It’s time to burn even more rubber as the NASCAR season heads to Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400 (formerly the Quicken Loans 400).
Kurt Busch just snapped his 34-race winless streak this past weekend at Pocono, but will he be able to keep the momentum up in Brooklyn this Sunday to make it two in a row? Let’s find out who exactly are the drivers worth banking on at MIS this week.
For even more tips on some sweet FireKeepers Casino 400 betting action, check out our feature on the experts’ picks for the race right after this.
With an impressive overall showing at Michigan International Speedway, Matt Kenseth is a clear favorite to win this Sunday.
Kenseth has three career wins at MIS to his credit, and although his last win in this particular event was way back in 2002, his latest victory on the track itself came just this past fall. And when you also consider that the former Winston Cup Series champion has 14 top-15 finishes and 20 top-10s over 33 starts on the course, you really can’t go wrong with taking Kenseth to win it all this weekend.
Kurt Busch
Not to be outdone by Kenseth, last Sunday’s winner at the Axalta 400, Kurt Busch, also has three career wins himself on this week’s track. Considering that Pocono is quite similar to MIS, the current No. 2 on the Sprint Cup standings would need to make less of an adjustment for his next outing.
However, most of Busch’s success happened several seasons ago. He only has two top-10 finishes in Michigan over his last 11 appearances, and that already includes one of his three wins on the course.
In terms of momentum, though, you simply can’t go wrong with taking Busch as your best bet this week. You’ll just have to take some of the bad from MIS with the recent goods that he has delivered this season thus far.
Sleepers
Jimmie Johnson
There’s no doubt that Jimmie Johnson is a NASCAR living legend. His legacy has left quite an impression on Michigan International Speedway already, having led the most laps on the track than any active driver on the circuit.
Yet in spite of such an accomplishment, Johnson only has one victory at MIS over his decorated career, which was also a late feat since that win came just a couple of years ago. Even stranger is the fact that the five-time Driver of the Year only has 11 top-10 finishes in 28 starts on the course, and that’s the main reason why Jimmie has attained a rather uncharacteristic sleeper status for this week’s race from our own assessment.
Greg Biffle
Not a lot of NASCAR fans know that Greg Biffle is actually the winningest driver at Michigan International Speedway with four career wins on the track. Even more shocking is that his last two victories were pretty recent as well (2012 and 2013).
But despite his glowing success on this week’s course, the Roush Fenway Racing standout has not had a great 2016 campaign at all. Biffle has failed to crack the top 10 this entire season to go with three unfortunate DNFs, so pick the 46-year-old Vancouver, Washington native at your own risk.
Long Shot
Chase Elliott
Slowly but surely, Chase Elliott is becoming a household name in NASCAR as the heir apparent to Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 car for Hendrick Motorsports. Just last Sunday, he led the Axalta 400 for 51 laps (the most by any driver during the event), finished fourth in that race, and is now sitting pretty at seventh place in the Sprint Cup standings.
Then again, the hype surrounding Elliott is just too much compared to his actual output. He’s still green as a professional driver, obviously, and having Jimmie Johnson as his teammate certainly divides his team’s strategies as for who really has a better shot at winning a particular race. More often than not, the battle-tested Johnson gets the upper hand on most situations and not the 20-year-old upstart.
