BROOKLYN, Mich. — High speeds, harried restarts and high-pressure decisions will be on display in today’s Cup race at Michigan International Speedway.

Today’s race is the 15th of the season. Eleven races will remain in the regular season after today. The green flag is scheduled for 2:19 p.m. ET on Prime.

Here’s a look at what to watch for in today’s race:

Restarts, restarts, restarts

Today’s race will mark the third for Christopher Bell with new spotter Matt Philpott, who took over after Stevie Reeves left the team after Bell’s All-Star win last month at North Wilkesboro.

Let Bell, who starts 25th today, explain what Philpott will face in spotting today’s race:

“He’s in a for a rude awakening at this race track, let me tell you, because restarts here are probably the most intense restarts that we get all year long,” Bell told NBC Sports. “Massive draft runs. Lots of lanes to pick where to go.

“He’s been doing a lot of studying. He’s been doing a great job, too. I think for getting thrown in the middle of the season, he’s done everything you could ask for.

“From my side, really, there’s been a couple of really tight clears. I had my incident with a teammate Ty (Gibbs) at Charlotte that hindered his race, so that was a bummer, but we worked through that. It’s just me understanding his language and knowing his tone of voice, stuff like that.

“I think Adam (Stevens, crew chief) has had a little bit of direction for him, but he’s been doing a really good job every week and really taking care of our car and getting us to the end of the races. He’s doing a really good job.”

As Bell noted, restarts are a key part of the racing at Michigan because of how wide the track is, allowing drivers to use different lanes to get around cars.

Of course, it also can create calamity and multi-car crashes. Seven cars were involved in a crash shortly after a restart in last year’s race that eliminated Bell, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano.

A new winner today?

Six of the top 10 starters for today’s race have yet to win a race this season.

Those are Chase Briscoe (starting first), Kyle Busch (second), Chris Buescher (sixth), Ty Gibbs (eighth), Bubba Wallace (ninth) and Zane Smith (10th).

Briscoe is starting on the pole for the third consecutive race. Busch is winless in his last 71 Cup races and finished fourth in this race a year ago. Buescher won here two years ago and finished sixth last year despite being involved in an incident. Gibbs finished third in last year’s race.

Four of the last five races have seen a driver score their first victory of the season. Those drivers were Ryan Blaney (Nashville), Ross Chastain (Coca-Cola 600), Joey Logano (Texas) and Austin Cindric (Talladega).

Wait now or wait later

With pit crews able to change four tires quicker than a fueler can fill a car with gas, crew chiefs will be left with the decision of having to make their driver wait on fuel or leave when the tires changed and with less gas.

Fuel often plays a key role at this 2-mile track.

While restarts will be pivotal, gaining track position with a faster pit stop also can prove key. Watch when teams wait for fuel and when they don’t in today’s race.

The NASCAR Cup Series got a new winner for the 2025 season last week in Nashville.

Entering this race in the middle of a three-year winless streak, Canadian driver Stewart Friesen was not originally in the conversation to claim victory at Michigan International Speedway. And yet, through a series of late-race crashes and overtime restarts, it was his No. 52 Toyota leading the way.

After a debris caution set up a five-lap dash to the checkered flag, Friesen was only running 19th on track. It turned out that he was exactly where he needed to be. As the front row struggled to get going on old tires while those behind them were shoving, absolute chaos broke out with Gio Ruggiero getting turned, hooking Ross Chastain. Several contenders were taken out including Corey Heim as trucks spun all over the track.

Corey Lajoie, who had just signed a deal to run nine of the final 13 races for Spire Motorsport, was now in control of the race as he hoped to secure his first win ever in one of the national levels of NASCAR. He was just one turn away from taking the white flag when a cut tire sent Daniel Hemric into the outside wall, pushing the race into double overtime.

This time, Grant Enfinger prevailed over LaJoie, but he didn’t make it to the white flag in time either as three trucks in the back wrecked down the backstretch. This was also the end of Carson Hocevar’s shot at the win as he got called for a restart violation, pulling out of line too early as he tried to move forward on fresh tires.

The remaining drivers managed to keep it clean for the third and final restart with Friesen taking the lead from Enfinger with an inside pass into Turn 3, holding on for the entire white flag lap to claim victory.

