For the first time in team history, NY Racing Team competed in back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series races with two different drivers.

J.J. Yeley made his first four starts of the 2025 season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Darlington Raceway, and Talladega Superspeedway after failing to qualify for the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

But the team had Derek Kraus drive the No. 44 Chevrolet for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway two weekends ago before Yeley returned for this past Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Yeley finished in 34th place at Nashville after Kraus finished in 32nd at Charlotte, a finish which matched Yeley’s best finish of the season from the late April race at Talladega.

But the No. 44 Chevrolet is not on the entry list for this Sunday afternoon’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

NY Racing Team not returning at Michigan

In fact, there are no non-chartered (open) cars on the entry list for this 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) Brooklyn, Michigan oval after three competed at Nashville.

The other two that competed at Nashville were the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford, which was driven by Chad Finchum for the second time this year, and the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota, which was driven by Corey Heim for the second time this year as well.

As of now, NY Racing Team’s future plans only include the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, Yeley’s home race track, on Sunday, November 2. It is likely that they will fill in that gap at some point, but no further starts have been confirmed for the team beyond their Nashville appearance.

Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 is set to become just the second race of the year to feature only the 36 chartered cars, and believe it or not, it is set to become just the second race in Cup Series history to feature exclusively full-time drivers.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Michigan this weekend for the FireKeepers Casino 400. The Michigan track draws plenty of racing pride and has real potential this year for a long shot to finish first. The usual suspects are favored in the odds, but our experts have some insight into other drivers who could claim their first win of the year.

As we do each week, we’re bringing our burning questions about NASCAR controversies, power players and the race ahead to our motorsports experts, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi.

Take it away, guys!

How to watch NASCAR at Michigan

• Race: FireKeepers Casino 400
• Track: Michigan International Speedway — Brooklyn, Mich.
  
• Time: Sunday, June 8, 2 p.m. ET
• Watch: Prime Video

NASCAR Cup Series at Michigan Q&A, predictions

OK, tell us about the in-season tournament and why Jeff was railing against the seeding system on Tuesday. We haven’t touched on it much this year, and it’s almost time! Should we be getting excited about this yet?

Jeff: Save your excitement for a few more weeks, but I’m definitely looking forward to it when the time comes. Basically, NASCAR is taking the top 32 drivers in points and doing a single-elimination, March Madness-style bracket over five races. It’s head-to-head matchups between drivers that will play out in each race (1 vs. 32, 2 vs. 31, etc.).

My beef with it is how they’re doing the seeding. Instead of doing it in the order of point standings, NASCAR is going to take a driver’s top finish over the next three weeks and seed the drivers based on that. So the winner of the Mexico City road course is going to be a guaranteed top-three seed (depending on tiebreakers) while some big-name driver who has three bad races might be a seed in the high 20s or worse. That’s going to confuse casual bettors, which is the whole point of this thing in the first place. Imagine seeing Kyle Larson as a No. 27 seed heavily favored in the odds against AJ Allmendinger as a No. 6 seed; is it really an “upset” if Larson wins that first-round matchup? Of course not. Other than that, though, it should be a fun, breezy talking point during the often-dry summer months.

Jordan: It’s a fun concept that should hopefully add some intrigue during a time in the season that sometimes needs more of it. Heightening the novelty is the fact that the five tracks comprising the tournament include a superspeedway, two road/street courses and one of the most iconic tracks in all of motorsports. However, as Jeff noted, the only hangup with all this is how the seeding is determined, as it’s not nearly as straightforward as it should be, potentially turning off the casual fans NASCAR hopes to attract. This may be one of those things where it takes a year to work out all the kinks before taking off in Year 2.

You’ve been covering Carson Hocevar, who almost won last week. How long until the 22-year-old gets his first Cup win? What’s his biggest weakness/obstacle at this point? Is his perceived aggressiveness on the track a pro or a con?

Jeff: It sure seems like Hocevar and Spire are on the doorstep of something special. I wrote a profile of Hocevar this week that I’d love for you to check out, as he has quite a unique personality and doesn’t run from his roots as a true NASCAR fan. But he’s also obviously run afoul of many veteran drivers, who keep calling him out and getting angry with him, and it’s seemingly going to come back to bite him at some point. That’s not unusual for a young driver who bursts onto the NASCAR scene, though; veterans often try to get a brash new driver to adapt to the series’ on-track code (which is ever-evolving), and sometimes it can result in fireworks. Overall, though, the saying in the garage is it’s easier to pull the reins on a fast driver than to try and make a slow driver go faster.

Jordan: Certainly feels like it could happen soon, especially if Spire Motorsports can continue fielding fast racecars as it’s been doing on a seemingly near-weekly basis. And this week’s race at Michigan, Hocevar’s home track, represents a good place for him to get that first W, as it shares similar characteristics with Nashville and Charlotte, sites of the previous two races, where Hocevar was in contention for the victory.

You talked a bit in our preview last week about Bubba Wallace’s recent tough trend. What does he need to do to start improving? What’s off for him, after what felt like an optimistic start?

Jeff: He rebounded to a top-10 finish last week at Nashville, so that’s progress. Honestly, at this point, he just needs to string together some good finishes, especially with the road course season coming up (which hasn’t been his strong suit, although he’s improved lately). He’s still inside the playoff picture, just not quite as securely as before. Michigan is a place that has fit him well before, so he’s very capable of leaving with back-to-back top-10 runs that would get his season back on track.

