2024 FireKeepers Casino 400 explained

Type:	CUST
Description:	Race 24 of 36 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series
Race Name:	FireKeepers Casino 400
Details Ref:	^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7] ^[8] ^[9]
Fulldate:	August 18–19, 2024
Year:	2024
Location:	Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan
Course Mi:	2.0
Course Km:	3.2
Distance Laps:	206
Distance Mi:	412
Distance Km:	663
Scheduled Laps:	200
Scheduled Mi:	400
Scheduled Km:	640
Avg:	135.675mph
Pole Driver:	Denny Hamlin
Pole Team:	Joe Gibbs Racing
Pole Time:	2.550 (Pandemic Formula)
Most Driver:	Kyle Larson
Most Team:	Hendrick Motorsports
Most Laps:	41
Car:	45
First Driver:	Tyler Reddick
First Team:	23XI Racing
Network:	USA
Announcers:	Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte
Ratings:	(2.111 Million)
Radio:	MRN
Turn Ann:	Dave Moody (1–2) and Mike Bagley (3–4)

The 2024 FireKeepers Casino 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on August 18 and 19, 2024, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Contested over 206 laps -- extended from 200 laps due to an overtime finish, on the 2mile D-shaped oval, it was the 24th race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. The race began on Sunday, August 18, before rain delayed it to Monday, August 19, after 51 laps were complete.^[10] Tyler Reddick won the race. William Byron finished 2nd, and Ty Gibbs finished 3rd. Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five, and Chris Buescher, Zane Smith, Daniel Suárez, Denny Hamlin, and Carson Hocevar rounded out the top ten.

Report

Background

The race was held at Michigan International Speedway, a 2adj=onNaNadj=on moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located in Brooklyn, Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is known as a "sister track" to Texas World Speedway as MIS's oval design was a direct basis of TWS, with moderate modifications to the banking in the corners, and was used as the basis of Auto Club Speedway. The track is owned by International Speedway Corporation. Michigan International Speedway is recognized as one of motorsports' premier facilities because of its wide racing surface and high banking (by open-wheel standards; the 18-degree banking is modest by stock car standards).

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1			Chevrolet
2			Ford
3			Chevrolet
4	Josh Berry (R)		Ford
5			Chevrolet
6			Ford
7			Chevrolet
8			Chevrolet
9			Chevrolet
10			Ford
11			Toyota
12			Ford
14			Ford
15			Ford
16	A. J. Allmendinger (i)		Chevrolet
17			Ford
19			Toyota
20			Toyota
21			Ford
22			Ford
23			Toyota
24			Chevrolet
31			Chevrolet
34			Ford
38			Ford
41			Ford
42			Toyota
43			Toyota
45			Toyota
47			Chevrolet
48			Chevrolet
51			Ford
54			Toyota
71	Zane Smith (R)		Chevrolet
77	Carson Hocevar (R)		Chevrolet
99			Chevrolet
Official entry list

Practice

Ross Chastain was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 37.441 seconds and a speed of 192.303mph.

Practice results

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Time
1	1				37.441	192.303
2	19				37.464	192.184
3	5				37.477	192.179
Official practice results

Qualifying

Qualifying for the race was cancelled due to inclement weather. Denny Hamlin was awarded the pole for the race as a result of NASCAR's pandemic formula with a score of 2.550.^[11]

Starting lineup

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	11			Toyota
2	45			Toyota
3	20			Toyota
4	5			Chevrolet
5	23			Toyota
6	9			Chevrolet
7	1			Chevrolet
8	12			Ford
9	24			Chevrolet
10	3			Chevrolet
11	77	Carson Hocevar (R)		Chevrolet
12	99			Chevrolet
13	8			Chevrolet
14	22			Ford
15	6			Ford
16	4	Josh Berry (R)		Ford
17	34			Ford
18	17			Ford
19	54			Toyota
20	38			Ford
21	14			Ford
22	48			Chevrolet
23	2			Ford
24	19			Toyota
25	10			Ford
26	41			Ford
27	71	Zane Smith (R)		Chevrolet
28	43			Toyota
29	51			Ford
30	47			Chevrolet
31	7			Chevrolet
32	31			Chevrolet
33	42			Toyota
34	21			Ford
35	16	A. J. Allmendinger (i)		Chevrolet
36	15			Ford
Official qualifying results

Race

Race results

Stage results

Stage OneLaps: 45

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	10
2	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	9
3	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	8
4	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	7
5	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	6
6	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	5
7	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	4
8	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	3
9	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	2
10	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 75

