Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch was narrowly denied pole position for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 on Saturday morning as Joe Gibbs Racing star Chase Briscoe stunned his rivals once again.

Briscoe set the fastest lap time of the session with a 36.826secs around the 2-mile oval, taking his third consecutive pole position in the process having also been quickest at Nashville and Charlotte in recent weeks.

Briscoe’s time was enough to deny Busch by just 0.027 seconds.

Elsewhere at Michigan, Briscoe’s JGR team-mate Denny Hamlin qualified third as he remains on baby watch heading into the weekend, whilst Hendrick Motorsports duo William Byron and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.

Christopher Bell will be kicking himself that he isn’t right up there and in the mix, too, having been on track to be somewhere in the top five when he made a small mistake during his qualifying run. As a result, the No. 20 could only qualify 25th.

With that said, let’s take a look at Saturday’s qualifying results in full.

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NASCAR Cup Series: Who is on pole at Michigan?

After qualifying on Saturday morning, here is the starting lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway, with the leading lap time and gaps included.

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BROOKLYN, Mich. — In a race of attrition, Stewart Friesen survived three overtimes to score his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win since 2022.

Friesen outdueled race leader Grant Enfinger on the final restart to capture the win in Saturday’s DQS Staffing and Solutions 250 at Michigan International Speedway.

“I don’t know what to say,” Friesen said to the crowd after getting out of the truck. “I know there’s a lot of Canadians and a lot of Americans, and everyone’s having a great time, and that’s what it’s all about baby!”

In total, Friesen led only two of the 139 laps.

The win was Friesen’s fourth career victory and first since Texas in May of 2022. His victory broke a 72-race winless streak.

Even bigger yet, Friesen — a Canadian — snapped his winless streak at the track that is currently the closest to the Canadian border.

“This is the first place (Michigan International Speedway) I came to watch a NASCAR race with my grandfather back in the 1990s and have a lot of memories,” Friesen said. “My parents are here and that’s so awesome. Thanks to everyone at Halmar, TRD. We’ll celebrate this one for a couple days.”

Entering the race weekend, Friesen was 12th in points, below the Truck Series’ playoff cutline. Now with a victory in 2025, Friesen will take his Halmar Racing Team to its fifth playoff appearance.

Friesen made a Championship 4 appearance in 2019.

Grant Enfinger finished second, matching his best finish of the season.

Polesitter Luke Fenhaus, Ben Rhodes, and Corey LaJoie rounded out the Top-5 finishers.

LaJoie’s truck will go back to the R&D Center for an engine dyno. Chandler Smith and Gio Ruggiero’s trucks will also go back. Smith finished eighth and Ruggiero finished 12th.

NASCAR TRUCK RESULTS AND POINTS AFTER MICHIGAN

The next scheduled race for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is scheduled for Friday, June 20, at Pocono Raceway.

Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.

From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book “All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story” with racer Geoff Bodine.

Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.

You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.

The NASCAR Cup Series will head to Michigan International Speedway on Sunday for the 2025 FireKeepers Casino 400, where three drivers have had a stranglehold at recent NASCAR at Michigan races. Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson and Joey Logano have won 10 of the last 14 races at the track. While Harvick is retired and Larson tops the 2025 FireKeepers Casino 400 odds at +525, Logano looms as one of the 2025 NASCAR at Michigan longshots at +1600. That’s despite leading for a Michigan-record 163 laps in his last victory at the track in 2019, and no active driver has more total laps led (590) at Michigan International Speedway. The NASCAR at Michigan 2025 green flag drops at 2 p.m. ET with hopes that the race also finishes on Sunday after rain forced Monday finishes each of the last two years.

Before entering any 2025 Michigan NASCAR picks, be sure to see the latest 2025 NASCAR at Michigan predictions from SportsLine’s proven projection model. Developed by SportsLine predictive data engineer Mike McClure, the proprietary NASCAR prediction model simulates every race 10,000 times and has nailed a whopping 21 winners since 2021, including three winners in 2025.

SportsLine simulated the NASCAR FireKeepers Casino 400 10,000 times. Here are the three NASCAR longshots to target, according to the model:

Best NASCAR at Michigan longshots (odds subject to change):

• Joey Logano (+1600)
• Chase Elliott (+2000)
• Carson Hocevar (+2000)

Joey Logano (+1600)

After securing his first win of the season last month at Texas, Logano has since rattled off three straight top 20s, including a fourth-place a week ago that is his second-best finish of 2025. He’s made 20 career starts at Michigan since joining Penske, and 15 of them, or 75%, resulted in top 10s. Both his total laps led (590) and his laps led percentage (11%) are tops amongst active drivers, as he has three Michigan victories to his name (2013, 2016, 2019). With his track success, as well as top 10s in three of his last four starts in 2025, Logano is a steal at +1600 and can be wagered on with the help of a DraftKings promo code.

