Friday, Mar 31
Much like qualifying, Martin Truex, Jr. topped the chart in final practice at 176.377 mph. Running 34 laps, the No. 78 car posted its best lap late in the session that jumped to the top of the board. 

Prior to flying to Iowa Speedway for the XFINITY Series race, Brad Keselowski finished final practice second the board (176.136 mph). The driver of the No. 2 car was involved in a violent crash at Watkins Glen International earlier this week. The last time he was involved in a practice crash, he went on to win at Pocono. 

Kevin Harvick (176.012 mph) and June-winner, Kurt Busch (175.922 mph) were next on the board with rookie Chase Elliott fifth (175.864 mph). The No. 24 car led 51 laps in June at Pocono, the most that he's been out front in a single race this season. 

Kyle Busch was outside the top five in sixth (175.864 mph), Kyle Larson finished seventh (175.761 mph), Paul Menard eighth (175.719 mph), Carl Edwards was nitnh (175.599 mph) and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top 10 (175.549 mph). 

Richard Childress Racing, who has been fast all weekend had the next two positions outside the top 10, while drivers including Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon were 20th and below on the board. 

The June-winner took 42 circuits around the Tricky Triangle, the most of all competitors with Stewart the only other driver posting at least 40 laps. 

Truex led the way when it came to the best 10 consecutive laps (174.625 mph). 17 drivers made a run of at least 10 laps, Busch was last on the list.
While staying in qualifying trim throughout the opening practice, turning just seven laps, Paul Menard led the way at 177. 438 mph in opening practice at Pocono Raceway Friday afternoon. 

It's the first practice session that the No. 27 car has been atop of in 2016 season. Menard is coming off his second top-10 finish of the season at Indianapolis, which he placed 10th. This week veteran Danny Stockman took over as the crew chief for the team, replacing Justin Alexander, who was in his second season atop the pit box. 

The next trio of drivers were all from the Joe Gibbs Racing stable, led by four-time Pocono winner Denny Hamlin (177.406 mph). Looking for his first win at the track, Kyle Busch was third in practice at 177. 019 mph. Carl Edwards was fourth at 176.977 mph. 
Kevin Harvick was fifth on the board at 176.620 mph.

2015 winner, Martin Truex, Jr. was sixth on the speed chart (176. 602 mph), Joey Logano seventh (176.495 mph), rookie Chase Elliott was eighth (176.484 mph), Ryan Newman was ninth after leading the session early on (176.391 mph) and his Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon rounded out the top 10 at 175.984 mph.

Spring winner, Kurt Busch was just outside the top 10 in 14th. In his return to Pocono, Jeff Gordon was 22nd on the board, over eight-tenths of a second off the top time. Defending winner Matt Kenseth put up a lap that was 24th quick. 

Only two drivers made a run of 10 or more laps, led by Danica Patrick (171.094 mph). Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was the other driver on that list, running 22 laps in the practice session, the most of all drivers. 

Qualifying is set to begin shortly after 4:00 p.m. ET. Brad Keselowski won the pole for the spring race eight weeks ago.

Due to rain at the Kentucky Speedway, NASCAR has announced that  qualifying has been cancelled. The field will be set by the rule book. Owner points will determine the starting lineup.

Once the track is dry, Sprint Cup teams will practice until 4:25 pm. Xfinity Series teams will qualify at 4:45. Final Sprint Cup practice will be from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. 

Kevin Harvick will start from the pole. Brad Keselowski will start second, followed by, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, and Carl Edwards round out the top-five. 

NASCAR has opted to give teams more practice time on the newly repaved and reconfigured Kentucky Speedway. It will take NASCAR less than 90 minutes to dry the track. 

Going nearly eight months without visiting Victory Lane, Joey Logano led 139 laps en route to a dominating performance on Sunday in Michigan.

With eight restarts on the afternoon, Logano controlled all but one, when he got passed by Chase Elliott. That was the only stint of the race in which the No. 22 Ford was not out front for a significant amount of laps, other than green flag pit stops.

Winning from the pole at Michigan is something that Logano has done in the past. In 2013, he started out front, finishing out front, in what was his first victory with Team Penske. The triumph came in Ford's backyard, as their headquarters are in the Detroit area and Adsel Ford II was in attendance for the victory. 

"Everyone did a good job at understanding what this package was going to do and put together a great racecar for me," Logano said of his victory. "It was a lot of fun racing with Chase [Elliott] there at the end and [Kyle] Larson. They had the restarts figured out down on the bottom pushing each other. We've been knocking on the door of a victory all season, but it's nice to get that win and lock ourselves into the Chase."

