In 13 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Michigan International Speedway (MIS), Spire Motorsports has logged two top-10 and and three top-15 finishes. Zane Smith posted a team-best seventh-place finish in last season's 400-mile event at the Brooklyn oval. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet ZL1s in the Cup Series for Justin Haley, Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar, respectively.
The FireKeepers Casino 400 will be streamed live on Amazon Prime, Sunday, June 8 beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 15th of 36 points-paying races on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series calendar will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Justin Haley – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

Justin Haley will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Garner Trucking, Inc. Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Haley has recorded four previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at the famed two-mile oval. Over those four races, the Winamac, Ind., native has logged a 23.3 average start, a 21.3 average finish and earned two top-20 showings, while completing 805 of 806 laps (99.9%). His career/series-best finish was a 17th-place result in August 2022.  
Garner Trucking is a family-owned and operated business started in 1960 by Vernon E. Garner and Regina R. Garner, headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. Daughter Sherri Garner Brumbaugh currently owns and operates the business. Garner is a 100 percent woman-owned business. Since 2017, Garner Trucking has been named a Best Fleet to Drive For from trucking companies in North America. In 2022, Garner was named the Best Fleet to Drive For – Overall Small Carrier. The company’s dedication to its drivers earned it a spot in the Best Fleets to Drive For Hall of Fame in 2023. Continuing its legacy of excellence, Garner won the inaugural Best Fleets to Drive for Hall of Fame Stratosphere Award in 2024—and claimed the title again in 2025. Garner is celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2025.
Last week at Nashville Superspeedway, Haley battled tight-handling Garner Trucking Chevrolet which ultimately left him one lap down to the leaders and 32nd in the final rundown.
In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, Haley earned a venue best 10th-place finish in the 2019 LTI Printing 250.
Haley boasts a pair of top-10 results in NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competition at MIS where he finished 10th and ninth, respectively in 2017-2018.
Haley secured his first Cup Series win in the 2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. He picked up both his and the team’s first win – an upset of practically unprecedented proportions – behind the wheel of the No. 77 Chevrolet.
Over the course of his career, Haley has collected four NASCAR Xfinity Series checkered flags and three CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins, making him one of just 41 drivers in history to have earned wins across all three of NASCAR’s National Touring Series. 
He made his first start in NASCAR’s premier division for Spire Motorsports at Talladega Superspeedway on April 28, 2019 – his 20th birthday. Sunday will mark Haley’s 160th career NASCAR Cup Series start. Over the course of the last seven seasons, the 26-year-old racer has notched one win, five top fives, 17 top 10s and 103 laps led.
In total, Haley has made 56 Cup Series starts for Spire Motorsports, with the bulk of races coming during the 2021 season behind the wheel of the team’s No. 77 machine. In his second appearance amidst his return to Spire Motorsports at Talladega last October, Haley earned a seventh-place result, his first top 10 with the team since the 2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona.

Justin Haley Quote
What’s your outlook heading into Michigan this weekend?
“I’m hopeful heading to Michigan this weekend. Personally, it is not top of the list of my favorite tracks, but it’s a good track if you have a fast race car. Generally speaking, we have fast race cars at these style tracks. Hopefully, we can turn that speed into a good result in our Garner Trucking Chevrolet.”
Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Ryan Sparks

Ryan Sparks, Spire Motorsports Competition Director and crew chief for driver Justin Haley, has called six races at MIS, dating back to 2020. He earned an venue-best result when he led Corey LaJoie to a 15th-place finish in August 2023.
The Winston Salem, N.C., native has called 180 NASCAR Cup Series races where he’s earned three top-five and nine top-10 finishes. He was first paired with Haley at Bristol Motor Speedway in September 2024.

Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (MIS).
McDowell has made 18 NASCAR Cup Series starts at MIS, and turned in a venue/series best 19th-place finish in last year’s annual visit to Michigan’s Irish Hills.
The Glendale, Ariz., native has logged a 26.7 average start and a 29.4 average finish at the two-mile Brooklyn, Mich., oval.
In addition to his time in NASCAR’s top series, the 40-year-old has three starts at MIS in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, earning a best result of seventh in 2012.
Spire Motorsports comes to the track known for its speed and width with fresh insight from Director of Vehicle Performance, Matt McCall. The former crew chief has coached his drivers to five top-five and 12 top-10 finishes, most recently earning back-to-back top-five performances with Brad Keselowski. The 44-year-old has an average finish of 9.9 in 16 Cup Series starts.
During last weekend’s trip Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, McDowell qualified his No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet eighth and held a steady grip on the top 10 during the opening stage of Sunday’s 400-mile contest. As the sun set on the central Tennessee track and the track temperature dropped, the No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet faded from the top 20 and ultimately crossed the finish line 21st.
The No. 71 team earned a $100,000 payday and a trip to Victory Lane after winning the Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge during NASCAR’s recent visit to North Wilkesboro Speedway. The crew’s blazing 12.587-second stop topped all entries for both the NASCAR All-Star Open and NASCAR All-Star Race, earning the title of the fastest team on pit road.
B’laster Products will ride along the No. 71 in associate-sponsor position this weekend, as the Cleveland, Ohio-based company gets ready for its primary paint scheme in next weekend’s inaugural visit for the NASCAR Cup Series to Mexico City.
Through the first 13 races of the 2025 campaign, McDowell owns an average starting position of 13.6, including five starts inside the top 10.
Delaware Life is an insurance and annuity company that empowers financial professionals with a wide array of customizable solutions. A subsidiary of Group 1001 Insurance Holdings LLC, Delaware Life focuses on delivering a seamless experience for advisors. The company understands how important it is to find the right fit for every client, every situation and every individual need. Delaware Life is passionate about equipping advisors with annuities that give their customers peace of mind and a successful future, allowing them to plan with confidence for whatever's next.
McDowell has claimed three Xfinity Fastest Lap awards this season, clocking the fastest lap in the Daytona 500, Phoenix Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway. The No. 71 stands as the only Cup Series team to win the newly unveiled award three times.
McDowell secured Spire Motorsports' first Busch Light Pole Award at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. His 28.833-second lap marks the fastest lap in NASCAR's seventh-generation Cup Series car (2022-present) at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval.

Michael McDowell Quote
What are your thoughts as we head to Michigan?
“Michigan is a fun track. With the speed we’ve had this year at Spire Motorsports, our mile-and-a-half program and big-track program have been great. I feel like the Hendrick engine shop is a big part of that, too. Every year, when we think about Michigan, this is usually where you see how everybody is performance-wise. I think Michigan and Indianapolis are those places with big downforce, big horsepower. Being efficient in both those areas is important at both those places. Everything stands out. Everything is magnified at Michigan, and right now, with the speed that we have, I think it’ll be a great track for us to go do something special.”
Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Travis Peterson

Crew chief Travis Peterson heads to the track with two NASCAR Cup Series starts at Michigan International Speedway, both with McDowell; the duo holds an average finish of 21.5. 
During his time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the Wisconsin native worked as an engineer for Regan Smith and the No. 7 entry at JR Motorsports. In 2013, Smith qualified 20th, leading 14 laps at the Brooklyn, Mich., oval. The No. 7 Chevrolet took home the checkered flag, earning the team’s second win of the season. 
The 34-year-old has called 90 races in NASCAR's premier series, securing one win, four top fives, 18 top 10s and seven pole awards.

Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet ZL1, will make his 60th NASCAR Cup Series start in Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
The Portage, Mich., native will be joined by Michigan-based Zeigler Auto Group for his second Cup Series appearance at the two-mile oval after a 10th-place showing in the 2024 event.
Zeigler Auto Group has turned the No. 77 Chevy gold in celebration of the company’s 50th anniversary. Zeigler Auto Group is one of the largest privately-owned dealer groups in the U.S. with 84 franchises across 41 locations in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Vehicle brands represented include all the domestic and majority of the imported manufacturers. The family-owned and -operated organization has been a regular on the Cup Series tour since 2019. 
The Firekeepers Casino 400 will be Hocevar’s third race of the week. He’ll first take to the track Tuesday night at Berlin Raceway near Grand Rapids for the Money in the Bank 150 Super Late Model race. Hocevar won the prestigious event in 2020 and 2021 and will compete alongside fellow Cup Series competitor and Michigan native Erik Jones. He took victory in the 2024 Battle at Berlin, his last appearance at the historic Michigan short track.
Following his trip to Berlin, Hocevar will make his way 135 miles east to Michigan International Speedway to prepare for his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start at the venue. It will be his third CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start of the season and first since taking the checkered flag in the Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway.
The 22-year-old driver is fresh of his second runner-up finish of the season after a stout showing at Nashville Superspeedway. Hocevar started 26th for the 300-lap event, steadily working his way toward the top five by the conclusion of Stage Two. From there, the reigning Cup Series Rookie of the Year ran consistent lap times and was aided by a lightning-fast pit stop from the No. 77 team to claim the second position with 30 laps remaining in the event. The result tied his career-best Cup Series finish, first earned on February 23 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Hocevar’s finish at Nashville resulted in a net gain of five positions in the Cup Series driver point standings, placing the No. 77 team just four points behind the Playoff cut line.

Carson Hocevar Quotes
You’re headed back home to Michigan and riding the wave of another second-place finish. How do you carry that momentum over to a bigger, faster track and balance the environment of being at your hometrack?
“I’m really excited to get to Michigan and have a chance to improve on our race from last year. I’ve been saying for a few weeks that we’ve improved so much and, thankfully, we finally put a race together where that shows. There are definitely some lessons and things that we learn each week that will only continue to make us better down the line, but I think we have a good chance to keep things going to get another top five or top 10 this weekend.

“There is for sure a balance that has to happen in terms of showing appreciation to fans and friends who come to the track and staying aware of the job that we’re there to do. I work on that every weekend just as much as I work on my race craft. It’s an ever-evolving process and we have a solid group that holds me accountable to make sure I’m giving my attention to all of those different areas.”

How much does it benefit you to race in events outside of the Cup Series?
“I feel like it helps a lot. Not so much in terms of things specific to the car and what we can do, but just having that time on track to be in race mode. I love racing and I’m happiest when I’m getting to do that, but I think it does help that I can be in that racing mindset more often and earlier in the weekend. I also really enjoy getting to be around fans. It makes me a better driver to hear what they love about our sport and know that we’re making a difference.”

Spire Motorsports PR

While many of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s top drivers and teams are either on the way to Le Mans – or already setting up shop – there are hungry competitors in various IMSA championships who will have the spotlight in this year’s visit to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

38 cars are entered for this Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio, the second four-hour endurance round of the Michelin Pilot Challenge.

Of the 23 entries in the Grand Sport class, the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport of Luca Mars and Jan Heylen leads the championship standings following two runner-up finishes at Daytona and Sebring, and a win at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. They’re 170 points ahead of Sean McAlister and Jeff Westphal, who won Sebring in the No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO.

A difficult race at Laguna Seca, meanwhile, dropped the Daytona-winning No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsports McLaren Artura GT4 of Moisey Uretsky and Michael Cooper to sixth in the standings.

A notable inclusion in the GS entry list is the No. 16 CSM Porsche driven by Zach Veach and Harrison Goodman, continuing their season at a new team following the death of Hattori Motorsports founder Shigeaki Hattori in a road accident in April. Veach and Goodman will use the number 16 in tribute to Hattori.

Andy Lally will also return to active competition for the first time since his retirement from full-time driving in January: The Trans-Am Series president will be back in the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche with long-time co-driver Spencer Pumpelly and Thomas Collingwood. Unitronic/JDC-Miller MotorSports’ Mikey Taylor is also returning after missing Laguna Seca for the birth of his child.

Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian will look for its fourth TCR class win of the year, entering four of the 15 TCR cars at Mid-Ohio.

The No. 76 Hyundai Elantra N TCR of Denis Dupont and Preston Brown currently leads the TCR standings over the No. 98 of Mason Filippi and Harry Gottsacker, and the No. 33 of Mark Wilkins and Bryson Morris in third.

The most notable omission from the Mid-Ohio entry list is the No. 55 Team Gou Cupra Leon VZ TCR which debuted in North America this year.

The VP Racing SportsCar Challenge and Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup will also have two races at Mid-Ohio, on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Three drivers competing in next week’s Road to Le Mans support races will be racing in VP Challenge’s 20-car field, including LMP3 Championship leader Valentino Catalano, his Gebhardt Intralogistics Motorsports team-mate Oscar Tunjo, and ST Racing owner/driver Samantha Tan, currently fourth in the GTDX standings.

And in MX-5 Cup, NASCAR Xfinity Series standout Jesse Love will be the special guest star, driving in the series for the first time since Sebring in 2024. He’ll be a teammate to Tyler Gonzalez, who swept the last race meeting at Barber Motorsports Park and now sits 40 points behind championship leader Jared Thomas.

NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster World Champion Julie Nataas is set to make her nitro Funny Car debut at this weekend’s Super Grip Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tennessee, June 6–8. With nearly three dozen NHRA Wallys to her name, the Norwegian racing and reality television star is ready to take on what she’s openly described as her toughest challenge yet – strapping into the 12,000-horsepower Airmine Toyota GR Supra powered by DC Motorsports.

After three months of testing, Nataas finished her Nitro Funny Car license requirements in early May under the guidance of team owner and tuner Del Worsham. With standout runs in Gainesville, Phoenix, and Indianapolis, she now takes the next step in her career, backed once again by longtime sponsor Airmine. The Norwegian climate tech company also supported her 2024 Top Fuel debut, making this return a meaningful continuation of their partnership.

“This is a huge moment, and having a hometown brand with global reach like Airmine alongside me again makes it even more special,” said Nataas. “They’re based just down the road from where I grew up in Norway and are changing the way people understand their allergies. They use satellite data to track air quality and pollen levels around the world, and are launching a US app coming up, so the timing is perfect. 

The debut marks Nataas’s entry into one of NHRA’s most explosive and demanding categories, nitro Funny Car, where she becomes the first Norwegian driver to compete in the class. She also joins a very short list of female drivers to hold active NHRA licenses in both nitro categories: Top Fuel and Funny Car. With additional credentials in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car, Nataas stands as one of the most versatile and credentialed female drivers in the sport today.

The DC Motorsports Toyota GR Supra has already turned heads this season, with Bobby Bode III driving it to career-best runs and a spot inside the top 10 before returning to his family team for the summer. Now, with another standout like Nataas in the seat, Del and Connie Worsham continue to do what few in the sport are positioned to do – give deserving, talented drivers a real shot in a competitive Funny Car. In a transitional season for DC Motorsports, the Worshams remain committed to building winners and chasing Wallys. Their goal isn’t just getting Julie in the show—it’s putting her in a position to win.

“Julie is smart, focused, and fearless,” said Worsham. “She’s alarmingly self-aware and understands the car. She shares feedback from the run like a seasoned veteran.”

The Thunder Valley Nationals, held at the historic Bristol Dragway and nationally televised on FOX, offers the perfect stage for Nataas’s high-profile debut.

This story was originally published on June 4, 2025.

Admittedly, Ryan Blaney considered his victory at Nashville Superspeedway Sunday night almost as much a sigh of relief as it was a rush of celebration. The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion has led races and been ranked among the top-10 in the championship points standings all season only to have strange circumstances and just plain bad luck derail his chance at a trophy hoist.

He’s had five DNFs through the opening 14 races – including three consecutively in March. It’s double the number of any other competitor in the top-15 in the points standings. No one has more in the series.