Chase Elliott (+2000)

The 2020 Cup Series champion has displayed unparalleled consistency as he has 17 straight top 20s dating back to last season. He’s arguably the best driver yet to win at Michigan International Speedway as no active driver has more runners-up at the track than his three. By always being in contention for the checkered flag, it’s of little surprise that Elliott’s average finish (10.5) at Michigan is the best amongst active drivers and the third best all-time (min. 5 starts). Outside of a blown tire in 2023, Elliott has top 20s in all 13 of his other Michigan starts, top-15s in a dozen of those races, and top-10s in 10 of those starts.

Carson Hocevar (+2000)

Hocevar enters the FireKeepers Casino 400 on a high after a runner-up last week at Nashville. It ties his best finish on the Cup Series as he’ll make his second start at Michigan. Hocevar impressed as a rookie, placing 10th last year and leading for multiple laps late in the race. His Spire Motorsports teammate, Zane Smith, had a seventh-place finish as Spire has notched five top 20s over its last six driver starts at the track. Hocevar was born and raised in the state of Michigan, so this race means a little more to him than others. He’s great value at +2000, considering there are 10 other drivers with equal or shorter NASCAR odds, and the latest Caesars Sportsbook promo code can help maximize this bet before his odds shorten.

More top NASCAR at Michigan expert picks, longshots revealed

You’ve seen the NASCAR longshots from the model. Now, see the full 2025 NASCAR Michigan leaderboard, including forecasts for who finishes first. Visit SportsLine to see the projected leaderboard, all from the model that has nailed 21 winners, including Elliott’s victory at Bowman Gray, Larson’s win at Miami and Christopher Bell’s All-Star victory.

You can also view expert advice before locking in your NASCAR at Michigan picks. Visit SportsLine now to see expert Steven Taranto’s picks, including an epic longshot of over 75-1, all from an expert who has nailed 17 NASCAR winners. 

Visit SportsLine now to see McClure’s top NASCAR DFS picks, all from the daily Fantasy professional who has won more than $2 million playing DFS. 

2025 NASCAR Michigan odds, drivers, lineup

(odds subject to change)
Kyle Larson +525
Denny Hamlin +650
Ryan Blaney +650
William Byron +800
Tyler Reddick +850
Christopher Bell +1000
Ross Chastain +1400
Joey Logano +1600
Chase Elliott +2000
Chris Buescher +2000
Carson Hocevar +2000
Chase Briscoe +2200
Brad Keselowski +2500
Bubba Wallace +2500
Alex Bowman +2500
Josh Berry +3500
Kyle Busch +3500
Ty Gibbs +5000
Ryan Preece +6000
Austin Cindric +6000
Erik Jones +6000
Daniel Suarez +10000
AJ Allmendinger +10000
Michael McDowell +12500
Zane Smith +12500
Austin Dillon +15000
Noah Gragson +15000
John Hunter Nemechek +20000
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. +20000
Todd Gilliland +25000
Justin Haley +25000
Riley Herbst +50000
Shane Van Gisbergen +50000
Cole Custer +50000
Ty Dillon +100000
Cody Ware +100000  

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.

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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.

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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

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.

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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.

Photos from Michigan – Race

Stewart Friesen, Halmar-Friesen Racing Toyota

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Luke Fenhaus, ThorSport Racing Ford

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Corey Heim, TRICON Garage Toyota

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Ben Rhodes, ThorSport Racing Ford

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Ty Majeski, ThorSport Racing Ford

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Daniel Hemric, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Toni Breidinger, TRICON Garage Toyota

Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Rajah Caruth, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Luke Fenhaus, ThorSport Racing Ford

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Toni Breidinger, TRICON Garage Toyota

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

General view

Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Andres Perez de Lara, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Corey Heim, TRICON Garage Toyota

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

General view

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Ben Rhodes, ThorSport Racing Ford

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Luke Fenhaus, ThorSport Racing Ford

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Corey Heim, TRICON Garage Toyota

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Kaden Honeycut, 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Chris Graythen – Getty Images

