Denny Hamlin, who won the pole for today’s race at MIS with a lap of 210.590 mph, was happy to see some positive results after a bit of a rough stretch. He won all three segments of qualifying on Friday, and was seventh in final practice.

“These guys are really stepping up and we’re starting to make a little hay now. We love to see results when you work so hard,” Hamlin said. “The toughest part is when you work really hard and you don’t get the results and really we had unfortunate circumstances happen to us last weekend with that stop, but overall just been so happy with our performance.”

As far as the race, Hamlin knows he has to approach things a bit more measured than in qualifying.

“We have to get it driving just like it is right now – consistent and easy to drive at this point. You have to make sure you have that same sustainability in race trim for 200 laps around here.”

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: The Truck Series produces the best races in NASCAR, hands-down.

Competition is always strong, both up front and throughout the field, and you never know what is going to happen.

Such was the case Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, where Brett Moffitt pulled deja vu and once again did a last-lap pass to win the Corrigan Oil 200.

His margin of Victory: 0.025 seconds. He led only five laps all race, including the most important one.

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Silly season has begun, and the big drama this weekend surrounds Kurt Busch, 2004 Cup champion, who is still finalizing his plans for the 2019 season. Here’s a look at the players involved, and my take on what it all really means.

Kurt Busch: You would think that a driver with an attached sponsor (Monster Energy) would be someone a team would want to hold onto … but apparently that’s not the case with Kurt Busch. His one-year renewal for 2018 went down to the wire, and it does not look like it’s going to happen again, according to published reports.

Kurt has not confirmed anything, but he did not deny it. He said he is talking to multiple teams, which to me is an admission he won’t be in the 41 next year.

So what’s SHR’s motivation here in not agreeing to terms with Busch? Of course money is probably a factor: It always is, and we’re never in the room to know details about how much of a factor it is.

But no doubt, the youth movement plays a role too. SHR has the most senior roster in the Cup level, with drivers that are ages 42 (Harvick), 39 (Bowyer) and 34 (Almirola); Kurt Busch is 40, also on that high end.

Meanwhile, other teams are going younger (see Gibbs, Hendrick) and SHR doesn’t want to miss opportunities to get the stars of the future in their cars today. They even have one in their own system that is likely a good fit (more on that later).

A total of 19 Team Chevy Camaro ZL1 drivers will start the FireKeepers 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Michigan International Speedway. The 200-lap/400-mile contest around the 2-mile venue is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m., ET. Live coverage will be available on FOX, MRN Radio, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.

CHEVROLET DRIVERS STARTING IN THE TOP-15:

• Ryan Newman, No. 31 Okuma Camaro ZL1, will start 11^th
• Chase Elliott, No. 24 Mountain Dew/Little Caesars Camaro ZL1, will start 13^th
• William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1, will start 14^th 

TEAM CHEVY IN MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES COMPETITION:

• Chevrolet has won 39 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Manufacturer Championships

• Team Chevy drivers have scored 776 wins and 695 poles in MENCS competition
  
  

CHEVROLET ON THE TRACK—MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY:

• Chevrolet drivers have won 26 of 97 races at Michigan International Speedway. Victories by current Team Chevy drivers are: 
  • Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s for Pros Camaro ZL1, has made one trip to Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway (’14)
  • Kasey Kahne, No. 95 Camaro ZL1, has one victory at Michigan International Speedway (’06)
  • Kyle Larson, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1, earned his first career victory at Michigan International Speedway in 2016 and followed that up with a season sweep at the 2-mile venue in 2017 giving him three career victories at MIS
  • Ryan Newman, No. 31 Camaro ZL1, has two trophies from Michigan International Speedway (’03 & ’04)

• A Chevrolet driver has won five of the last eight races at Michigan International Speedway
• A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at Michigan International Speedway 27 times
• Team Chevy drivers have scored 177 top-five and 356 top-10 finishes at Michigan International Speedway
• A Chevrolet has led 7,122 laps (37.0% of possible 19,233 laps) at Michigan International Speedway
  
  -- Courtesy of Chevy Racing
  
  

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Brad Keselowski, a native of Rochester Hills, has never been shy about expressing his thoughts … no matter what the folks in charge may think.

When Goodyear announced the tire they were bringing to Michigan in the wake of a tire test Keselowski had participated in, he wasn’t happy with the choice, and asked for his name to be taken off the press release.

And when the topic comes to the package run at the All-Star race (which provided some great, tight racing) being expanded to other tracks this year and beyond, he definitely was not on board.

Speaking Friday at Michigan International Speedway, a track where Keselowski is still seeking his elusive first Cup win, the 2012 Cup champion didn’t hold back on his thoughts.

Regarding the tire controversy, Keselowski reiterated Friday what he had indicated in the tweet earlier this week: That he is not happy with the choice and doesn’t want to be seen as endorsing it.

“I like Greg Stucker and Goodyear a lot but I didn’t like my name on the press release because I felt it was an endorsement to something that I didn’t endorse. I didn’t endorse the decision to bring this tire here and I didn’t want my name attached to that,” he said.