At Homestead-Miami Speedway, Blaney led 124 of the first 207 laps – more than half the race – when his No. 12 Team Penske Ford suffered an engine problem and he had to retire. At Talladega, Ala. and Charlotte he was collected in a crash not of his own doing.

Yet, he’s had top-five finishes – TOP-FIVE FINISHES – in all but two of the nine other races that he was able to finish. Sunday night at the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway he was finally given the karmic-green flag to make good on the good effort he gave.

And it all bodes well for Blaney and Team Penske as the NASCAR Cup Series moves to Michigan International Speedway for Sunday’s Firekeeper’s Casino 400 (2 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

“It means a lot because it’s just been pretty rocky this year and had a lot of misfortune and a lot of down times, just crappy things happening to us, and it’s like, man, what do we got to do to just finish these races or close one out and just kind of things go our way,” Blaney said Sunday night.

“So, I think that was more — it’s kind of like, I don’t want to say relief, but just like, okay, finally nothing crazy happened and we were able to just run our own race and bring the speed and execute and do our job very, very well.

“It was nice to finally get in Victory Lane tonight after a rocky start to the year.”

Blaney’s work was obviously a personal triumph – marking his eighth season with at least one win in NASCAR’s big leagues – but it also boldly reminded the field that the reigning NASCAR Cup Series championship Penske organization is on top of things. Again.

The storied team has won the last three NASCAR Cup Series titles with Logano in 2022, Blaney in 2023 and Logano scoring his third in 2024.

And now with the regular season just halfway complete, all three Penske drivers, Blaney, Logano (Texas) and Austin Cindric (Talladega, Ala.) already have victories and therefore Playoff berths – as does Penske’s affiliated team, Wood Brothers Racing with driver Josh Berry (Las Vegas). No other multi-car team has qualified its entire lineup yet.

“I’ve been really proud of Team Penske and the Wood Brothers speed this year so far through the first dozen races,” Blaney said. “For the last couple years, we’ve struggled a little bit kind of getting going before the summer months, and I think we’ve figured it out come the fall and things like that or late summer.

“But I thought we just fired off this year with tons of speed, and was really proud of their efforts over the winter for that and carrying over what we accomplished at the end of last year and bringing it bigger and better at the start of this year.

“So, it’s great to have everybody with a win and everybody locked in there, and hopefully we can just continue to rack it up. It’s nice that we have all the speed and all the teams are working very well together right now. Between myself and the 22, 2, 21, we’re all really in sync right now, and that’s tough to get when all four teams are really communicating great and we’re all playing off each other. That’s a really great thing that we have going on at our race shop.”

The encouraging news for Blaney is that the next races on tap have been good venues for the 31-year old. This week the series moves to the Michigan two-miler, where Blaney won in 2021. The following week the sport holds its first international points-paying event on the famed Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez road course in Mexico City, Mexico. And Blaney has positive history at road course debuts, winning the first race at the Charlotte ROVAL in 2018.

The sport returns to the U.S. the following week for its annual stop at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, where Blaney earned his career first victory in 2017.

“Michigan is kind of a unique place, but I feel really good about how our kind of mile-and-a-half program has been this year,” Blaney said. “It’s bigger than a mile-and-a-half, but a lot of the same tendencies as some of the mile-and-a-halves that we go to. So, I’m curious to see where we’re going to be at next weekend. The run that we had at Pocono last year was definitely good, getting to Victory Lane there. So, you just hope to keep building off those things. It definitely makes me look forward to next week.

“I always try to look forward to the next week, no matter if we win the race or run 35th,” Blaney continued. “I always try to close the book Monday morning and move on to next week and look forward to having a shot at winning, running well.

“I think it bodes well. Like I said earlier, I think our speed is really good, and that is kind of across short tracks and speedways and mile-and-a-halfs and two miles. So hopefully we can have a good run — big weekend next weekend for Ford and RP [team owner Roger Penske] being in their backyard.”