General view

Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Luke Fenhaus, ThorSport Racing Ford

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Corey Heim, TRICON Garage Toyota, Connor Mosack, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Bayley Currey, Niece Motorsports Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Bayley Currey, Niece Motorsports Chevrolet, Tanner Gray, TRICON Garage Toyota

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Ross Chastain, Niece Motorsports Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Ty Majeski, ThorSport Racing Ford

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Daniel Hemric, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Ross Chastain, Niece Motorsports Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Ty Majeski, ThorSport Racing Ford

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Ty Majeski, ThorSport Racing Ford

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Ross Chastain, Niece Motorsports Chevrolet, Corey Heim, TRICON Garage Toyota, Connor Mosack, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Stewart Friesen, Halmar-Friesen Racing Toyota

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Stewart Friesen, Halmar-Friesen Racing Toyota

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Stewart Friesen, Halmar-Friesen Racing Toyota

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

Stewart Friesen, Halmar-Friesen Racing Toyota

Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Stewart Friesen, Halmar-Friesen Racing Toyota

Meg Oliphant / Getty Images

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Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Menards/Knauf Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is coming off his first victory of the season last week at Nashville Superspeedway. Blaney stopped by the infield media center at Michigan International Speedway this morning to talk about that win and his hopes for making it two straight this weekend.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Knauf Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT DO YOU EXPECT THE ATMOSPHERE TO BE LIKE IN MEXICO NEXT WEEK? “I think the atmosphere is gonna be fantastic. Myself, Chase, Suarez and C Bell went down there a couple months ago and that was one of the biggest things I noticed about it was every single media member that was there at the press conference, all the fans walking around, they were very excited for us to come this summer, so that part of it I’m really looking forward to. They were very welcoming. You never really know what kind of welcome you’re gonna get when you go to a new place anywhere in general, so I think seeing their excitement really makes us feel good about the fact they’re excited for us to come down and put on a good show. I think it’s gonna be a great hit. I’m really excited to get there next week and it should be a fun one. It should be good.”

DO YOU THINK THE SIMULATOR HAS BEEN ACCURATE FOR THAT TRACK? “Yeah, I think it’s been pretty accurate. I was in it a couple weeks ago. I’ll go in it again this upcoming week and walking around it, when we went down there, they were tearing down stuff from a big music festival they did, but everyone showing us around the track and saying, ‘this is how we’re gonna kind of lay it out,’ and, honestly, they asked us about some wall placements and things like that. The four of us just talked it out and gave them some suggestions, but I feel like when I was in the sim it was pretty accurate to what they told me it’s gonna be, so that part is nice. You never fully know, but they just do the best job they can with the info they get and applying it to the sim, so I feel like it’s gonna be pretty accurate. We’ll find out when we get there, but I think it’s gonna be pretty close.”

HOW WILL THE COURSE RACE? “I think it will race really well, honestly. I think there’s a lot of passing zones obviously into turn one. Down the long frontstretch is gonna be one. Into turn four. There’s like a flowy esses section that I don’t know if you’ll see a lot of passing there, just as a normal ess carrying speed, but then there’s another braking zone into the stadium, that right-hander that I think you’re gonna see some moves, and then in the stadium there’s a really, really tight left-hander. It’s super tight and it requires a big arc to run it properly, but you’re gonna have guys kind of short cut it and dive in there, almost like the new Roval turn. It’s kind of set up like that with that angle to me, where you saw a lot of guys short it and send it in there, so there’s at least four and then we always find funky ones through there to try to catch people by surprise, so I think it’s gonna race very well. I like the track layout. I think they did a really good job on it. It has all different aspects from high-speed straightaways, really heavy braking zones, flowy sections, and then like your really slow stadium section. I think it has all pieces of road courses that we run are kind of mashed into one, so I think it looks like a great racetrack.”

IS IT DIFFERENT NOW PREPARING FOR TRACKS LIKE MICHIGAN AND POCONO SINCE YOU ONLY GO THERE ONCE A YEAR AS OPPOSED TO BEFORE? “For me, it’s business as usual preparing for every week. You might not have a race or two more that you kind of used to get a couple shots at Pocono and a couple shots here at Michigan, like you said, and now it’s one, so the data you get when we go to Pocono in a couple weeks is gonna be pretty important because you get one shot at everyone, but we take pieces from everywhere and apply them the best that we can. Do I wish we went to Pocono twice and Michigan twice? I could go either way. I like both of them a lot. I personally thought the doubleheader weekend we had one year at Pocono was really good. I really liked it. It was a little bit shorter race, but you get two Cup races and I think they filled it up with Xfinity and Trucks and possibly even ARCA that weekend, so you could see five races. That’s just part of it. You plan as best you can and you gather intel the best you can for when you go to places that are fairly similar.”

