Michigan: News of note, schedule

An Inside Look At This Week's Storylines
Roush Fenway Racing Teams Hope History Repeats Itself This Weekend

Take Ownership: Movement Minimal Around Owner Points 'Bubble'

There wasn't much movement in the top 35 car owner point standings over the weekend following the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway.

The No. 70 Chevrolet, driven by Johnny Sauter and owned by Joe Custer still holds down the 35th spot.

The No. 10 Dodge owned by Jim Rocco and driven by Scott Riggs is still 36th in owner points, just 20 points behind Sauter. Riggs finished 18th at Pocono while Sauter came in 40th.

A pair of Toyotas -- the No. 22 driven by Dave Blaney and owned by Bill Davis and the No. 83 driven by Brian Vickers and owned by Dietrich Mateschitz -- are still 37th and 38th, respectively.

Robert Yates' two entries -- the No. 38 Ford driven by David Gilliland and the No. 88 Ford driven by Ricky Rudd -- are 34th and 33rd in the owner points standings.

An Inside Look At This Week's Top Storylines

Chevrolet ran its consecutive win streak to 12 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races with Jeff Gordon's triumph last Sunday at Pocono. The manufacturer has won 13 of the 14 races thus far in 2007. However, a Chevrolet driver has not won at Michigan International Speedway since 2001 (Gordon), having gone winless in 11 straight races there. That is the longest drought for Chevrolet at any track on the circuit.

* Elliott Sadler (No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge) will be making his 300th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series start this Sunday at Michigan.

* Carl Edwards will be making his 100th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup start at MIS. This track is also the site of Edwards' first ever NASCAR NEXTEL Cup start (8/22/04).

* Martin Truex Jr. (No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet) continues to work his way up the point standings and is 11th heading into this weekend's action. Truex, who broke through with his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory two weeks ago at Dover, followed that up with a third-place finish at Pocono.

* Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet) notched a pair of top-10 finishes at Michigan a year ago, including a third-place showing at this race in 2006.

* To commemorate the 50th running of the Daytona 500, Daytona International Speedway has created "Celebrity Tickets for Charity," a philanthropic initiative that allows professional athletes, musicians, famous actors, TV personalities and other celebrities to showcase their artistic talents by designing the most famous ticket in all of motorsports. The winning design will be announced July 7 and will appear on the ticket for the 2008 Daytona 500. The top-10 finalists for this celebrity ticket contest will be unveiled this Friday at a 1:45 p.m. press conference in the media center at Michigan International Speedway.

Montoya Raybestos Rookie Of The Year Leader

Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 42 Texaco/ Havoline Dodge) finished 20th at last Sunday's Pocono 500 and leads David Ragan (No. 6 AAA Ford) by six points (152-146) in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year competition. Paul Menard (No. 15 Menard's Chevrolet) remains third (93), while David Reutimann (No. 00 Burger King Toyota) is fourth (82) followed by AJ Allmendinger (No. 84 Red Bull Toyota) with 64 points.

Will Hendrick Motorsports Continue Its Winning Ways This Week?

Thus far this season, Hendrick Motorsports has won 10 of the 14 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races. Roush Fenway Racing has won just one -- Matt Kenseth at California Speedway.

This weekend's Citizens Bank 400 at Michigan International Speedway might be the perfect opportunity for Roush Fenway to close the gap a little bit.

Roush Fenway has excelled at MIS in the recent past with three wins in the last five races. Kenseth won the second Michigan race last season and Greg Biffle won one apiece in 2004 and 2005. Add Carl Edwards' three top-five finishes in fives races and Roush Fenway has to be optimistic heading into the season's 15th race.

The three drivers sit at or near the top of a handful of key Loop Data statistics taken over the last two years at Michigan. They rank 1-2-3 in the all-encompassing Driver Rating category. Biffle is first with a 118.1, Kenseth second at 111.3 and Edwards third with a 109.8.

They also hold the top three spots in Average Running Position. Biffle has a 6.527, Edwards has a 7.970 and Kenseth has a 10.208.

Of the three, Biffle has the best numbers. He also sits in first in Fastest Laps Run with 65, Green Flag Speed and Laps in the Top 15 (680).

Edwards ranks second in Laps in the Top 15 with 626 and Kenseth is third with 607.

Additionally, Edwards and Biffle rank 1-2 in Quality Passes (passes of cars in the top 15 while under green). Edwards has 210 Quality Passes and Biffle has 188.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one driver not with Roush Fenway who could also run up front. Earnhardt, who has not won a race since May 6, 2006 (Richmond), has tremendous numbers at Michigan over the last four races. Earnhardt has a Driver Rating of 99.1 (fifth best), Average Running Position of 11.250 (fourth best), 45 Fastest Laps Run (fifth best), 486 Laps in the Top 15 (eighth best) and 176 Quality Passes (third best).

Next Race: Citizens Bank 400

***

The Place: Michigan International Speedway
The Date: Sunday, June 17

The Time: 2 p.m. (ET)
TV: TNT, 12:30 p.m. (ET)

Track Layout: 2-mile oval
Distance: 200 laps/400 miles

Purse: $5,137,383

2006 Winner: Kasey Kahne
2006 Pole: Kasey Kahne

Michigan Pre-Race On-Track Schedule (local/ET time):
Friday -- Practice, 11:30 a.m. -- 1 p.m.; Qualifying, 3:10 p.m.
Saturday -- Practice, 10-10:50 a.m.; Final Practice, 1:20 -- 2:20 p.m.

-credit: nascar