Kyle Busch's quest to earn his 10th top-10 finish of the 2019 NASCAR season got off to a great start Friday.
The NASCAR Monster Energy Series points leader ended up second in the final practice for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Kevin Harvick led the field with the best lap time of 38.143 seconds at a speed of 188.763 miles per hour.
Joey Logano, who is Busch's closest competition for the top spot in the points standings, has some work to do during Saturday's qualifying to match the production of the No. 18 car after he placed 12th in final practice.
FireKeepers Casino 400 Information
Qualifying: Saturday, 12:05 p.m. ET
Race Start Time: Sunday, 2 p.m. ET
TV: Saturday 12:05 to 1:45 p.m. ET on FS1, Sunday 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET on FS1
Ticket Info: Tickets for Sunday's race can be found on StubHub.
Busch comes into Michigan in some of the best recent form of the drivers in the Monster Energy Series.
After taking 30th in Kansas, Busch placed third at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte and won the Pocono 400 a week ago.
Although he appears to be in good shape after his strong practice run, Busch has to put together an impressive overall weekend to keep his lead in the standings.
Logano enters Sunday four points behind the driver of the No. 18 car, while Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Harvick are all within 68 points of Busch.
Of the drivers in the top five in the standings, Harvick is most in need of a good result at Michigan.
Harvick, who is the only driver in the top seven of the points standings without a win in 2019, is coming off a 22nd-place finish at Pocono.
The driver of the No. 4 car has two finishes inside the top five in his last eight races, but that form appears to be turning in a different direction after Friday's practice.
Michigan seems like the perfect track for Harvick to get back into top-five form, as he won the August race at the track in 2018.
Harvick's Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer, who finished third in Friday's practice, is the defending champion of the June race at Michigan.
Bowyer's win a year ago ended a three-race winning streak by Kyle Larson at the track. Larson landed 14th in Friday's practice.
Beneath Harvick, Busch and Bowyer on the list of practice times were Daniel Suarez, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr. and Alex Bowman.
What stands out when looking at the practice grid is four of the top five times were recorded by Stewart-Haas Racing cars, with Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota the only car able to break their dominance.
That is a good sign for Harvick and his teammates heading into qualifying and the race itself.
If you were to pick a winner now, Harvick and Bowyer seem like the best options because of their 2018 success at the track and early results on race weekend.
Kyle Busch must be considered in the mix to win the FireKeepers Casino 400 because of his overall season form, but he might not have enough horsepower and help at the front of the field to get past the Stewart-Haas cars Sunday.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from NASCAR.com.
Read 0 Comments
Download the app for comments Get the B/R app to join the conversation