HOW HAS THE STRATEGY CHANGED FOR YOU GUYS AFTER THE WIN? “It’s really nothing different. We approach every week trying to win the race and no matter what spot you’re in, whether you’re not locked in on wins or you are. We did a great job last week of finally closing one out and you just try to do it again. A lot of people talk about that. Is there a mindset change when you win and you get locked in? I’ve never really believed that. I’ve always, to me at least and our group, it’s just we prepare every week like you’re trying to win the race, whether you’ve won one, zero or five it’s the same thing. And I don’t think you lay up anymore if you don’t have a win or you have a win or you don’t get more aggressive in these situations, unless it’s like down to maybe a couple races at the end and you have to win to get in – maybe you change some stuff up – but our group we’ve just always kind of tried to be as consistent as we can and try to do the best thing for our team and make the best decisions at the time no matter what spot you’re in.”

IS THERE ANY OTHER TRACK YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE NASCAR RACE ON? “I applaud NASCAR for getting bold and going to some places new, like trying the street course at Chicago, wanting to go international with Mexico. I was a big advocate for pushing like, ‘we’ve got to get international somewhere.’ Whether that was Mexico, Canada, wherever we could go. Where else would I like to see them go? I don’t know. They’ve proven that they can kind of do it anywhere if you put the resources and the time in it. You can make a street course. You can go to different road courses that are already existing. Maybe even some tracks that we used to go to that we don’t go to anymore like a Chicago – the Joliet racetrack. My name is in the bucket for that. I’d like to see that come back because I think it would be a great racetrack. It always was. They are God. They can choose where they go. They set the schedule. They can work with these cities and things like that to figure out where can we bring our show pretty much to a city near you. I think they can do it. I don’t know all of the technical insights. I’m sure it’s hell. I just go where they tell me to go and I race, but I’d love to personally, if we’re naming places, I’d love to see Joliet come back.”

IF YOU COULD STEAL A STAGE WIN AND GET THOSE PLAYOFF POINTS, ARE YOU FLEXIBILE ENOUGH TO DO THAT WITH YOUR SITUATION? “Yeah, it’s all situational. We’ve done that before in a spot that we’ve already won a race or not, and it kind of depends. We’ve always looked at it as, ‘OK, if you’re running 15th and it’s funky caution to where it’s gonna be a few laps to the end can you get the lead and can you get a stage point? You’re gonna start in the back, but I don’t know if we have a car to win, so let’s get all we can and get 10 points and get a playoff point.’ Or on the other side of that, if you think your car can win the race and you get one of those, maybe you just want to keep track position and cycle back to the lead after the caution. In the talks Jonathan and I have always had we talk extensively about the spot we’re in and do we think we can win the race or not, and that really weighs a big factor in it and your decision-making because sometimes you don’t want to get buried if you think you have the best car out there. Maybe you do flip the stage, but if you think the best you’re gonna do is 10th all day, ‘hey, maybe let’s grab all the points we can if that opportunity comes up.’ So, it’s a lot of situational things that he and I try to prepare for and make calls about in the moment.”

IS THERE A SENSE OF RELIEF AFTER WINNING LAST WEEK? “I think it was more of a weight off our shoulders just because we’ve been so good this year and feel like we just haven’t been able to get anything going our way. I feel like we’ve been in contention to win a few of them and a few of those that we thought we could be in contention to win we didn’t even finish, so I feel like that was a huge relief of like, ‘Man, we finally got over this hurdle of our cars are really good.’ It was nice to just finally put a whole night together. Nothing silly happened. It just played out normally and the fastest car won the race and we just happened to be that car, so I think just the ups and downs of the year that we had, it was definitely a huge sense of relief and my guys deserved it. I was happy for my guys because they didn’t change their attitude one bit through the down times of the year. They’ve just always prepared every single week like the people that they are and knowing that we can go win the race any week, so that was nice that it was like, ‘Alright, finally nothing happened.’ We did our job great. Nothing silly played out and we were able to bring it home, so that part was nice I think mainly for that reason – because of all the ups and downs that we’ve had throughout the year.”

