NASCAR Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan Preview: 3 Drivers to Watch

Last week at Pocono, Martin Truex Jr. finally put it all together and grabbed a spot in the Chase. With the win, he became the ninth driver to all but guarantee a spot in the playoffs.

With just 12 races to go before the Chase begins, here’s one driver with the best chance to add to his win total, another with the best chance to earn his first victory and a sleeper pick to take the checkered flag at the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.

Best Chance to Win Again: Kevin Harvick

Bob Brodbeck/Associated Press

Harvick is on an all-time tear. Other than a 38th-place finish at Bristol in which he led 184 laps before getting caught up in a mid-race crash, he has finished in the top 10 every race this season.

According to NASCAR Talk, before 2015, only Lee Petty (1954 and 1959) and Richard Petty (1969) had strung together 13 top 10s in the first 14 races of a season (Truex also joined that club this year). As if that weren’t impressive enough, Harvick has finished first or second in 10 of those 14.

Harvick has finished second so often the last two seasons that he’s become almost as synonymous with the No. 2 as Brad Keselowski. Much like every other track, Harvick has had solid results at Michigan.

The No. 4 finished atop the leaderboard in each of the first two practice sessions and first two segments of qualifying. Harvick will start on the front row Sunday and clearly has one of the fastest cars, if not the fastest.

In 28 career starts at Michigan International Speedway, Harvick has an average finish of 13th. However, Happy has finished second (of course) in each of the last four races at the two-mile oval. Until proved otherwise, Harvick has to be considered a favorite in every race.

Best Chance to Win for the First Time: Greg Biffle

Nick Wass/Associated Press

This could be considered a sleeper pick as well. It’s been quite a disappointing season for Roush Fenway Racing so far. Elder statesman Greg Biffle is the highest Roush Fenway driver in the Chase standings, sitting on the outside of the playoffs looking in at 18th.

Roush Fenway, featuring Biffle, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne, has combined for just two top fives and three top 10s. In fact, the “Cat in the Hat” Jack Roush hasn’t visited Sprint Cup Victory Lane since June 22 of last year, and that was with a driver who left in the offseason.

But the Biff has a good chance of ending that drought. Over the last four races, the No. 16 has finished as high as second and no lower than 17th.

After his second-place finish in Charlotte three races ago, Biffle told Associated Press sports writer Pete Iacobelli that things were turning around for Roush Fenway Racing.

“We've met our first goal, at least my first goal, to run in the top 10,'' Biffle said. ''We haven't been able to do that in a year-and-a-half. … It's turned around in the last few weeks, small gains.”

Michigan is one of Biffle’s best tracks. He boasts an average finish of 11.5 in 24 career starts and leads all active drivers with four wins. He also has six top 10s in his last seven races at MIS.

Sleeper Pick: Tony Stewart

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Nobody has been more disappointing than Smoke over the last two seasons. 2014 was the first year in Stewart’s 17-year career that he failed to earn a win.

Obviously, extenuating circumstances likely led to his poor season, but 2015 has been even worse for the lead man at SHR. Stewart has an average finish of 26.1 and just one top 10 to his name.

The summer months used to be Smoke season, but with just one win in almost three years, the smoke seems to be dissipating.

However, Michigan is one of the fastest tracks in NASCAR, and there aren’t many teams with faster rides than the Stewart-Haas team, the No. 14 included. In the three practice sessions, Stewart posted the 14th, 12th and 18th fastest times. His qualifying run of 15th also shows that his Chevy is fast but not quite fast enough.

Enter experience. Stewart has finished in the top 10 in two-thirds of his 30 races at Michigan.

Although Stewart has slowed down in recent years, he still finished 11th last year and fifth the year before at Michigan. There have been at least eight cautions in each of the last six races at MIS. If he can avoid trouble, Smoke may finally rise again.

Stats and info courtesy of Racing-Reference.info unless otherwise noted.

Follow Aaron Brand on Twitter @AaronBrand47