Michigan 2 Post Practice Fantasy NASCAR Predictions

Michigan International Speedway is the site of this weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, the second time we’re racing at MIS this season. Michigan is a 2-mile race track, and the interesting thing about Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 is that drafting is going to come into play quite a bit thanks to this new rules package. Getting a good restart is going to be key to securing track position and a good finish, too.

Hometown boy Brad Keselowski is on the pole for Sunday with another Ford slated to start alongside with Kevin Harvick. You can view the entire starting lineup by clicking here. We technically had three practice sessions this weekend, but the first one was where teams focused solely on qualifying trim, so I’d throw that one out. Here are the speeds from the two post-qualifying sessions: Practice #2 — Happy Hour. You should also read our in-depth notes for those sessions: Practice #2 — Happy Hour.

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Final Top 25 Fantasy NASCAR Rankings for Michigan 2

1. Kevin Harvick – Starts 2nd – DraftKings Price: $11,800 – FanDuel Price: $13,000 – Slingshot Price: $12,500

Kevin Harvick is one the guys to beat heading into Sunday, if not the guy to beat. The #4 Ford was blazing fast during Saturday’s first practice session, and then in Happy Hour, “Happy” ranked 3rd-fastest on the overall speed chart and also had the 3rd-best-ten lap average. Looking back at the last time we were here at Michigan, Harvick actually had the most fastest laps in that race (19) with the 2nd-most being a distant 12 (both Elliott and Bowman had that many). Overall, Harvick is a top 5 machine at MIS and has ended up 7th or better in six of the last eight races here. He’s also finished 5th or better in nine of the last thirteen. The #4 team went to victory lane in this race one year ago after starting 3rd, and if Harvick can get around Keselowski early here on Sunday, we could see another dominating performance out of “The Closer.” Harvick wound up 4th at Fontana earlier this year after also starting in 2nd.

2. Brad Keselowski – Starts 1st – DraftKings Price: $10,700 – FanDuel Price: $12,500 – Slingshot Price: $11,600

Clean air is king at Michigan, so the pole sitter always get a significant bump up in my book because it’s going to be extremely difficult to pass them on race day. And as far as Keselowski goes, he really didn’t even need that bump. Although he’s never won at his home race track, Kez is a constant top 5 threat at Michigan International Speedway and is currently on a three-race streak of top 6 finishes here, including a 2nd-place result in this race one year ago. Overall, he has nine finishes of 9th or better in the last eleven Michigan races, and that will be ten of the last twelve after Sunday. Brad wasn’t awful during the two practice sessions here on Saturday, ranking 8th-best in ten-lap average during the morning practice and then 11th-best during Happy Hour. Kez came home 3rd at Fontana earlier this year (Michigan’s sister track) and will compete for a top 5 finish this weekend, too. And with as hard as it is to pass here at Michigan, as long as the #2 pit crew is on their game, Keselowski has to be the favorite to lead the most laps, too.

3. Joey Logano – Starts 8th – DraftKings Price: $10,200 – FanDuel Price: $13,500 – Slingshot Price: $12,000

Joey Logano is the most recent race winner here at Michigan International Speedway and should have a good weekend this time around as well. What’s interesting, though, is Logano’s recent performances in the summer events here: 10th last year, 28th in 2018, and 10th in 2016. He actually hasn’t posted a top 5 in the August Michigan race since 2014, but the #22 Ford is fast enough to break that streak this weekend. Logano was 5th-fastest during the first practice session here on Saturday and then in Happy Hour that afternoon he wound up 26th-fastest, which isn’t ideal but definitely not concerning. My only concern with Joey this weekend is his recent momentum: three of the last five Cup Series races have ended with him outside of the top 10, and he hasn’t had a top 5 finish since Chicagoland in June. Still, as I said before, the #22 Ford won here at Michigan in June and finished 2nd at Fontana back in March.