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After a relatively bland Pocono race with Jimmie Johnson domination, the premier stock car series heads to the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan to the large, still-freshly paved Michigan International Speedway, the site of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s wins since 2008. Coming of the momentum off of his strong 3rd place finish last week at Pocono, will JUNIOR pull another one off?
Will Jimmie Yawnson continue his dominating ways? Can Tony Stewart or Denny Hamlin continue their string of finishes?
How will Bobby Labonte and A.J Allmendinger perform in their new temporary rides? Will this weeks coverage involve large banner ads taking about 1/4 of the screen?

Meanwhile, the NASCAR Nationwide Series continues its long summer stretch that lasts until the Fall Charlotte race after a very rare non-Cup driver run race at Iowa. Kyle Busch makes a return in the 54, and Joey Logano likewise returns to the 22.

The ARCA Racing Series heads to Michigan after a Pocono race won by young prospect Chase Elliott, whose next start won't be until Road America a week after. Ryan Blaney hops into the Cunningham 22 car after Will Kimmel gave it a short run last week, while Chad Boat and Brennan Poole also return to the series.

Entry Lists:

Cup: Quicken Loans 400
Nationwide: Alliance Truck Parts 250
ARCA: Michigan ARCA 200

Schedule (Eastern Daylight Time):

Thursday, June 13
7:30 AM ARCA Racing Series Haulers Enter
8:00 am ARCA Racing Series Garage Opens
1:05 - 3:30 pm ARCA Racing Series Practice
5:00 pm ARCA Racing Series Garage Closes
6:00 pm NSCS Haulers Enter

Friday, June 14
6:30 am NSCS Garage Opens
7:00 am ARCA Racing Series Registration and Garage Opens
10:00 am ARCA Racing Series Qualifying
11:30 am - 1:00 pm NSCS Practice
1:10 - 3:25 pm NNS Final Practice
3:35 pm NSCS Qualifying
5:00 pm ARCA Pre-Race Activities & Driver Introductions
5:15 pm ARCA Racing Series Race - Michigan ARCA 200
6:00 pm NSCS Garage Closes

Saturday, June 15
8:00 am NSCS Garage Opens
9:30 - 10:25 am NSCS Practice
10:35 am NNS Qualifying
12:30 - 1:30 pm NSCS Final Practice
1:45 pm NNS Pre-Race Activities & Driver Introductions
2:15 pm NNS Race - Alliance Truck Parts 250
4:00 pm NSCS Garage Closes

Sunday, June 16
7:00 am NSCS Garage Opens
11:00 am NSCS Driver/Crew Chief Meeting
12:30 Pre-Race Activities & Driver Introductions
1:00 NSCS Race - Quicken Loans 400

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Good Win Busch

38 cars for a Nationwide companion event. That's just sad.

28 cars counting two TBA's for the ARCA race. It's kinda worrying... just think 6-7 years ago both series were getting 50+ cars at all the races. I remember the ARCA race at Nashville damn near sent home an entire field of cars!

Like I said, the ARCA guys are running out of shit to destroy.

Finding a sponsor is hard at the moment, that's the biggest issue. On a subject I saw in another thread, ARCA teams do build their own cars. I've seen photos or read about a couple teams either bringing a new car to the track or building a car for an upcoming race... Still, I think it might help if they switched to the Gen 6 stuff as soon as they can.

Not sure they can switch to gen-6 as Cup teams themselves are probably still filling up their own inventory with it. Plus, with the costly carbon fiber shiznit, perhaps it's a bit out of ARCA teams' reach for now.

Tell you what though, when I heard about gen-6 using the same chassis as gen-5/COT, I thought that was the perfect time for ARCA to switch to gen-5 atleast as the chassis was the same and there would be a shed load of gen-5 bodies being outphased that could have tided ARCA teams for a good few years until a shift to gen-6 was made.

Dunno if ARCA/NASCAR relations have soured over the past decade. They didn't adopt any of NASCAR's rule changes like the new points system or double file restarts and no word on whether they will ever move to the gen-5/6 chassis either.

6 of which are start and park cars...

Get rid of the start n parks. Quality over quantity.

Get rid of the Cup stars too, they don't bring in the expected crowds and take up seats that could be used for up and coming drivers.

There was talk about switching to the CoT awhile back, but again, cost is everything. I just wonder if they could find a way to level the playing field so guys with older equipment who can't afford the new stuff could still run. I've seen photos of the downsized cars from the early 80s racing against the behemoths from the 70s at places like Talladega.

With the older/current body styles being so aerodynamic, given the same engine, they'd probably be faster than with gen-5 cars. I remember when the COT came out, the Nationwide cars were as fast or faster than them on some tracks even with the tapered spacers. But I'm sure ARCA could work out some sort of equivalency formula like you say to let them both run side by side.

Found a photo of what I was talking about earlier.

The stars come with sponsors.

I don't mind the stars, but they should drive their own cars like they used to. Kyle Busch in his own car was fine but instead of having to fight and be competitive like last year, he's the best guy in the best car and runs away with it.

Agree that there's strong financial motivation to running cup drivers, but you'd think that was mostly the team's motivation in bagging sponsors. NASCAR should have more of an interest in growing a unique product that draws an audience, and so should be able to push for less Buschwackers regardless of what the teams want.

Only reason they're not is the immediate financial result is not positive enough for them to bother. What they need to look at is the slightly longer term benefit of not having the Nationwide series shut down within 5 years, which I guarantee it will be at this rate.

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If practice speeds are anything to go by, Ryan Blaney is going to lap the field tomorrow.

Hopefully that's just a qualifying trim lap run in the draft lol.

what was his time/speed vs the field?

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Go Miami Dolphins!
Go New York Yankees!
Go New York Rangers!

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Gael

Wait, that doesn't seem accurate.

http://www.arcaracing.com/schedule.php?contentid=1785

1 22 Ryan Blaney/Concord NC Cunningham Motorsports Dodge 38.632 186.374
2 44 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN Ansell-Menards Toyota 39.045 184.403


Edit: It appears they meant 2mph, not 2 seconds.

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Gael

oh gawd expert proof reading they have there.
2 seconds? what did he do stop for a burger?