Big News for FRCS Subscribers!

I've spent the past year developing a brand-new, improved version of FRCS, and I'm excited to share it with you during the off-season! If your subscription is set to expire before race #36 (Phoenix), now is the perfect time to extend or renew and take advantage of this offer. Subscriptions that would normally expire after race #36 will remain valid through the off-season, giving you access to the upcoming FRCS updates until we get close to the 2025 Daytona 500. Don't miss out on these exclusive features - renew today and be ready for what's next!

You can verify your subscription expiration date by clicking 'My Account > Subscription Details' in the top navigation.

Loop Data Box Score

NASCAR Cup Series

FireKeepers Casino 400

Michigan International Speedway

August 6th, 2023

Race #23 of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Season

Previous Race
FireKeepers Casino 400
Next Race

Laps Scheduled: 200
Miles Raced : 400.0
Time of Race : 03 Hours 02 minutes 59 seconds
Average Speed: 131.159 mph
Margin of Victory : 00.152 seconds
Cautions: 9
Caution Laps: 43
Lead Changes: 26

Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr lead the field to a restart — Brooklyn, Michigan - August 6th, 2023: Ty Gibbs, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, and Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, lead the field to a restart during the NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Photo by Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

Driver	ST	50%	10%	FIN	HI	LW	AVG	PC D	Pass	Passed	PS D	Q PASS	Fast	%T15	TOT Led	Laps	Rating	TOT PTS
Chris Buescher	4	7	2	1	1	28	8.1	+3	94	89	+5	65	14	82.5%	52	200	130.6	41
Martin Truex Jr	5	1	3	2	1	34	6.3	+3	112	63	+49	64	42	86.5%	47	200	131.7	55
Denny Hamlin	13	5	4	3	1	31	10.0	+10	144	105	+39	81	10	83.0%	1	200	102.5	37
Brad Keselowski	12	6	5	4	1	26	9.1	+8	93	81	+12	50	18	75.5%	15	200	115.4	48
Kyle Larson	17	15	10	5	1	31	12.3	+12	127	67	+60	66	4	70.5%	2	200	93.3	43
Daniel Suarez	14	4	12	6	1	31	10.4	+8	91	74	+17	52	7	80.0%	12	200	106.8	45
Ross Chastain	2	9	8	7	1	24	10.6	-5	88	90	-2	51	4	83.5%	16	200	101.5	30
Kevin Harvick	22	17	7	8	3	30	16.9	+14	126	131	-5	16	0	30.5%	0	200	78.5	29
Ryan Blaney	9	11	9	9	1	26	9.8	+0	90	101	-11	52	3	83.5%	1	200	97.5	28
Erik Jones	25	3	16	10	1	32	13.0	+15	130	93	+37	45	3	55.0%	0	200	84.0	29
Ty Gibbs	3	20	15	11	1	27	12.7	-8	117	100	+17	42	8	70.0%	1	200	86.9	34
Austin Cindric	20	8	13	12	1	31	11.3	+8	103	116	-13	49	2	76.0%	0	200	88.9	27
Christopher Bell	1	31	22	13	1	33	17.4	-12	97	66	+31	35	5	49.0%	1	200	85.7	24
Joey Logano	6	13	20	14	5	31	14.7	-8	113	116	-3	47	0	60.5%	0	200	76.3	27
Corey Lajoie	31	24	21	15	4	32	20.4	+16	126	123	+3	19	0	17.5%	0	200	62.2	23
Aric Almirola	18	18	17	16	6	28	17.7	+2	104	121	-17	16	2	32.5%	0	200	65.9	21
Harrison Burton	29	12	18	17	4	36	18.6	+12	100	117	-17	29	0	41.0%	0	200	61.8	20
Bubba Wallace	11	2	19	18	1	28	9.8	-7	97	70	+27	50	5	72.5%	21	200	94.8	35
Austin Dillon	15	23	1	19	1	33	19.3	-4	97	119	-22	18	0	28.5%	2	200	58.7	18
Ty Dillon	34	22	11	20	1	34	23.9	+14	111	123	-12	12	0	10.0%	2	200	50.1	17
Ricky Stenhouse Jr	27	19	24	21	7	34	20.8	+6	130	133	-3	20	0	18.0%	0	200	56.3	16
Ryan Preece	28	21	25	22	3	32	18.3	+6	109	122	-13	25	0	29.0%	0	199	55.2	15
Justin Haley	26	26	23	23	8	36	22.4	+3	109	115	-6	14	0	16.0%	0	199	47.3	14
Michael McDowell	23	28	27	24	6	35	23.3	-1	93	108	-15	5	0	14.5%	0	199	47.0	13
Cole Custer	33	32	6	25	6	37	29.5	+8	66	92	-26	7	0	2.5%	0	199	35.5	0
AJ Allmendinger	24	10	29	26	4	30	18.7	-2	95	110	-15	36	0	39.5%	0	199	60.3	14
JJ Yeley	36	33	26	27	6	36	28.3	+9	71	96	-25	10	0	7.5%	0	199	38.7	0
Austin Hill	30	29	28	28	9	35	27.9	+2	76	90	-14	3	0	8.5%	0	198	39.0	0
Todd Gilliland	32	25	14	29	6	35	24.7	+3	112	137	-25	9	0	7.5%	0	197	39.3	8
Tyler Reddick	16	16	32	30	1	32	14.0	-14	66	79	-13	29	14	62.5%	7	197	79.4	7
Chase Briscoe	21	27	31	31	8	32	23.7	-10	80	96	-16	11	0	17.5%	0	197	43.2	6
Josh Bilicki	37	30	30	32	1	37	31.1	+5	24	53	-29	0	0	1.0%	1	196	28.2	0
Alex Bowman	19	14	33	33	1	33	19.2	-14	57	38	+19	16	5	41.5%	19	134	62.5	14
Josh Berry	35	34	34	34	16	36	32.9	+1	33	40	-7	0	0	0.0%	0	50	28.3	0
William Byron	7	35	35	35	7	19	29.3	-28	29	29	+0	23	1	22.5%	0	46	52.2	2
Chase Elliott	10	36	36	36	3	10	31.1	-26	11	14	-3	10	0	17.0%	0	34	48.2	1
Kyle Busch	8	37	37	37	8	15	35.3	-29	12	16	-4	11	0	7.0%	0	14	25.3	1

Dabble in Draftkings or Fan Duel?

