2014 Quicken Loans 400

The 2014 Quicken Loans 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on June 15, 2014, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Contested over 200 laps on the 2 miles (3.2 km) superspeedway, it was the 15th race of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Jimmie Johnson won the race, his third win of the season and first at Michigan. Kevin Harvick finished second, while Brad Keselowski, Paul Menard, and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five. The top rookies of the race were Kyle Larson (8th), Justin Allgaier (16th), and Michael Annett (21st).

Previous week's race

At Pocono Raceway, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took the lead from Brad Keselowski with four laps to go and took the checkered flag in the Pocono 400. Earnhardt made the winning move after Keselowski slowed his car behind Danica Patrick to remove trash from the grill opening on the front of his car. "That's unfortunate for him," Earnhardt said. "He had me beat. I couldn't get to him. It's real hard to pass here. I've lost some in strange ways. It feels good to win one like that. Brad definitely had the better car. I'll own up to that, but we won the race." Keselowski was disappointed with the finish. "It was running really hot, the motor was going to blow up. I had to do something. We had a really fast car, but had a piece of debris and had to do something. I had to do some kind of move or it wasn't going to make it. I should have just run it. I didn't think it would make it, but maybe it would have."

2013 Quicken Loans 400

The 2013 Quicken Loans 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on June 16, 2013, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, United States. Contested over 200 laps on the two–mile (3.2 km) superspeedway, it was the fifteenth race of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series championship. Greg Biffle of Roush Fenway Racing won the race, his first win of the 2013 season, while Kevin Harvick finished second. Martin Truex, Jr., Kyle Busch, and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.

Report

Background

Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2 miles (3.2 km) long. Opened in 1960, the track's turns are banked at eighteen degrees, while the 3,600-foot-long front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at twelve degrees. The back stretch, has a five degree banking and is 2,242 feet long. Michigan International Speedway has a grandstand seating capacity of 84,000 people.Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was the defending race winner after winning the race in 2012.

2015 Quicken Loans 400

The 2015 Quicken Loans 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on June 14, 2015 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Contested over 138 of the scheduled 200 laps on the 2 mile (3.2 km) D-shaped speedway, it was the 15th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Kurt Busch won the race, his second of the season, while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Martin Truex, Jr. finished second and third. Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.

Kasey Kahne won the pole for the race and led one lap on his way to a 15th place finish. Kevin Harvick led a race high of 63 laps before a flat tire and rain relegated him to a 29th place finish. The race had 17 lead changes among eleven different drivers, as well as five caution flag periods for 38 laps. There were three red flag periods for one hour, 33 minutes and 13 seconds.

This was the 27th career victory for Kurt Busch, third at Michigan International Speedway and first at the track for Stewart-Haas Racing. This win moved Busch to eleventh in the points standings. Chevrolet left Michigan with a 66 point lead over Ford in the manufacturer standings.