Michigan

  June 11, 2012

Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 marks the final race of spring 2012 – summer begins with the longest day of the year June 20 – and the second week in which the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has raced on a repaved race track. The two-mile track’s first of two races has been run three times on June 17 with Carl Edwards the most recent to visit Victory Lane in 2007.

The race also falls on Father’s Day and marks the four-year, 143-race anniversary of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last NASCAR Sprint Cup victory in 2008. "You know, my daddy, he meant a lot to me," said Earnhardt of his late, seven-time champion father Dale Earnhardt following his Michigan win.

Denny Hamlin won the Quicken Loans 400 in 2010-11 and looks for the hat trick outside the Motor City.

Brad Keselowski didn’t come close to repeating last August’s Pocono win – he finished 18th – but coupled with Kyle Busch’s engine failure, the Detroit-area native reached the top 10 in the points standings for the first time in his career pre-Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™. In order, Busch, Ryan Newman, Pocono winner Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne are the current "wild card" aspirants.

Greg Biffle’s tenure atop the points ended after 11 races. He’s replaced by Roush Fenway teammate and Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth. Earnhardt is second and Biffle third.

NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers begin a grueling, 16-week run in Saturday’s Alliance Truck Parts 250 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hoping to end a "mini" slump of two finishes outside the top 20 that handed the championship lead to Elliott Sadler. Several drivers are slated to do double duty, including Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader Austin Dillon, who’ll make his second NASCAR Sprint Cup appearance; Logano, winner of three of the past four NNS races and 2010 NNS champion Keselowski, who sat out the past two races at Iowa and Dover.

Seven-for-seven is a sweet phrase nicely summing up the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to date. Veteran Johnny Sauter became the season’s seventh different winner at Texas Motor Speedway on June 8. Better yet, beleaguered ThorSport Racing finished one-two for the first time since 2009 with Matt Crafton runner-up to his teammate. The series’ next race is June 28 at Kentucky Speedway.