make sure country newcomer Josh Thompson “Won’t Be Lonely Long” when he performs a post race concert following the Kansas Lottery 300 on Oct. 20. The concert is a part of the Kansas Lottery 300 ticket and will take place in the Display Midway and will begin approximately 20 minutes after the checkered flag.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick welcomes 20 children from the Boys & Girls Club of Lenawee, Mich., to his next "Kevin's Krew" event on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.

There are many late model and stock car drivers who raced against Mark Martin at some point in the last 40 years. His 30-year NASCAR career plus years of running the short tracks across the country make him a pretty good judge of driving talent.

Watkins Glen's storyline consisted of two things; a great finish and a lot of bad things happening to good people. Kyle Busch was one of the day's better entries, was leading on the last lap, but when he struck oil he was not as thrilled as Milburn Drysdale was when Jed Clampett did the same.