Date: Aug. 18-19, 2024
Event: FireKeepers Casino 400 (Round 24 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn (2-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/75 laps/80 laps)
Note 1: The race’s first 51 laps were run on Sunday, but rain forced the remainder of the race to be run on Monday.
Note 2: Race extended six laps past its scheduled 200-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Race Winner: Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Busch of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
SHR Finish:
● Ryan Preece (Started 26th, Finished 11th / Running, completed 206 of 206 laps)
● Noah Gragson (Started 25th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 206 of 206 laps)
● Josh Berry (Started 16th, Finished 22nd / Running, completed 206 of 206 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 21st, Finished 31st / Accident, completed 157 of 206 laps)
SHR Points:
● Chase Briscoe (18th with 491 points, 323 out of first)
● Josh Berry (23rd with 427 points, 387 out of first)
● Noah Gragson (24th with 425 points, 389 out of first)
● Ryan Preece (26th with 387 points, 447 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Preece earned his seventh top-15 of the season and his second top-15 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Michigan.
● Gragson earned his 12th top-15 of the season and his first top-15 in two career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Michigan.
● Gragson has finished among the top-20 in five of the last six NASCAR Cup Series races.
● Berry led once for four laps – his first laps led at Michigan.
Race Notes:
● Tyler Reddick won the FireKeepers Casino 400 to score his seventh career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Michigan. His margin of victory over second-place William Byron was .168 of a second.
● There were seven caution periods for a total of 41 laps.
● Twenty-four of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Reddick leaves Michigan as the new championship leader with a 10-point advantage over second-place Chase Elliott.
Sound Bites:
“I think it was a good ending. I didn’t think we were going to finish 11th today. I think if everything went our way, maybe we could’ve finished 16th, 17th, so that was a net gain for us. Certainly we have some strengths. We’ve made gains, we’ve just got to continue to make gains on those weak areas, but I feel like we’re getting closer. Hopefully, these final 12 (races) we can finish out on a positive note.” – Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“I got kind of lucky there with that caution at the end and put tires on. It was a good rebound. We just struggled with the balance all day. It was super tight, and then we got on the other side of it and it started getting loose. Yeah, we kind of struggled all weekend. We’ll go back to the shop and look over everything and see where we can make gains and figure out how to be better for the future.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“This weekend was tough. We just missed it on the setup and had to work on it to try to get better. We started really loose and struggled to get tightened up, but Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and the team did a good job trying to get the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse in a better spot. It just didn’t work out this weekend. We will fight hard in Daytona.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“I don’t know, we were kind of ripping around the very top and then all of a sudden everybody just started spinning out up ahead of us. I don’t know what happened, to be honest with you.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday, Aug. 24 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The race begins at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Contact Mike Arning
True Speed Communication on behalf of Stewart-Haas Racing
(704) 875-3388, ext. 802 or Mike.Arning@TrueSpeedCommunication.com
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