IN YOUR MIND WHAT IS THE LINE BETWEEN AGGRESSIVE, CLEAN DRIVING AND RECKLESS DRIVING. AND DO YOU THINK THE ATTENTION HOCEVAR HAS BEEN GETTING IS GOOD FOR THE SPORT? “Everyone’s line is different. I can’t really speak for anybody else. My father raised me. He raced for a long time, so I had that going for me that he was able to teach me the do’s and don’ts. I’ve been chewed out a lot when I was younger for doing the wrong thing – at being overly aggressive and costing somebody else. My dad chewed my ass out when I did that. I did it a few times in late models when I was like 13 and he said it right. He set the line. He said, ‘This is wrong. You do not race this way. This is just how it is.’ It was one of those situations where I’m racing someone hard and I made a mistake. I slipped up and I spun him out. It wasn’t intentional, but even those mistakes dad would really make me clean up right away. That’s just how his dad raised him. I guess in my mind, hard racing is fantastic. Everyone races hard. Contact is going to happen. I think it’s an issue if it happens repetitively, like a lot. I think that’s when it starts becoming an issue. It’s like, ‘Do you learn from your mistakes?’ You can say you’re sorry all you want, but if you don’t learn from them and make a change, then everyone thinks you’re lying and you don’t feel sorry about that. Two guys are racing and they’re bumping and whatever, but, to me, over the line is if you get run over in the rear bumper and you get spun out and wrecked, then you have a brake pedal. You ran into that guy. I’ve read some stuff this week and people are like, ‘Well, Stenhouse could have cut him a break.’ I’m like, ‘How can Stenhouse cut him a break?’ I don’t understand. I think the 77 could have cut him a break if you’re gonna talk about breaks. I don’t even think that situation was cutting somebody a break. That was just getting run over, so, hey, he’s a young guy. All of us have been young. We’ve all been aggressive. Everyone has a heavy right foot when they get going and that’s good. I think he’s a very, very talented race car driver. He’s one of the best guys out there. It’s hard to teach speed. I think he just has to refine a little bit of what he does. I don’t think he has to change who he is because this is what got him here, but I think he’s got to possibly think of some situations that he’s been in and just try to learn from them. That’s really all you can do, so I don’t really critique anybody. I’m not critiquing him at all. That’s just my stance on it is when guys keep spinning off the front of your bumper that becomes an issue. I’m not a huge fan of that. I’ve been a part of it. I got turned at Atlanta getting run into from behind. It’s like, ‘How many times are you gonna keep doing this until you learn?’ So, we’ll see.”

THE IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT IS GOING TO START SOON. DO YOU THINK GUYS WILL PAY ATTENTION TO THAT ONCE IT STARTS AND COULD IT DEVELOP INTO SOMETHING MORE? “It could. It definitely could. I think it’s a unique thing to have in the middle of the year. It’s definitely gonna be something on people’s minds starting this week. The qualifiers are this week and it goes for three weeks, and then we get going. I think it’s in the back of people’s minds. I wasn’t sitting around this week like, ‘It’s in-season tournament time.’ You just try to run the best you can and then when I think you get into that five-week stretch of the tournament, you’re gonna be aware of who you’re racing like, ‘Who am I up against this week?’ You’re definitely gonna be aware of that because there is a lot of money and pride if you win the thing. It’s like a five-week All-Star Race, so you’re always gonna be thinking about that. You could go the easy route and say, ‘If I just win all five races, I’m gonna beat everybody and win the deal.’ I guess that’s a mindset you can have for sure, but you’re gonna have teams thinking about it in the back of their head. Are they gonna jeopardize their race because of that? No, I don’t think so, but it’s definitely something we’re gonna think about through those five weeks and honestly these next three of seeding yourself. It’s like the March Madness bracket. You want to do well to seed yourself against an easier opponent, but it could be big. It could grow. I think it’s a great idea. Why not try it? You’re still gonna have racing, it’s just gonna be a race within the race between all the guys.”

YOU COULD SEE UPSETS AND HAVE LOWER SEEDS GO THROUGH. “You have that all the time. The first one is in Atlanta, so you’re gonna see some upsets there. You could see some big upsets. They knew what they were doing. And then Chicago, so you could see some big upsets in the first couple. I think that makes for drama and it makes for that, so you could see the Cinderella March Madness moments. That’s what we all grew up watching and you’re gonna have it here.”