This is Team Penske's 99th career victory in the Sprint Cup Series and the third victory of 2016 for the organization. 

The 400-mile event was a bit unusual compared to Michigan standards. NASCAR brought a new aerodynamic package, hopeful of using this package in 2017. Most of the drivers throughout the field liked it, as like most races this season, it put the racing back in the drivers hands. 

Elliott recorded a career-best second-place finish at Michigan. The No. 24 car was out front for 35 circuits, after leading 51 laps last week in Pocono.

Logano got around Elliott on a restart with around 50 laps to go. He slid out of the groove and fell back to fourth. On the resuming restart, he pulled his Chevrolet back up to second, where he would remain the rest of the race. 

"You can't do dumb stuff to win these races," Elliott said post-race. "It was completely my fault. The guys gave me a fantastic car today. That one was on me."

Kyle Larson remained in the top five for the majority of the event in Michigan. Coming home third is the No. 42 team's second top-three finish in the past four races and now sits 19th in the championship standings, 23 points outside of the Chase cutoff.

"I'm not sure that there was anything I could have done there," Larson said of finishing third. "I was pretty tight there for two or three laps, sometimes for a full run. Staying out front the whole time was a big key. The Target Chevrolet was definitely a third or fourth-place car."

Brad Keselowski finished fourth at his hometown track and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five after starting in 29th. 

Carl Edwards finished sixth, while Tony Stewart came home seventh, after spending much of the day inside the top five. Austin Dillon rebounded after a possible left rear tire failure passed halfway to finish eighth. Jamie McMurray was ninth and Kurt Busch completed the top 10. 

Many of the big name drivers, including Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kyle Busch all faced difficulties on Sunday.

On Lap 54, the No. 18 car was on fire. On the next restart, Chris Buescher got loose and up into Earnhardt who smacked the outside wall, finishing 39th. Hamlin brought out the final caution with under 10 laps to go when he cut down a left rear tire and spun to the inside wall. 

The Cup Series is off next week, but will resume in two weeks at the first road course of the season, Sonoma. The younger Busch is the defending winner at that event, which was his first of five victories in 2015.
For the second time in his Sprint Cup Series career, Joey Logano will start from the pole at the Michigan International Speedway. The last time he did so was in 2013, he went on to lead 51 laps to secure his first victory with Team Penske. 

On Friday, Logano swept all three rounds of qualifying. The No. 22 car pole-winning speed was 199.557 mph, almost two-tenths of a second faster than second-place. 

"It just feels really good because the last couple weeks we've come in second in the final round," Logano said of his fast lap. "We've been qualifying really well with this No. 22 car, we just haven't had the pole. It's nice to finally pull through and get a pole with this new package. It really goes to show how good Team Penske is at preparing cars from the shop and really not knowing what they're coming to and we have great adjustability and a fast car." 

Logano started first at Martinsville in April when he was lapped in the opening segment of the race.

Martin Truex, Jr. turned the second fastest lap at 199.016 mph. Struggling in qualifying last week in Pocono, the Furniture Row Racing team made sure they put down a hot lap for Michigan. 

In his best start of 2016, Tony Stewart will start third. At 198.950 mph, it's his best start since Watkins Glen last season. 

Denny Hamlin will start from fourth at 198.774 mph with rookie Ryan Blaney rounding out the top five at 198.588 mph. The No. 21 car needed two attempts to even get out of round one, but rebounded to pick up his first top-five starting spot of 2016. 

Ryan Newman, Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott make up the top 10. 

Pocono pole-sitter, Brad Keselowski will start from 15th at his home racetrack. The defending winner of this event, Kurt Busch, will start in the next row at 17th. 

After having the fourth quickest time in the opening practice, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. qualified 27th on Friday. It's his ninth time this season that the No. 88 car had started the race from outside the top 20. 

Kevin Harvick was on the track twice when the session was paused is Round One, putting three cycles on his tires by the time he complete a timed lap. The first stoppage was for Jamie McMurray leaking a piece of debris. David Ragan brought out the second caution when he spun in Turn 3 and hit the outside wall. 

"The common sense was pretty low there on when to throw the caution," Harvick said of being out on track twice when the yellow flag flew during his qualifying run. "I think we were the only racecar on the racetrack and debris came up out of the groove. It is what it is. There's not much you can do about that. 

The No. 4 Chevrolet will begin the 400-mile event from 29th. 

There are two practice sessions on Saturday, the first beginning at 9:00 a.m. and Happy Hour starting shortly after noon.
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