Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BROOKLYN, Mich. — Kurt Busch earned his second pole of the season and will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Fords took six of the top seven spots. Brad Keselowski will join Busch on the front row. Kyle Busch starts third, the only Toyota in the top seven. He’s joined by Kevin Harvick in the second row. Joey Logano completes the top five. Click here for starting lineup<doc-sep>Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Cup and Xfinity teams are back on track today at Michigan International. Cup teams have two practices scheduled. Xfinity teams are scheduled to qualify and race. Weather could be a factor with rain possible during the day. Here is today’s schedule: (ALL TIMES EASTERN) 6:30 a.m. — Xfinity garage opens 7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. — Cup garage open When track is dry – 9:55 a.m. — Cup practice (FS1, MRN) 10:05 a.m. — Xfinity qualifying; single vehicle/two rounds (FS1) 11:45 a.m. — Xfinity driver/crew chief meeting 11:30 a.m. – 12:50 p.m. — Final Cup practice (FS2, MRN) 1 p.m. — Xfinity driver introductions 1:30 p.m. — LTi Printing 250 Xfinity race; 125 laps/250 miles (Fox, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) Follow @dustinlong and on Facebook<doc-sep>Daniel Shirey/Getty Images Kurt Busch will lead the field to the starting line Sunday in the 2018 FireKeepers Casino 400 after posting the best time in the final round of qualifying Friday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Brad Keselowski is also set to start on the front row for the 15th race of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season after finishing second. Kyle Busch, Kurt's younger brother, and Kevin Harvick will break from Row 2. Busch picks up his second pole of the season and the 24th of his career. Here's a look at the top 10 starters for Sunday's race (via NASCAR.com): 1. Kurt Busch (41) 2. Brad Keselowski (2) 3. Kyle Busch (18) Video Play Button Videos you might like 4. Kevin Harvick (4) 5. Joey Logano (22) 6. Aric Almirola (10) 7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (17) 8. Erik Jones (20) 9. Ryan Blaney (12) 10. Denny Hamlin (11) Busch has started from the pole position in three of his 35 races at Michigan. He owns three victories at the track heading into Sunday's event. "This one is fun because I could trust the car and I knew I needed to go after it hard," he told reporters. "Watching all the Fords in practice, I knew we had a good shot at it." Fox NASCAR highlighted his pole-winning run: Meanwhile, seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson continues to struggle in finding top form, ranking 20th in Friday's qualifying runs. The 42-year-old California native currently sits a modest 12th in the standings and passed the one-year anniversary of his last victory, the 2017 AAA 400 Drive for Autism, earlier this week. "It's about being patient and it's tough to be patient especially in this industry," Johnson told Holly Cain of NASCAR.com about the longest win drought of his career. "We're all adjusting to a thousandths of a second every time we're on track. I'm trying and that's where I do have some comfort in the process. "But we need this to change, we need to see improvement and we need to keep marching forward. We can't stall out and be content where we are at. We need far better than this." Getting back to Victory Lane at Michigan could prove difficult. Not only is he starting in the middle of the pack, but he's tallied a single triumph in 32 starts at the track. Looking ahead, Busch established himself as the driver to beat with Friday's qualifying win. His biggest competition Sunday figures to come from other Ford drivers with seven of the top nine starters coming from the manufacturer.<doc-sep>
Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) The NASCAR Xfinity Series will again try the aero package this weekend that ran last year at Indianapolis and last weekend at Pocono. While last week’s race didn’t go as NASCAR hoped in terms of the cars being closer together, there is hope that they’ll be closer together for today’s race because drivers will be on the throttle more than they were at Pocono. Practice showed encouraging signs of cars running close together. Here are all the details for today’s race. (All times are Eastern) START: Master Sgt Todd Copic, US Air National Guard, will give the command to start engines at 1:37 p.m. The green flag is scheduled to wave at 1:46 p.m. DISTANCE: The race is scheduled for 125 laps (250 miles) around the 2-mile track. STAGES: Stage 1 ends on Lap 30. Stage 2 ends on Lap 60. PRERACE SCHEDULE: Garage opens at 6:30 a.m. Qualifying is at 10:05 a.m. Driver/crew chief meeting is at 11:45 p.m. Driver introductions are at 1 p.m. NATIONAL ANTHEM: Lisa Bascom will perform the anthem at 1:31 p.m. TV/RADIO: Fox will broadcast the race beginning at 1:30 p.m. Coverage begins at 1 p.m. Motor Racing Network’s radio broadcast begins at 1 p.m. and also can be heard at mrn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will have MRN’s broadcast. FORECAST: wunderground.com calls for mostly cloudy skies with a high of 72 degrees and 48 percent chance of scattered thunderstorms at the start of the race. LAST TIME: Denny Hamlin nipped William Byron by 0.012 seconds to win this race last June. Elliott Sadler was third. STARTING LINEUP: Click here for the starting lineup.