“I don’t even know what to say,” said Friesen, who now has four wins in the NASCAR Truck Series. “Thank you to all of our great sponsors. These badass race fans. I know there are a lot of Canadians, there are a lot of Americans. Everybody is having a good time together and that’s what it is all about, baby. Yeah!”

Enfinger finished second with pole-sitter Luke Fenhaus in third. Ben Rhodes and LaJoie rounded out the top five. Matt Crafton, Jake Garcia, Chandler Smith, Andres Perez, and Layne Riggs filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Frankie Muniz also survived the chaos mostly unscathed, bringing him a 14th-place finish — his best result since the season-opener at Daytona.

Race rundown

Ross Chastain, Niece Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Heim won both Stage 1 and Stage 2 after working the draft perfectly with Hocevar. The race went 70 laps without a single natural yellow, but that all changed in the final stage.

Jack Wood spun into the outside wall for the first incident of the restart, which was promptly followed by a restart wreck involving Rajah Caruth. A handful of trucks opted to pit despite being just outside the fuel window. They were going to need help from some caution laps, which they were about to get.

A major incident on the subsequent restart involving Morgen Baird and Nathan Byrd actually damaged the outside wall. The leaders all came down pit road as they were now inside the full window, but the timing was going to put them all deep in the pack. The race was actually red-flagged to fix damage to the wall with safety crews working to repair a visible hole in the SAFER Barrier.

When things finally got rolling, Heim restarted 17th, Chastain 18th, Honeycutt 20th, and Hocevar outside the top 20. Enfinger was in control of the race for the restart to follow.

The drivers who pitted steadily marched forward, eventually catching Enfinger. A thrilling multi-truck battle for the lead broke out with Chastain and Hocevar actually making contact as they battled for the top spot. Chastain spun sideways but miraculously saved the truck while Hocevar suffered a flat left rear tire. A caution for debris (from Riggs) then set up the sprint to the finish and the aforementioned carnage that followed.

Watch: Ross Chastain makes massive save after contact with Carson Hocevar

Photos from Michigan – Race

For the third time in as many weeks, Chase Briscoe has secured a Cup Series pole. The Hoosier laid down a lap of 195.514 mph (36.826s) to secure the pole for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

In doing so, Briscoe remains the only polesitter of Prime Video’s NASCAR Cup Series race broadcast slate, and now has four poles in the opening 15 races of his tenure with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Saturday’s result was arguably the most surprising of the stretch for Briscoe after a lap where he felt he’d left the door open for a quicker driver.

“I tried to run low,” Briscoe said of his lap around the two-mile oval. “I felt like with us all running wide open fairly easily, if you could just cut a lot of distance it would be better. I ran low, but I ended up way high on exit.

“I felt like the guys that kind of opened up their entry would maybe beat me to the line. I was surprised, truthfully, that it held on. It was not as easy as I thought it was going to be (sic), as far as holding it wide open.”

Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing were the surprise of the session, slotting in second with a 195.371 mph lap. Denny Hamlin (195.328) followed in third. He’ll fly home this afternoon to be with his partner, Jordan Fish, who is due to give birth to the pair’s third child. Hamlin plans to fly back to Michigan on Sunday morning.

William Byron and Kyle Larson completed the top-five, with Chris Buescher, Josh Berry, Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace and Zane Smith wrapping up the top-10. Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney slotted in 12th and 13th, respectively, after suffering flat tires during the preceding practice session. Shane van Gisbergen had similar tire troubles, but was also able to qualify.

Christopher Bell was second in practice and poised to challenge for the pole, but a bobble in turn 3 left the Oklahoman free falling down the to 25th at session’s end. The Joe Gibbs Racing ace has never finished better than 13th at Michigan and will need a strong recovery drive to change that on Sunday.

Few endured a worse qualifying effort than Daniel Suarez, whose 193.392 mph lap left him 35th and only ahead of Cody Ware. It was the worst of a difficult session for Trackhouse Racing, who slotted 20th (Ross Chastain) and 26th (van Gisbergen) with its other two teams.

With another pole run complete, Briscoe will set his sights on trying to convert the top starting spot into a trip to victory lane.

“It’ll definitely be nice starting up front,” Briscoe said. “I’ve been able to do that now three weeks in a row, and we haven’t really been able to execute with it. Hopefully third time’s the charm and we can finally get one on Sunday.”