Jordan: Maintaining track position up front and avoiding miscues are the two areas Wallace’s No. 23 needs to improve upon. During his three-race stretch of poor finishes, issues on pit road cost Wallace several positions, dropping him back in the field and making him vulnerable to getting swept in crashes, which is exactly what happened. At Nashville, Wallace again had an issue on pit road — he was penalized for speeding — but he was able to rally back to finish inside the top 10. He’s a winning driver and his team is capable, and Michigan is a track where he’s nearly won previously, so a mistake-free race on Sunday could manifest into Wallace getting his third career win.

Who is your favorite to win this week? Who does the track advantage?

Jeff: This is NASCAR’s only remaining two-mile oval (RIP Fontana, sniff sniff) and is the fastest track in the Cup Series. Teams will need to bring their best stuff, get their engines tuned up and nail their setups to rip around Michigan. There’s a lot of manufacturer pride racing near Detroit, but it’s mostly been a Ford show. Until Tyler Reddick and his Toyota won last season, Ford had won nine straight Michigan races (nine!). Chevrolet hasn’t won a Michigan race since 2017, and Hendrick Motorsports hasn’t won there since 2014. How crazy is that?

Anyway, I’ll be honest: For some reason, I’m thinking we could see RFK Racing show up with some speed this week, and they’re not even close to the favorites. Chris Buescher is +2000, and Brad Keselowski is +2500. And both drivers rank in the top three for average finish at Michigan in the three Next Gen races there. Hmm…

Jordan: Ford has typically dominated races here in recent years, and Sunday feels no different, especially with how strong Team Penske has performed on intermediate tracks this season. Any one of Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric or Josh Berry could win, and it would in no way be a surprise. But among this quartet, Blaney is the pick. His consistent speed has been impressive, and Michigan, with its tendency for long green-flag runs, favors his driving style, where he is often the fastest over such runs. Look for Blaney to get his second win in as many weeks.

Who is a long shot you like?

Jeff: Speaking of RFK, Ryan Preece is +6000. Heck, Austin Cindric is +6000 (what??). And so is Erik Jones, who has shown strength at Michigan. They are all +190 to secure a top-10 finish, so maybe you could sprinkle a bit there and see if you end up getting two of the three correct.

Jordan: Chris Buescher checks a lot of boxes. He drives a Ford (winner of nine of the past 10 races here) and has a Michigan win on his resume. His smooth driving style is a good fit here, where managing pace goes a long way to achieving success. And he’s listed as high as +2200 on some boards, which means he offers a good return if he can find victory lane on Sunday.

Race winner odds for the FireKeepers Casino 400

Betting/odds links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Photo of Tyler Reddick, who won at Michigan last year: Chris Graythen / Getty Images) 

• Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin are co-favorites to win the NASCAR race at Michigan.
• Odds for various drivers are provided, ranging from favorites to longshots.

It’s rare for us to trot out some breaking news here at the Odds Store.

Amazon Prime Video’s newest NASCAR stat incorporates tens of thousands of incoming data points in real time, using machine learning over the course of a race for more accurate outputs. But when “The Burn Bar” pops up on screen, senior coordinating producer Alex Strand doesn’t want viewers to spend time thinking about the math involved. Instead, the miles-per-gallon readout, along with a color-coded guide, is meant to instantly convey the story of a driver conserving fuel or maxing out. 

“That’s ultimately our North Star at Amazon,” Strand said. “How do we bring more data to viewers, but do it in a way that they can digest?”

The graphic package was 18 months in the making, stretching back to Strand’s first meetings with analysts Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte, as they watched a race and discussed what Amazon could add to the picture when it began streaming races this year. 

“We actually think fuel is a really, really cool part of racing,” Strand said. “It’s just no one’s really figured out how to tell that story yet.”

Letarte added that fuel strategy would be a particularly relevant talking point during Amazon’s stretch of races this spring, including Sunday’s showdown at Michigan International Speedway. 

Back in 2008, for instance, Earnhardt Jr. cut off his engine during a late caution at MIS, coasting to save every ounce of gas and outlasting his competition for the checkered flag. 

It’s exactly the kind of maneuver—nearly invisible to the untrained eye—that Prime Video’s booth hopes to spotlight, similar to the company’s work on pre-snap cat-and-mouse games during Thursday Night Football broadcasts.    

“This is awful because I’m an announcer, but I think the more a sport can be displayed, both visually by the director and graphically by the great graphics director and producer—that’s my goal,” Letarte said.

Amazon says it has developed a proprietary artificial intelligence model to track fuel mileage for every car on a lap-by-lap basis, primarily based on throttle and RPM measurements, while race teams are likely only viewing similar data for select vehicles. Amazon data scientists, computer vision experts, engineers and producers—including Prime Video producer for analytics and insights Sam Schwartzstein, a former football player who helps lead Thursday Night Football’s Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats efforts—contributed to the development process, which also relies on Amazon Web Services’ cloud computing power. 

So far, the Burn Bar has largely been broken out for specific drivers in key moments, though it could also be used to compare a car’s race to previous events, or even more significantly, to the rest of the field.

“That’s really where the story unfolds as the race unfolds,” Letarte said.

Viewers are now getting to see it for themselves.