NASCAR Cup Series Predictions at Michigan
Kevin Harvick walking alongside with daughter, Piper Harvick, back to his car after winning at Michigan in 2022.
The Irish Hills of Michigan are hosting the NASCAR Cup Series for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at 2:30 PM EST on USA.
Last year it was Kevin Harvick who emerged victorious, leading the last 38 laps en route to his first win of 2022 and 59th Cup win of his career.
Kyle Larson enters as the favorite to win, having a solid history at the two mile oval. Larson won three straight races from the August 2016 race and sweeping both races in 2017. Since he’s raced for Hendrick Motorsports, Larson has a pole and 3rd place finish in 2021, along with the most laps led in that race with 70. He finished 7th in last year’s race and has a win in the Next Gen at Auto Club, a similar track to Michigan. With only one Top 5 in his last four races, look for the #5 team to run a smart and competitive race on Sunday.
Denny Hamlin enters as the second favorite behind Larson. After the two tangled at the end of Pocono, there’s been a swarm of hatred thrown at the driver of the #11 FedEx Toyota Camry that hasn’t plagued the speed one bit. Since his 36th place finish at Sonoma, Hamlin has scored one win, three Top 5’s, four Top 10’s, an average finish of 6th, and has moved from 8th in the driver standings all the way up to 2nd. Not to mention, Michigan has been a great track for Hamlin. He led 38 laps last year and finished 3rd, his fifth straight Top 10 at Michigan. Denny will look to continue to keep the pace going this Sunday.
Kevin Harvick is often known as ‘The Closer’ or ‘Mr. Where did he come From?’ and even the ‘King of Phoenix’ but it might be time to refer to him as the ‘King of the Irish Hills.’ Overall, Harvick has six career wins at the two mile oval. Dating back to August 2018, Harvick has won five of the last seven races at Michigan. Still looking for his first win of 2023, it could come at the track where he got to ride into victory lane with his son Keelan in 2019 and daughter Piper in 2022. He’ll be looking to do that again in 2023, with both of his children in the car ride to victory lane.
Kyle Busch finished 36th in last year’s race after being caught in a crash. Before 2022, Busch had a Top 10 in his previous nine races at Michigan, dating back to June 2017. Looking to build off a 3rd place run at Richmond, Richard Childress will be bringing the best out of that #8 team as they look to sweep the two mile ovals after winning at Auto Club in February.
Bubba Wallace came one spot short of reaching victory lane last year, he’s looking to prove once again that he’s capable of winning in the Cup Series. He came close to winning last week at Richmond, before an error on pit road by his pit crew costed him track position, finishing 11th after leading 80 laps. Bubba has been fast on the 1.5 mile tracks, however failing to finish at Auto Club this year due to engine failure. But it seems this year after Wallace’s win in Kansas, it just feels like a race where you’d expect the #23 to run inside the Top 10. Expect Bubba to contend for the win again on Sunday.
Ty Gibbs has run fairly decent in his short career at Michigan. He’s won at this track before in the ARCA Menard’s Series in 2021, and was the winner of last year’s Xfinity Series race. He also finished 10th in last year’s NASCAR Cup race, filling in for Kurt Busch after his concussion at Pocono. Gibbs enters 18 points behind Michael McDowell for the final position, he’s looking to overtake for the 16th spot in points this Sunday.