NASCAR Cup Series

Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion, is heading to his home track this weekend as Michigan International Speedway hosts the annual Pure Michigan 400 on Sunday afternoon. Keselowski, a native of Rochester Hills, MI, spoke about returning home and the high drag package that will be making its second appearance this season as part of a NASCAR Teleconference Tuesday morning.

Heading into Sunday's Pure Michigan 400, Wise will be looking to make his 122nd career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) start, and his eighth at the fast high-banked 2.0-mile oval. Subsequently, this weekend's event in "The Great Lakes State" will mark Wise's second race in 2015 for Go Green Racing.

Ford Motor Co. has won half of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events run at Michigan International Speedway (46-of-92), which includes 34 wins by Ford and 12 under the Mercury banner. In addition, it was the site of Ford’s 1000th NASCAR triumph in 2013. As the series prepares to run the same high drag package used at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last month, here are some notes about Ford’s MIS history.

Richard Childress Racing at Michigan International Speedway ... In 151 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Michigan International Speedway, RCR teams have earned three wins, two with Dale Earnhardt (1987, 1990) and the most recent with Kevin Harvick (August 2010).

With no need for the Goodyear wet weather radials brought to the track just in case, here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 30th annual CHEEZ-It 355 at the Watkins Glen International road course.

It was, for the most part, a race about nothing. This is not to say that Watkins Glen was boring, for it was actually one of those pleasant occurrences where we had an event that actually was entertaining enough to keep us watching. The damndest things can happen on a road course, and they did.

I awoke this morning to a great shock when I learned that Buddy Baker had passed on so swiftly. It was only about six weeks ago when I heard Buddy had inoperable cancer and would be leaving his Sirius Satellite Radio program he co-hosted with Brad Gillie.

Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford race team played their pit strategy just right and passed leader Kevin Harvick on the white flag lap to earn the victory on Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen International (WGI), their second win of the 2015 season. With Shell technology under the hood, the win at WGI marked a weekend sweep for Logano, who also won Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series event.Sunday’s victory was also the first for Team Penske in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Watkins Glen.

Richard Petty and the Petty family is saddened to hear of the passing of Buddy Baker. Baker raced for Petty Enterprises in 1971 and 1972, winning one race each season. A statement from Richard Petty:

Elzie Wylie “Buddy” Baker Jr., the 1980 Daytona 500 champion and famed NASCAR commentator, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 74 (b. 1-25-41).