Ryan Blaney will try to make it two in a row when he takes part in the 2025 NASCAR FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday. Blaney is off to a solid start to the season, and has seven top-10 finishes, including last week’s win at Nashville. He dominated the Cracker Barrel 400 by leading a race-high 139 laps en route to the victory. He also placed third at the Wurth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway and Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway last month.

Kyle Larson is the +550 favorite, with Denny Hamlin at +600, Blaney at +700, William Byron and Tyler Reddick at +800 and Christopher Bell at +850 in the latest 2025 FireKeepers Casino 400 odds, from DraftKings Sportsbook. Sunday’s race is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. ET. Before making any 2025 NASCAR at Michigan picks or NASCAR predictions, you need to see what NASCAR insider Steven Taranto has to say.

Taranto, who moonlights as a sim racer and has 20 career wins in iRacing, is the lead NASCAR writer for CBSSports.com. He has an annual NASCAR media credential and also publishes a popular weekly NASCAR predictions column, famously calling Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez’s breakthrough wins in 2022.

Taranto was red-hot for SportsLine in 2024 as he nailed 17 winners, including 16-1 longshot William Byron at the Daytona 500 and 14-1 longshot Chase Elliott at Texas. He correctly picked the Straight Talk Wireless 400 winner in Larson on March 23. Anyone following his NASCAR picks at their favorite sportsbooks could have seen huge returns.

Now, Taranto has analyzed the starting lineup and odds for Sunday’s 2025 FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. He’s sharing his best bets at SportsLine. You can also use them to take advantage of the latest FanDuel promo code, DraftKings promo code or BetMGM promo code.

2025 NASCAR FireKeepers Casino 400 expert picks

For the 2025 FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Taranto is high on Kyle Larson at +550. Larson has three wins at Michigan and always seems to be in the mix when racing there. Last year he led the most laps but a bit of misfortune led to a 34th-place finish. He was fifth at the 2023 FireKeepers Casino 400.

Larson, 32, who placed sixth last year, was the Series champion in 2021. He has three first-place finishes this season, including wins at Homestead, Bristol and Kansas. He placed eighth at last week’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville. In 380 races over a span of 13 years, he has 32 wins, 192 top-10 finishes and 22 poles. See which other drivers he’s backing at SportsLine.

Top NASCAR props for Michigan International Speedway

Head-to-head: Taranto sees Bubba Wallace (-110) finishing ahead of Chris Buescher (-120). Both drivers have been off to good starts to the year, with both registering five top-10 finishes in 2025. But Taranto gives Wallace the edge, due to his recent success at Michigan. He has been consistently running up front at the track and has led 48 laps over his last three Michigan starts.

Buescher, meanwhile, has struggled of late, finishing 22nd at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. He was 14th last week at Nashville’s Cracker Barrel 400. He has had success at Michigan. Last year he placed sixth at the FireKeepers Casino 400. He won the race in 2023. See all of Taranto’s picks at SportsLine. 

How to make 2025 FireKeepers Casino 400 predictions

Taranto has also identified four other drivers in his 2025 NASCAR FireKeepers Casino 400 best bets. He’s also high on a huge NASCAR longshot who’s going off at nearly 100-1, potentially netting any backer a huge payday. You can only see who they are here.

So who wins the 2025 FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, and which massive longshot could stun NASCAR? Visit SportsLine now to see the 2025 NASCAR FireKeepers Classic 400 at Michigan International Speedway picks and best bets from a NASCAR insider who nailed a colossal 17 winners last year, and find out.

2025 NASCAR FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway odds, lineup

See full NASCAR FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway picks at SportsLine

(odds subject to change)
Kyle Larson +550
Denny Hamlin +600
Ryan Blaney +700
William Byron +800
Tyler Reddick +800
Christopher Bell +850
Chase Elliott +1200
Ross Chastain +1400
Joey Logano +1400
Kyle Busch +1800
Chase Briscoe +1800
Carson Hocevar +1800
Chris Buescher +2200
Bubba Wallace +2800
Brad Keselowski +2800
Josh Berry +3500
Alex Bowman +3500
Austin Cindric +4000
Ty Gibbs +4500
Erik Jones +5500
Ryan Preece +6500
Daniel Suarez +9000
Zane Smith +10000
Michael McDowell +10000
Austin Dillon +10000
A.J. Allmendinger +10000
Noah Gragson +13000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +15000
John Hunter Nemechek +15000
Shane Van Gisbergen +20000
Todd Gilliland +25000
Justin Haley +25000
Ty Dillon +40000
Riley Herbst +40000
Cole Custer +40000
Cody Ware +50000    