Pos		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	10
2	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	9
3	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	8
4	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	7
5	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	6
6	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	5
7	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	4
8	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Toyota	3
9	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	2
10	15	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage results

Stage ThreeLaps: 80

Pos	Grid		Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	2	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	206	40
2	9	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	206	50
3	19	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	206	42
4	13	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	206	48
5	15	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	206	41
6	18	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	206	37
7	27	71	Zane Smith (R)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	206	30
8	12	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	206	29
9	1	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	206	29
10	11	77	Carson Hocevar (R)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	206	27
11	26	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	206	26
12	25	10	Noah Gragson	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	206	25
13	30	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	206	24
14	34	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	206	23
15	6	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	206	31
16	28	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Toyota	206	24
17	10	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	206	26
18	8	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	206	30
19	17	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Chevrolet	206	18
20	29	51	Justin Haley	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	206	17
21	36	15	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	206	18
22	16	4	Josh Berry (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	206	15
23	32	31	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	206	14
24	24	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	206	20
25	7	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Chevrolet	205	22
26	5	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	205	18
27	22	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	205	12
28	23	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	204	9
29	33	42	John Hunter Nemechek	Legacy Motor Club	Toyota	202	8
30	35	16	A. J. Allmendinger (i)	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	200	0
31	21	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	157	6
32	31	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	135	5
33	14	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	117	4
34	4	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	115	3
35	3	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	115	2
36	20	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	114	1
Official race results

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 26 among 16 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 7 for 41 laps.
• Red flags: 1 for 17 hours, 15 minutes, and 18 seconds
• Time of race: 3 hours, 2 minutes, and 12 seconds
• Average speed: 135.675mph

Media

Television

USA covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, and Steve Letarte called the race from the broadcast booth. Dave Burns, Parker Kligerman, and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

Radio

Radio coverage of the race was broadcast by Motor Racing Network (MRN) and simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle and Todd Gordon called the race in the booth while the field was racing on the front stretch. Dave Moody called the race from a billboard outside of turn 2 when the field is racing through turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley called the race from a platform outside of turn 3 when the field races through turns 3 and 4. Steve Post, Brienne Pedigo and Chris Wilner worked pit road for the radio side.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
1	1	Tyler Reddick	814
1	2	Chase Elliott	804 (–10)
2	3	Kyle Larson	782 (–32)
1	4		732 (–82)
	5	William Byron	728 (–86)
2	6	Denny Hamlin	711 (–103)
1	7	Christopher Bell	703 (–111)
	8	Martin Truex Jr.	682 (–132)
	9	Brad Keselowski	677 (–137)
1	10	Ty Gibbs	644 (–170)
1	11	Alex Bowman	627 (–187)
1	12	Chris Buescher	621 (–193)
1	13	Ross Chastain	606 (–208)
2	14	Bubba Wallace	605 (–209)
	15	Joey Logano	561 (–253)
	16	Daniel Suárez	526 (–288)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Chevrolet	874
	2	Toyota	861 (–13)
	3	Ford	828 (–46)

• Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

. – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2024 schedule . Jayski.com. . October 3, 2023.
2. Web site: Michigan International Speedway. NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. July 8, 2022. January 3, 2013. April 7, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170407042342/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nascar-tracks/michigan-international-speedway.html. dead.
3. News: NASCAR Cup Series 2024 schedule announcement: New additions, race dates, plus the complete calendar. Taranto, Steven . October 4, 2023 . April 21, 2024 . CBS Broadcasting Inc.
4. News: NASCAR unveils 2024 Cup schedule as Atlanta, Watkins Glen move to playoffs . October 4, 2023 . April 21, 2024 . National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC.
5. Web site: Entry List. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. August 12, 2024. August 12, 2024.
6. Web site: Practice Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. August 17, 2024. August 17, 2024.
7. Web site: Starting Lineup. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. August 17, 2024. August 17, 2024.
8. Web site: FireKeepers Casino 400 Results. NASCAR.com. NASCAR. August 19, 2024. August 19, 2024.
9. Web site: Points standings. Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. August 18, 2024. August 19, 2024.
10. Web site: Rain postpones Cup Series race at Michigan to Monday finish. August 18, 2024. August 18, 2024.
11. News: Rain cancels qualifying; Denny Hamlin to lead field to green at Michigan. October 17, 2024. August 17, 2024. National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC.