NASCAR THIS WEEK SPEED FREAKS QUESTIONS & ATTITUDE A few questions we MICHIGAN Compelling questions ... and had to ask ourselves maybe a few actual answers Did Pocono trigger the start THREE THINGS TO WATCH Will Jimmie win again? of the Summer of Kyle? GODSPEAK: The No. 18 The winless streak is at 73. The most Toyota team is hitting on logical career comparison is Jimmie all cylinders right now, but Johnson’s former longtime team- it won’t last through the mate Jeff Gordon. Jimmie got his 83 summer. career wins during his first 16 full- KEN’S CALL: Yes, assuming time seasons but is winless since you consider four more wins mid-2017. Jeff had 81 wins through between now and the end his first 15 seasons before winning of August a Summer of Kyle. just once from 2008-10. However, With about four top-fives Jeff resurrected things and got 11 mixed in, by the way. wins from 2011-15, so that suggests “Jimmie 2.0” may emerge. Jimmie is now 0-for-73. How high does that number And what about Kyle Larson? climb? GODSPEAK: There has to Victim of circumstances. But some- be a reason for this sudden times, those circumstances are slide into the abyss. When self-inflicted, as they were at Pocono they find the answer, he will when he got too aggressive on a return to his winning ways. late restart. You have to think he has KEN’S CALL: This is no a burst of wins coming sometime fluke at this point. Bar- William Byron’s stock is rising after two consecutive Cup Series poles and top-10 finishes. [AP/ this year, maybe at the perfect time ring a rain-shortened win MATT SLOCUM] starting in September. But then or a fuel-mileage deal, I’m again, once his stars finally align, beginning to think he’s out 1. Billy ball last couple of weeks,” Elliott said. “We’ve his equipment might start to lag. It’s of wins. But I’ve been wrong been good, just not great, and you have to be always good to remember, there are before. William Byron looks like he’s getting a handle great to win these things.” a lot of moving parts in auto racing. on this NASCAR racing stuff. At Charlotte and Pocono, he earned pole position honors and 3. No Logano lag — Ken Willis, ken.willis@ FEUD OF THE scored back-to-back ninth-place finishes. news-jrnl.com WEEK “We were able to go from 12th to ninth on It seems like Joey Logano has not done that last restart and that was nice, and we anything really special lately, but the Cup AUSTIN DILLON VS. PAUL finished with a top-10, so hopefully we can go Series points standings tell a different story. NASCAR CUP MENARD: Menard tapped to Michigan and be able to improve on that Logano, who has one win this season, trails STANDINGS Dillon’s rear bumper in Turn even more.” points leader Kyle Busch (four wins) by 3 and sent Dillon’s No. 3 only four points. He finished a nondescript 1. Kyle Busch 568 Chevy into the wall, causing 2. Five-race stud seventh at Pocono. “It was brutal to pass,” he 2. Joey Logano 564 him to exit the race after said. “Really hard in dirty air; tough racing. It 3. Chase Elliott 511 turning only 28 laps. Chase Elliott’s win at Talladega six weeks ago was all about strategy and restarts, and you 4. Brad Keselowski 509 GODWIN KELLY’S TAKE: ignited a performance surge across the Hen- saw some chaotic restarts.” 5. Kevin Harvick 500 Dillon was not happy. “He drick Motorsports operation. The 23-year-old 6. Denny Hamlin 465 just ran into the back of driver has scored five consecutive top-five — Godwin Kelly, godwin.kelly@news-jrnl. 7. Martin Truex Jr. 452 me and missed the corner. finishes, starting with that ’Dega triumph. com 8. Kurt Busch 437 He overshot it,” he said. “We’ve had some good No. 9 Chevrolets the 9. Ryan Blaney 406 “There’s no need to talk 10. Clint Bowyer 402 to him about it. He knows 11. Alex Bowman 395 what he did.” 12. Aric Almirola 393 13. Daniel Suarez 368 14. William Byron 361 GODWIN’S PICKS POCONO 15. Erik Jones 343 FOR MICHIGAN 16. Kyle Larson 342 16. Jimmie Johnson 342 WINNER: Kyle Larson THREE THINGS WE LEARNED 18. Ryan Newman 332 REST OF TOP 5: Kevin Har- 19. Paul Menard 310 vick, Denny Hamlin, Chase 20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 308 Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1. Intramural battle FIRST ONE OUT: Ryan Blaney Joe Gibbs Racing is on fire right now. Gibbs WHAT’S ON TAP DARK HORSE: Jimmie had three of his cars finish in the top six at (All times Eastern) Johnson Pocono. Three of his drivers have combined DON’T BE SURPRISED IF: for six wins over the past eight Cup Series CUP SERIES: FireKeepers Casino 400 Larson doesn’t wreck out, races. “One of us, it seems like, is winning, SITE: Michigan International Speed- he wins at this big, fast oval. and I wish it was us,” said winless Gibbs way (2-mile oval) driver Erik Jones. SCHEDULE: Friday, practice (Fox Sports 2, 3 p.m.; Fox Sports 1, 5 MOTOR MOUTHS 2. Aero king p.m.). Saturday, qualifying (Fox PODCAST Sports 1, noon). Sunday, race (Fox The car leading the field had a distinct Sports 1, coverage begins at 1 p.m., Can we take some time out advantage on the field because of the new green flag at 2 p.m.) to talk NBA or NHL finals? aerodynamic package. Track position was Probably not. king Sunday at Pocono. “If you were a 20th- XFINITY: LTi Printing 250 place car and got into the lead you were SITE: Michigan International Tune in online at going to drive away,” said second-place Brad Speedway www.news-journalonline. Keselowski. Kyle Busch tosses his 4-year-old son, Brexton, SCHEDULE: Saturday, race (Fox com/daytonamotormouths into the air after winning at Pocono. It was Sports 1, 1:30 p.m.) 3. Exit, stage left car owner Joe Gibbs’ sixth win over the past eight Cup Series races. [AP/MATT SLOCUM] GANDER OUTDOORS TRUCKS: Kyle Larson won Stages 1 and 2 at Pocono, SpeedyCash.com 400 picking up two playoff points, but crashed out two stage wins,” said Larson. SITE: Texas Motor Speedway (1.5- in a late-restart scramble. He finished 26th. mile quad-oval) “Our team did a really good job of calling pit — Godwin Kelly, godwin.kelly@news-jrnl. TV SCHEDULE: Friday, race (Fox strategy the first half of the race for those com Sports 1, 9 p.m.) 2019 CUP SERIES Keselowski) June 2: Pocono 400 (Kyle Busch) Sept. 1: Southern 500 at Darlington SCHEDULE AND WINNERS March 31: O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at June 9: FireKeepers Casino 400 at Sept. 8: Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Texas (Denny Hamlin) Michigan Sept. 15: South Point 400 at Las Vegas Feb. 10: Clash at Daytona (Jimmie April 7: Food City 500 at Bristol (Kyle June 23: Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sept. 21: Federated Auto Parts 400 at Johnson) Busch) Sonoma Richmond Feb. 17: Daytona 500 (Denny Hamlin) April 13: Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond June 30: Overton's 400 at Chicagoland Sept. 29: Bank of America 500k at Feb. 24: Folds of Honor 500 at Atlanta (Martin Truex Jr.) July 6: Coke Zero 400 at Daytona Charlotte (Brad Keselowski) April 28: Geico 500 at Talladega (Chase July 13: Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Oct. 6: Delaware 400 at Dover March 3: Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas (Joey Elliott) July 21: Foxwoods 301 at New Hampshire Oct. 13: 1000Bulbs.com 500 Talladega Logano) May 5: Dover 400 (Martin Truex Jr.) July 28: Gander Outdoors 400 at Pocono Oct. 20: Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas March 10: TicketGuardian 500 at Phoenix May 11: Kansas 400 (Brad Keselowski) Aug. 4: Go Bowling at Watkins Glen Oct. 27: First Data 500 at Martinsville (Kyle Busch) May 18: All-Star Race at Charlotte (Kyle Aug. 11: Consumers Energy 400 at Nov. 3: AAA Texas 500 March 17: Auto Club 400 at Fontana (Kyle Larson) Michigan Nov. 10: Can-Am 500k at Phoenix Busch) May 26: Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Aug. 17: Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race Nov. 17: Ford EcoBoost 400 at March 24: STP 500 at Martinsville (Brad (Martin Truex Jr.) at Bristol Homestead-Miami KEN WILLIS’ TOP 10 NASCAR DRIVER RANKINGS KYLE BUSCH MARTIN BRAD CHASE JOEY KEVIN CLINT KURT BUSCH ARIC DENNY Back on top TRUEX JR. KESELOWSKI ELLIOTT LOGANO HARVICK BOWYER Will win a ALMIROLA HAMLIN here Can he Like his Mr. Top Five Always in the Needs a win Defending race by end One top-10 in Sixth at return to chances at mix. Always! soon, or champ at of June 13 Michigan Pocono, No. 1? Michigan else … Michigan starts stopped the slide 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10.