StatChat 2025 - FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan

By Adam Carabine

Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Brooklyn, Michigan for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Michigan is a 2-mile D-shaped speedway that opened in 1968.  Cale Yarborough was the first to win a NASCAR race there a year later.  Last year’s winner at this race was Tyler Reddick.

Tomorrow’s race will be 200 laps long (for a total of 400 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 45 – 120 – 200.  Pit road speed is 55 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 65 mph.  The fuel window is between 46-52 laps.

This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 4,031 laps, for 5,438.54 miles so far this season.  No driver has completed every single lap, but Chase Elliott is one lap behind, and William Byron and Tyler Reddick are four behind.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Michigan:

Zane Smith	7.00 over 1 race
Ty Gibbs	8.00 over 3 races
Carson Hocevar	10.00 over 1 race
Chase Elliott	10.50 over 14 races
Brad Keselowski	12.04 over 27 races

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Michigan:

Todd Gilliland	30.67 over 3 races
Michael McDowell	29.44 over 18 races
JH Nemechek	29.33 over 3 races
Cole Custer	27.60 over 5 races
Josh Berry	27.33 over 3 races

Michigan is an Intermediate Track.

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:

Denny Hamlin	11.98 over 342 races (28 wins)
Kyle Larson	12.30 over 180 races (18 races)
Joey Logano	12.39 over 288 races (19 races)
Kyle Busch	12.39 over 358 races (29 wins)
Chase Elliott	12.48 over 161 races (6 wins)

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks:

JH Nemechek	22.79 over 47 races
SVG	22.44 over 12 races
Ryan Preece	22.44 over 94 races
Ty Dillon	22.24 over 128 races
Josh Berry	21.57 over 29 races (1 win)

David Pearson is the winningest driver at Michigan, with 9 wins over his career.  Cale Yarborough is next with 8, then Bill Elliott with 7.  As far as current drivers go, both Joey Logano and Kyle Larson each have three wins apiece.

Notable drivers who have not won at Michigan:

Brad Keselowski	(has won at 17 other tracks)
Chase Elliott	(has won at 15 other tracks)
Christopher Bell	(has won at 10 other tracks)
William Byron	(has won at 10 other tracks)
Alex Bowman	(has won at 8 other tracks)

Kyle Larson scored his first ever Cup Series victory at Michigan – it was his 100th career start.

Based on average finish, no drivers list Michigan as their BEST track, but Todd Gilliland lists it as his WORST.

Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:

Drivers Faring Better than in 2024

Tyler Reddick	+648 pts
William Byron	+459 pts
Chris Buescher	+449 pts
Bubba Wallace	+423 pts
Chase Briscoe	+335 pts

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2024

Brad Keselowski	-439 pts
Ty Gibbs	-364 pts
Alex Bowman	-238 pts
Josh Berry	-234 pts
Todd Gilliland	-210 pts

Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:

Best Career Year

William Byron	9.21
Christopher Bell	10.86
Ross Chastain	12.79
Chase Briscoe	14.43
Todd Gilliland	19.00
JH Nemechek	19.43
Ryan Preece	19.57

Worst Career Year

Brad Keselowski	25.29
Cole Custer	24.79
Carson Hocevar	21.57
Ty Gibbs	21.57
Zane Smith	19.86

Rookie of the Year Battle

SVG	173
Riley Herbst	173

The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.

Manufacturer Standings

Chevrolet	512
Toyota	493
Ford	477

Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:

Chartered Team Standings

Hendrick	499
Joe Gibbs	479
Penske	426
Trackhouse	399
23XI	363
RFK	362
Spire	345
Front Row	334
RCR	328
Legacy MC	316
Kaulig	297
Hyak	263
Wood Bros	227
Haas Factory	171
Rick Ware	91

At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:

Stage Point Leaders

William Byron	144
Kyle Larson	128
Ryan Blaney	121
Denny Hamlin	106
Tyler Reddick	103
Bubba Wallace	90
Alex Bowman	83
Chase Elliott	82
Christopher Bell	80
Joey Logano	77

Milestone Watch

Chase Elliott	Looking for his 20th Career Win
Erik Jones	Looking for his 40th Career Top 5
Carson Hocevar	Looking for his 10th Career Top 10

Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:

Winless Streaks

Justin Haley	155 races
Cole Custer	111 races
Bubba Wallace	93 races
Erik Jones	93 races
Kyle Busch	71 races
Michael McDowell	62 races
Daniel Suarez	48 races
Chase Elliott	41 races
Brad Keselowski	37 races
AJ Allmendinger	34 races

The race begins Sunday, June 8th at 2:00 pm EST (11:00 am PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!

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Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!