After some short track racing and plenty of controversy in the overtime finish last week at Richmond Raceway, the NASCAR Cup Series travels to the Irish Hills of Michigan and the two mile track of Michigan International Speedway for the Fire Keepers Casino 400.

Thirty-six teams brings cars to MIS for what is sure to be some wild action as drivers vie for one of the final four open playoff spots.  While Austin Dillon won the race at Richmond, his actions on the track have cost him his spot in the playoffs; meaning that there are once again four spot up for the playoffs with just three races remaining in the regular season.

Richard Childress Racing has appealed the penalty that stripped driver Austin Dillon of his playoff bid and the hearing is set for Wednesday.

Due to a shower moving through, NASCAR is putting all 36 cars on the track at the same time for a 40 minute practice session.  And there are more showers and misting in the general area.  The hard part is the drivers only have one set of tires for practice.

In the first laps of practice, the drivers are averaging laps speeds of over 190mph; hitting over 200mph in spots on the track.

And in less than five minutes of practice, NASCAR displays the red flag for rain.

 After about a 10 minute break, NASCAR has again waved the green flag and allowed the drivers back out on the track.

And once again the red flag comes out for rain after only about 10 minutes of practice.  With the speeds approaching 200mph, it becomes very dangerous for the driver to be on a wet track with slick tires.

As umbrellas and car covers come out, NASCAR has announced that practice is over and qualifying has been cancelled.  The field will be set by NASCAR’s metric.

In what little practice the drivers did have, Melon Man Ross Chastain topped the leaderboard.

The starting lineup for the Fire Keepers Casino 400:
Denny Hamlin
Tyler Reddick
Christopher Bell
Kyle Larson
Bubba Wallace
Chase Elliott
Ross Chastain
Ryan Blaney
William Byron
Austin Dillon
Carson Hocevar
Daniel Suarez
Kyle Busch
Joey Logano
Brad Keselowski
Josh Berry
Michael McDowell
Chris Buescher
Ty Gibbs
Todd Gilliland
Chase Briscoe
Alex Bowman
Austin Cindric
Martin Truex Jr
Noah Gragson
Ryan Preece
Zane Smith
Erik Jones
Justin Haley
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Corey LaJoie
Daniel Hemric
John Hunter Nemechek
Harrison Burton
AJ Allmendinger
Cody Ware

After the cars have made a few laps around the track, NASCAR is bringing the cars down pit road for precipitation on the track.  The cars are on pit road and covered.  In a “chat” with the broadcast crew Ross Chastain noted that rain delays means more snacks.

Some 30 minutes after the scheduled race start, the rain has stopped and the track drying process has begun.

And just as most of the track drying is complete a second ban of storms comes through.

At 4pm, the rain has stopped and the track drying process has resumed.

At 4:42pm NASCAR has called the drivers to their cars as the 18 track drying machines have nearly completed their tasks.

At 4:51pm the cars are moving once again!

The 45 crew discovered a radio issue in Tyler Reddick’s car and replaced one of the radios during the rain delay.

Stage one is 45 laps, stage two is 75 laps, and stage three is 80 laps long for a total of 200 laps around the two mile track.

Chase Elliott’s crew chief Alan Gustafson is making his 700th start on the pit box today.

Under some very dark skies, Denny Hamlin brings the field down for the green flag start of the race with Tyler Reddick alongside.  Tyler Reddick gets out in front  but on the backstretch, Kyle Larson makes it a three way battle to take the lead.

Lap two, Kyle Larson leads the race with Tyler Reddick in second; Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell round out the top five.

Lap three, Denny Hamlin passes Tyler Reddick for second.

Lap five, Kyle Larson has pulled out to a third of a second lead on Denny Hamlin; Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell round out the top five.

The top four drivers are also the top four drivers in the point standings. Kyle Larson leads the race with Denny Hamlin in second; Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell round out the top five.

Josh Berry is reporting a very loose condition in his car and has dropped to last place.

Lap 13, Kyle Larson holds on to the lead with Denny Hamlin in second; Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell round out the top five.

Laap 18, Kyle Larson continues to lead the race with Denny Hamlin slowly closing the gap on the leader; Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, and Bubba Wallace round out the top five.

AJ Allmendinger has advanced eleven spots since the start of the race.

Lap 20, Bubba Wallace passes Chase Elliott for fourth.

Lap 21, Denny Hamlin is now just a quarter of a second behind leader Kyle Larson.

Lap 24, Kyle Larson holds on to the lead as Denny Hamlin inches closer; Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, and Chase Elliott round out the top five.

Leader Kyle Larson has begun lapping slower traffic.

Lap 27, Denny Hamlin is beginning to challenge leader Kyle Larson for the lead.

Lap 30, Bubba Wallace passes teammate Tyler Reddick for third.

Lap 35, Denny Hamlin finally gets even with Kyle Larson to battle for the lead.  While the two are battling for the lead, Bubba Wallace blows by them on the inside to take the lead. 

Denny Hamlin has passed Kyle Larson for second.  Tyler Reddick is challenging Kyle Larson for third.

Lap 37, Denny Hamlin is on leader Bubba Wallace’s bumper and looking to take the lead.  Wallace is trying to hold off the boss.

Denny Hamlin brings out the first caution flag of the race on lap 39 to cheers from the crowd.  Hamlin slides up behind bubba Wallace but gets loose, barely avoiding a crash with the wall, and spins out to make a run through the grass.

Bubba Wallace leads the way down pit road with lots of traffic behind him.  Chase Elliott edges out Bubba Wallace to win the lead off of pit road.  Six drivers stayed out on the track – Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, and Harrison Burton.

Ryan Blaney brings the field down for the green flag restart with William Byron alongside with just three laps remaining in stage one.  Driver get three and four wide in a battle for position.  Ryan Blaney leads the race.

Lap 44, the top five are Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, and Bubba Wallace.

Ryan Blaney wins stage one.

The top 10 at the end of stage one:
Ryan Blaney
Chase Elliott
William Byron
Bubba Wallace
Chris Buescher
Kyle Busch
Brad Keselowski
Martin Truex Jr
Alex Bowman
Ross Chastain

Drivers who did not pit during the caution, make their way to pit road,

The skies are VERY dark and there is rain outside of the track.  NASCAR has announced that 8:20pm is the cut off time – if the drivers are on the track at that time, the white flag will wave and there will be one more lap to end the race.

NASCAR brings the cars down pit road once again and displays the red flag at 5:41pm.  The drivers are out of their cars and the cars are being covered as the rain begins to fall.

The race has been called for today and will resume at 11am tomorrow.

When NASCAR called the race on lap 51, Chase Elliott was in the lead with Martin Truex Jr in second, and Bubba Wallace in third.