THE SCHEDULE IS PRETTY DIVERSE THE NEXT SIX WEEKS. DO YOU LIKE THE DIVERSITY? “Yeah, I like it. It’s part of the schedule. You look at every week and understand that you’ve got some things coming up. I think the road courses are gonna be big. It’s gonna tell you a huge tale of where you’re sitting and you better be ready because there’s a lot of them coming up from road courses and street courses and things like that. We’ve only had one road course to start the year. What have teams learned from COTA and how are they gonna be better at Mexico and Chicago and Sonoma? You have a big variation of them, so it’s a fun part of the schedule where you’re going to very different places each week, and I think teams really enjoy that – at least I enjoy it because it really switches it up and keeps it fresh. It can also be frustrating if you’re not very good at those places. You could have a stretch of some bad weeks. Hopefully, we’re not on that boat, but I like this part of the schedule. There’s a lot of different things going on this summer.”

Ford Performance PR

At Nashville, Carson Hocevar’s runner-up finish was overshadowed by a run-in with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., where contact from Hocevar sent Stenhouse spinning into the outside wall. The wreck was race-ending and Stenhouse has now fallen below the playoff cut-off line as a result.

Stenhouse indicated that payback was on the table immediately after the wreck, but things have since simmered down after discussions between the two drivers. In a Saturday press conference at Michigan, Hocevar said he doesn’t expect any further escalation.

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“Yeah, I mean it was productive,” said Hocevar about talks with Stenhouse. “You know, me and him both have the reputation, I guess, of being aggressive at times and everything. So at that one point, we both reminded each other that even with those reputations, we’ve raced each other very well together, right? It clashes together. So, yeah, I mean we’ve had no issues before, as he had said, and I feel like we’ve had a decent relationship leading up to this.

“I thought it was productive and, based off his comments, I felt like it was received (as) productive.”

Talking it out

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet

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It’s fair to say that Hocevar has angered several drivers this year with his aggressive style, and this week, he admitted that he needs to “round the edges off” a little bit. Asked if it was hard to call a competitor after a situation like this, Hocevar really didn’t think so.

“I mean, no, it’s not, at least it wasn’t when me and him [Stenhouse] talked,” said Hocevar. “He owns a sprint car team, so he’s one of the first drivers I’ll go talk to just because I want to ask him about his sprint car team. So, you know, we’ve had that relationship, right? So, I mean, it’s not too hard to call. You just pick up the phone and call.

“I don’t get nervous a whole lot or awkward. Sometimes I am awkward, but I don’t get nervous or anything before those calls, especially when I feel like it’s warranted. You see these guys 38 weekends, so it’s either you call them or you see them here. It’s probably just easier if you just move that timeline up. That’s really the biggest thing.”

Where is the line between aggressive and reckless?

Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

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Hocevar has also gotten in trouble in the past for intentionally wrecking rivals, especially in the lower divisions — but also in the Cup Series after a run-in with Harrison Burton last year. The 22-year-old agrees that there is a line between aggressive and reckless, drawing it at “blatantly intentional versus just racing” incidents.

“Obviously, we make a thousand decisions a race, right? And sometimes the only decisions you see, especially when you’re not leading, in front or on TV, the only decisions you see is the bad ones because that causes a yellow and that raises a lot of tension,” said Hocevar. “So, I think every race car driver kind of realizes that at times. Intensity will just pick up, especially with how hard it is to pass or whatever. The intensity just starts picking up at certain tracks. I think everybody can see the line, especially depending on how the race goes. That kind of dictates how aggressive everybody’s being, and that’s sometimes when you start seeing mistakes or, you know, too much aggression.”

“It’s cool to just be talked about”

Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

James Gilbert / Getty Images

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And while it’s not all positive, Hocevar certainly doesn’t mind being in the spotlight either. “Number one, it’s cool to just be talked about,” he said. “Obviously, you want to be talked about maybe in a different light. But I mean, at least they’re talking, right? And I think that’s big for me. And, you know, you consume it — you see it all. As Jeff Dickerson [Spire Motorsports team co-owner] had mentioned before, he’s like, we’re trying to like round the edges. And then you have your heroes texting you, just don’t change, right? He’s like, hold on, hold on — we need at least something a little different.

“But yes, I mean, ultimately, it’s fun to obviously be in the news. I mean, it’s what I’ve dreamt of my whole life, which is just at least being a topic of conversation. Yes, I mean, it’s cool from that aspect. But you know, obviously, you want to be it when you just dominate a Cup race, and they can’t stop talking about it. That’s probably ultimately the next goal. But, you know, it’s definitely fun to at least see it all or just see my face everywhere.”

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