FYI WIRZ: NASCAR's Top Drivers Talk Michigan Track

The top five drivers in NASCAR Sprint cup Series this week—Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, and Kurt Busch—describe the two-mile Michigan International Speedway tri-oval as fun and tricky.

The Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 commences this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. on TNT.

This fast series includes comments by NASCAR’s popular drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne.

FYI WIRZ is the swift presentation of pertinent motor-sports topics compiled and condensed by Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com

Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet)

“I love it,” Harvick said. “If your car is not handling well, you have options. You run your car at the very top, you can run in the middle or you can run on the very bottom. It’s a good race track to race on because there are so many options. I think it’s more about handling, just because the tires fall off so much."

“It all depends on the weather, too. If it’s really hot, it gets very slick, so you have to have a good handling car," Harvick said. "You have to be good on a short run, but you have to manage your tire wear to be competitive at the end of a run. I think all of the stats from the past are out the window, considering how everything has gone this year.

“At this particular level of racing, you have to have it all together to be able to run in the top five, and that’s what you have to do to win a race in this series,”  said Harvick.

Kyle Busch (No. 18 Toyota)

“It’s just a fun place to race,” Busch said. “It’s wide-open racing and you can run from top to bottom. The biggest thing is just trying to get grip there. Some guys are able to get it, other guys can’t. You can get it for maybe five laps and then you’re just out to lunch. The biggest thing is, just trying to make your car comfortable and make it last throughout a whole tire run and, of course, make it fast, too. And the wide racetrack is good. That’s what makes Michigan so exciting and so fun.”

Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Toyota)

"I’m looking forward to it because it seems like our bigger track program is better than our short track program right now,” Hamlin said. “It seems like every time we go there we do improve, and I do improve. It’s just the track is very similar to Pocono. When you have a car that is really good, it just shows up huge on the stopwatch. Any place where you have long straightaways like that it’s the first man to the gas wins, it seems like. It’s just a track where you continually fight that and everyone is going for it. Aero is a big deal and the restarts are absolutely crazy because we’ve got the whole race track to use there.”

Matt Kenseth (No. 17 Ford)

“I consider Michigan one of my favorite tracks on the Cup circuit,” Kenseth said. “I always enjoy going there since it’s the Midwest and we’ve had some good runs at Michigan in the past. 

“Success at Michigan is about having a car that handles well since it’s a big sweeping track with plenty of room and lanes to pass. If you can get your car to handle the right way, you can have a lot of fun racing there. Racing at Michigan is also significant because it’s the headquarters for Roush Industries and Ford Motor Company, so it’s always a big weekend for us at a place we consider one of our home tracks.”

Kurt Busch (No. 2 Dodge)

“When we race at Michigan, we’re right there in the backyard of all the ‘Big Three’ auto manufacturers and everyone wants to win for the brand they represent,” Busch said “It’s like all the manufacturers have moved their temporary headquarters to Brooklyn, Michigan, for the day."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Chevrolet)

"Michigan is a fun track,” Earnhardt said. “It's wide, and you'll find a lot of side-by-side racing. You can move around. If the top doesn't work then you can run the bottom. I enjoyed running there, and we seem to have had some success there."

Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Ford)

“There is so much racing room out there that you have to really work on your setup,” Kahne said. “I feel like that is one of the tracks where it is really critical to have a good aero and engine package. The racing at Michigan can be great at times. It also can be a race where cars run away and get strung out and there’s not a lot of passing going on. As far as the width of the racetrack and racing groove, there’s plenty of room. If you have a good car, you’ll be able to pass and it will be a fun race.”

Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com