IMSA veteran Corey Lewis played a fill-in role to perfection in Saturday’s first of two 45-minute IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Lewis, substituting for the injured Matthew Dicken in the No. 36 RAFA Racing Ligier JS P320 won his first race in the Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) class. Dicken stood down with a shoulder injury and Lewis, Dicken’s longtime co-driver, filled in to capture the win.

He finished second on the road to Oscar Tunjo in the No. 31 Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports Duqueine D08, but took the top spot at the checkered flag as Tunjo was assessed a 10s post-race time penalty for a false start at the initial green flag, changing columns. 

“It was a case of making our way through the day over the long run,” Lewis said. “We knew (Oscar) had the 10s penalty post-race. Just grateful to be in the No. 36; obviously this one goes out to Matt Dicken. Wish he was in the car racing and he would have done a great job.” 

The race in P3 appeared to belong to the polesitting Valentino Catalano in the No. 30 Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports Duqueine D08 who led the opening 19 laps, but intermittent mechanical woes after the second race restart slowed his progress.

Catalano checked up heading into Turn 2, the Keyhole, on lap 20 where both Tunjo and Lewis made it past. Catalano eventually fell down the order to eighth overall, fourth in P3 at the checkered flag behind Bronze Cup winner Brian Thienes in the No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier JS P320.

The Grand Touring Daytona X (GTDX) race was a straightforward affair as Turner Motorsport captured a pair of wins with its two BMW M4 GT3s. 

Jake Walker led flag-to-flag from pole for his third straight GTDX win in the No. 6 Turner BMW, with a key pass on Thienes earlier in the race helping to gap several of his GTDX competitors. 

Michael Levitt/IMSA

“I tried to make the most out of creating a gap by putting a car in between me and just one more car than the other competitors would have to pass,” Walker explained. “But you know, it’s awesome racing against these guys. There’s some really fantastic drivers. I can’t thank BMW and Turner much more enough for just a fantastic car again.”

Walker won by 3.661s over points leader AJ Muss, who scored his fifth straight GTDX podium in the No. 66 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3. Adam Adelson in the No. 24 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R was third, ahead of Bronze Cup winner Vin Barletta in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. 

In Grand Sport X (GSX), Steven Clemons finally broke through for his first win of the season in the No. 76 BSI Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 over Kiko Porto.

Porto qualified fastest but was sent to the rear for an infraction found in post-qualifying technical inspection. Undeterred, the driver of the No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota embarked on a mission through the 11-car GSX class field. 

Clemons inherited the pole and started ahead of Porto’s teammate Ian Porter in the No. 68 RAFA Racing Toyota. Chris Walsh started third in the No. 22 TWOth Autosport Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.

Porto climbed seven spots to fourth by the first full-course caution of the race on lap five following debris on course from an incident between two other GSX class cars. That positioned him right behind the leading trio for the restart, and two quick moves in the next green flag stanza got him to second behind Clemons ahead of the second restart with just under 20 minutes remaining. But Porto was unable to save enough of his tires and mount a pass on Clemons, ending 1.124s behind at the checkered flag. Porter was third, banking another podium and scoring the GSX Bronze Cup win. 

“I was glad to run it home, flag-to-flag,” Clemons said. “I think we finally were able to pull through what we weren’t able to in Daytona. The team was able to set up a really good car. I think we were able to just put it all together.

“Figured towards the end of the race, both of our tires were gonna be equally shot at the end. I was not completely worried, but it was in the back of my mind, but just looking through the windshield.”

Porto recapped his comeback drive: “It was definitely a blast coming from the back. I destroyed the tires. But this is part of the situation that it had to be. I tried to put some moves together, but I definitely left it all on the table. (Clemons) definitely saved a little bit more of the tire.” 

Sunday’s second race of the weekend, race six of the VP Racing SportsCar Challenge season, goes green at 9:00 a.m. ET. Coverage begins at 8:55 a.m. ET on Peacock in the U.S. and globally via IMSA’s Official YouTube channel and IMSA.TV. 

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