High Speed Michigan International Speedway Is Next             

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

Next up for the NASCAR Cup teams is the high-speed Michigan International Speedway. It is a favorite of the drivers for many reasons, and high speed is one of them. Another would be the wide racing surface, which allows a number of ways to aggressively try to make their way to the front.

I realize it is only the second race of the second half of the 2026 season, but it is beginning to feel like crunch time for a lot of drivers who want to try to qualify for the Chase. It does appear the gap is widening for those at the top of the points, and as the races begin to click off, the time is getting shorter and shorter to make up any ground. Well, that is if they continue to have bad races and fall further and further back in points.

It does appear the Chevys are beginning to close the gap on the Toyotas, even though the Toyotas do still show they have an apparent speed advantage. Just a quick look at the qualifying tells that story. In the top ten starters there are six Toyotas.

All four of the JGR Teams made the top ten along with the points leader from 23XI, Tyler Reddick. The sixth one is Erik Jones from Legacy. That shows a lot of strength coming from more than one Toyota team in the garage. Of course, from this fan’s view, it wasn’t all that unexpected that Tyler Reddick would qualify well. He has been the one to beat almost every weekend. Denny Hamlin has been showing his strength every week, also and I can’t say it was any kind of surprise that he took the pole although Carson Hocevar ran a very close second qualifying time and starts on the front row with Hamlin.

Did I mention Hocevar was the fastest qualifying Chevy? I can’t say that was really much of a surprise either. He has shown speed this season and has also shown that he is maturing as a driver. That doesn’t mean he has lost any of his aggressive driving style, but he has been making better decisions as he aggressively makes his way through, whether it be in qualifying or during a race. Honestly, this NASCAR fan has been surprised by his improvement in those areas, and he is proving himself to be a force that will have to be reckoned with on an ongoing basis as the season – and probably the coming years – progress.

Since we’re talking about the speed of Hocevar, it is well worth mentioning that three of the Hendrick Chevys also qualified in the top ten. The only Hendrick Chevy missing was Alex Bowman, and he qualified twenty-ninth. It’s not that he ran all that badly, it’s just that the qualifying times are very close, and he had a minor slip-up that cost him. He actually qualified just a little over six-tenths of a second behind the pole sitter.

While I’m talking about the Hendrick Chevys, I just have to mention the plight of Kyle Larson so far this season. Without saying too much, I am sure he would like to see a couple of things go his way at the end of the races. As an example, I use last week’s finish. Because he had a flat tire on the final restart, he went from being in contention for the win in fifth place to finishing twenty-third. That was just another time that the ominous thing called racing luck turned against him this season. And did I mention it has been a long time since he has actually won a race? Although there are others that seem to be fighting a lot of adversity, I think it could be his time for a turnaround. (I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?)

There are several possible things that could raise their ugly heads in the race, and one of them could be tire problems. Several did experience tire problems in practice, and this fan can’t help but wonder if a tire problem might change the outcome of the race. (I guess that’s another thing we’ll find out by the time this one is over, too.)

I think it is worth mentioning that all but one of the Toyotas qualified in the top fifteen, and the first Ford doesn’t show up until the fourteenth spot, and that’s Chris Buescher in his RFK Ford. There are also two more Chevys to add to the top fifteen, and those are Daniel Suarez and Cole Custer.