{"id":21121,"date":"2018-08-10T16:50:19","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T21:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=21121"},"modified":"2018-08-11T17:12:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T22:12:38","slug":"nascar-friday-michigan-notebook-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/10\/nascar-friday-michigan-notebook-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Friday Michigan Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Kyle Larson looking for progress and a little luck as Playoffs approach<\/b><\/p>\n

BROOKLYN, Mich. \u2013 The racing world took notice when Chase Elliott won his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International.<\/p>\n

In particular, so did Kyle Larson.<\/p>\n

To the driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi racing Chevrolet, Elliott\u2019s victory was emblematic of the progress Hendrick Motorsports has made in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Though he started the season with a clear speed advantage, Larson has seen the Hendrick organization close the gap. With the Playoffs just around the corner, that gives Larson pause.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to be making as big gains as what, say, the Hendrick guys have,\u201d Larson acknowledged on Friday at Michigan International Speedway, venue for Sunday\u2019s Consumers Energy 400 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio). \u201cBut I feel like we started off way better than they did. So, they\u2019ve had more room to get better.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I feel like they\u2019ve kind of surpassed us maybe a little bit the last few weeks. And there are obviously other teams that are better than we are, too. I feel like we\u2019re getting our stuff better every week. <\/p>\n

Larson swept both Michigan races last year. This week, he\u2019s commuting between MIS and the Knoxville (Iowa) Nationals for winged sprint cars. Larson was pleased with the speed his No. 42 Chevy showed in opening practice at Michigan on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just keep getting better, and there are some good tracks for us in the Playoffs,\u201d said Larson, who was eighth fastest in the session. \u201cIf we could just get some luck one of these times in the Playoffs, maybe we can make a run at the championship. So we\u2019ve just got to keep working hard and thinking about what it takes to get better and better every week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we have the right group of people at the race track and the race shop that we can do that. It\u2019s all about just progressing and getting better. I feel like we are definitely doing that, but there are other teams that maybe have made a bigger step than we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

FOR GRANT ENFINGER, A WIN WOULD BE NICE\u2014BUT NOT NECESSARY<\/b><\/p>\n

The math is as simple as 5-3-2.<\/p>\n

The are five drivers who have qualified for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs by winning races\u2014defending series champion Johnny Sauter, Brett Moffitt, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley and Ben Rhodes.<\/p>\n

There are currently three Playoff spots available on points, with Grant Enfinger, Stewart Friesen and two-time series champion Matt Crafton poised to claim them.<\/p>\n

There are two races left in the NCWTS regular season. That means there are two more chances for a new winner to make the Playoffs with a victory\u2014and potentially to knock out one of the drivers planning to earn a berth on points.<\/p>\n

Enfinger is in the most enviable position. He\u2019s third overall in the standings, nine points ahead of Friesen and 39 ahead of Crafton. Accordingly, the driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford isn\u2019t planning to drive defensively in the final two regular-season races at Michigan and Bristol.<\/p>\n

Nor is Enfinger taking anything for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely not comfortable with our situation,\u201d Enfinger said after opening practice for Saturday\u2019s Corrigan Oil 200 at Michigan (1 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). \u201cI wish we were locked in\u2026 to breeze through these next two weeks and focus on the Playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t really do that, but we\u2019re not in a bad spot either. At the end of the day, we just need to keep doing what we\u2019ve been doing to get us to this point, and I think we\u2019ll be all right. Really, it\u2019s kind of business as usual for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

With two races left before the Playoffs begin, Enfinger will secure a Playoff spot if he stays ahead of both Friesen and Crafton in the standings\u2014no matter what else happens.<\/p>\n

SHORT STROKES<\/b><\/p>\n

Paul Menard has a large deficit to overcome and little time to do it if he hopes to make the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff. The driver of the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford is 17th<\/sup> in the standings, 72 points behind Alex Bowman in 15th<\/sup>, the last position currently eligible for a Playoff berth. Consecutive finishes of 21st<\/sup> at Pocono and 28th<\/sup> at Watkins Glen didn\u2019t help Menard\u2019s cause. \u201cWe\u2019re in a hole right now,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I feel really good about these races coming up.\u201d That\u2019s understandable. Michigan in particular is one of Menard\u2019s best tracks. Five of his 20 career top fives have come there\u2026<\/p>\n

The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas are continuing to show speed as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular season winds down. Denny Hamlin topped the speed chart in opening practice on Friday with a lap at 202.230 mph. Teammates Daniel Suarez and Kyle Busch were third and fifth fastest, respectively, as speeds picked up throughout the session. Ty Dillon was busiest in opening practice, running 15 laps. No other driver clocked more than 11, and most were content with five circuits or fewer as they prepped for Friday afternoon\u2019s qualifying session.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Kyle Larson looking for progress and a little luck as Playoffs approach BROOKLYN, Mich. \u2013 The racing world took notice when Chase Elliott won his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International. In particular, so did Kyle Larson. To the driver of the No. 42 Chip […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":21122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[645,219,16],"class_list":["post-21121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-consumers-energy-400","tag-michigan-international-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/357239.jpg?fit=2863%2C1909","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-5uF","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21123,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21121\/revisions\/21123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}