My OWNER Subscription has these DFS tools:
Dominator Points Cheatsheet.
Salary Cap Calculator.
Season Salary Trends.
Points by Track.
Points by Start Position.
Season Points Trend.
Points by Race.
Season Boxscore.

Race Weekend Links

New links are added as the race weekend progresses.

Michigan International Speedway Track Page
Entry List
Practice 1
Practice to Qualifying
Lineup
Pit Stall Selections (pdf)
Results
Loop Data Box Score
Draftkings Fantasy Points
Fan Duel Fantasy Points
Accupredict Position Prediction Performance
Pit Stop Data

Race Fast Facts

Michigan International Speedway
FireKeepers Casino 400
Race Winner: Chris Buescher
Age: 30
Team : No. 17 - Castrol Edge Ford
Owner: John Henry
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Chris Buescher won the FireKeepers Casino 400, his fourth victory in 280 Cup Series races.
This is his second victory and 10th top-10 finish in 2023.
This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in 13 races at Michigan International Speedway.
Martin Truex Jr. (second) posted his 16th top-10 finish in 33 races at Michigan International Speedway. It is his 13th top-10 finish in 2023.
Denny Hamlin (third) posted his 18th top-10 finish in 33 races at Michigan International Speedway.
Ty Gibbs (11th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Martin Truex Jr. leads the point standings by 57 points over Denny Hamlin.
The following drivers clinched spots in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Race Recap

Chris Buescher seizes nail-biting victory in FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway

August 7th, 2023

By Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service

After the completion of the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, we can hold the follow truths to be self-evident:

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing is officially “back.”
Chris Buescher is rapidly gaining elite status as a driver.
Ford maintained its dominance in the Irish Hills.
Chase Elliott will have to win one of the next three races to make the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
The fastest car didn’t win Sunday’s race.

In an extended, dramatic, nail-biting green-flag run to the finish, Buescher held off hard-charging Martin Truex Jr. to win his second straight Cup Series race.

With team co-owner Brad Keselowski finishing fourth and Buescher winning—the ninth straight victory for Ford drivers at the 2.0-mile speedway—RFK can claim bragging rights as the top Ford team in the Cup garage, at least for now.

When the race resumed at Lap 75 on Monday after a postponement from Sunday because of rain, Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet wasn’t on the track, having crashed out in 36th play on Lap 35 the day before.

Elliott’s deficit to the Playoff cut line grew to 55 points; realistically, the 2020 series champion will have to win one of the next three races to avoid missing the postseason for the first time in his career.

Eight days after winning his first race of the season on the .75-mile Richmond Raceway short track, Buescher proved himself a formidable competitor lap after lap in holding off Truex, whose No. 19 Toyota arguably was the fastest car in the race.

With Truex closing the distance between the cars over the final six laps, Buescher roared off Turn 4 and crossed the finish line .152 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

“This Castrol Mustang was so good in practice, qualifying,” said Buescher, who picked up his fourth career victory. “Gave me a great car again. Had to work for that one too, hard racing at the end.

“Martin was very clean with me. I appreciate that. Get to go to Victory Lane two weeks in a row. That’s pretty awesome.”

With 13 laps to go, Truex had his best chance. Buescher slipped slightly off Turn 4, and Truex pulled alongside. The No. 19 Camry edged ahead to the inside, but Buescher doggedly kept Truex beside him for nearly two laps.

Rounding Turn 4 on Lap 188 of 400, Buescher held Truex’s car to the bottom of the track, forcing Truex to slip and lift off the gas. Truex also had to clear the lapped car of Michael McDowell as Buescher opened a gap of 10 car lengths.

That gave Buescher enough of a margin to hold off Truex for the win over the final 11 circuits.

“I think we needed maybe a little bit longer run to wear the tires some more,” said Truex, who swept the first two stages and increased his series lead to 57 points over second-place Denny Hamlin, who finished third on Monday. “I feel like we were a little better. It’s hard to pass the leader on equal tires.

“We had an unbelievable car today. Hats off to everybody that puts in the work on these things… It was a rocket. The leader in clean air is really, really hard to pass. Just didn’t quite have enough. All in all, a good day.

“Tough to get a win here. We’ve been really good in the past. Just can’t get it done. Hopefully, I don’t know, maybe next year.”

Kyle Larson finished fifth, followed by Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones. Ty Gibbs came home 11th and supplanted McDowell in the 16th and final Playoff-eligible position. McDowell trails Gibbs by three points, with Suarez five points back.

With Buescher winning his second race and qualifying for the postseason, all the single-race winners this season also clinched Playoff berths on Monday: Christopher Bell, Chastain, Blaney, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Bell, the Michigan pole winner, damaged his car severely with a spin into the wall on Lap 65 on Sunday, but after repeated trips to pit road for repairs, he salvaged a 13th-place result.