After back-to-back road course races, the NASCAR Cup Series will return to oval racing on Sunday with the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Sunday’s race will last 200 laps around the 2-mile speedway with stage breaks at laps 60 and 120. Michigan International Speedway is one of the fastest tracks on the NASCAR circuit with speeds near 200mph going into the corners. Both turns have 18 degrees of banking.
NASCAR has applied resin to the racing surface in both turns in an attempt to create more racing. The sanctioning body last applied resin at Nashville Superspeedway, a concrete racing surface. Sunday’s race will be the first time resin is placed on an asphalt track instead of PJ1.
Teams will have seven sets of tires available with the Sunoco fuel window estimated around 46-51 laps.
Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott will make up the front row to start the race. This is based on the qualifying metric, which is weighed between finishing position last week at Indianapolis (50%), points position (35%), and fastest lap from Indianapolis (15%).
Sunday’s Green flag is scheduled for 3:16 pm ET on NBCSN. Sunset is at 8:26 pm ET, but daylight shouldn’t be a factor unless unexpected weather hits the area. The Weather Channel predicts just a 15% chance of rain for the race.
The full FireKeepers Casino 400 starting lineup is below.
| Position | Driver | Car Number | Team |
| 1 | Kyle Larson | 5 | Hendrick |
| 2 | Chase Elliott | 9 | Hendrick |
| 3 | Ryan Blaney | 12 | Penske |
| 4 | Matt DiBenedetto | 21 | Wood Brothers |
| 5 | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 | Gibbs |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | 1 | Chip Ganassi |
| 7 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Gibbs |
| 8 | Kevin Harvick | 4 | Stewart-Haas |
| 9 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Gibbs |
| 10 | Alex Bowman | 48 | Hendrick |
| 11 | Chris Bueshcer | 17 | Roush Fenway |
| 12 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 | JTG Daugherty |
| 13 | Erik Jones | 43 | Richard Petty |
| 14 | Tyler Reddick | 8 | Richard Childress |
| 15 | Bubba Wallace | 23 | 23XI |
| 16 | Ryan Newman | 6 | Roush Fenway |
| 17 | Justin Haley | 77 | Spire |
| 18 | William Byron | 24 | Hendrick |
| 19 | Joey Logano | 22 | Penske |
| 20 | Brad Keselowski | 2 | Penske |
| 21 | Chase Briscoe | 14 | Stewart-Haas |
| 22 | Ross Chastain | 42 | Chip Ganassi |
| 23 | Aric Almirola | 10 | Stewart-Haas |
| 24 | Josh Berry | 7 | Spire |
| 25 | Michael McDowell | 34 | Front Row |
| 26 | Austin Dillon | 3 | Richard Childress |
| 27 | Cole Custer | 41 | Stewart-Haas |
| 28 | Christopher Bell | 20 | Gibbs |
| 29 | Josh Bilicki | 52 | Rick Ware |
| 30 | Daniel Suarez | 99 | TrackHouse |
| 31 | Quin Houff | 0 | StarCom |
| 32 | Ryan Preece | 37 | JTG Daugherty |
| 33 | Garrett Smithley | 53 | Rick Ware |
| 34 | James Davison | 15 | Rick Ware |
| 35 | Anthony Alfredo | 38 | Front Row |
| 36 | BJ McLeod | 78 | Live Fast |
| 37 | Cody Ware | 51 | Rick Ware |