The 2016 FireKeepers Casino 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on June 12, 2016, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Contested over 200 laps on the D-shaped oval, it was the fifteenth race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
The race had 14 lead changes among different drivers and nine cautions for 46 laps.
Background The race was held at Michigan International Speedway, a moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located in Brooklyn, Michigan. Entering the race, Kevin Harvick leads the points with 490, while Kurt Busch is 25 points back, Brad Keselowski is 48 points back, Carl Edwards is 53 points back, and Kyle Busch is 74 points back.
Harvick, Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Edwards, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, and Denny Hamlin have already clinched a Chase position.
Aero package Two weeks prior to the race, NASCAR announced they will test changes to the aero package. In addition to the aero changes used in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, there will be a reduction in spoiler size from to , a reduction of the splitter and resizing the deck fin.
NASCAR Executive Vice-president and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell said that NASCAR looks "at it as a never-ending journey; if we can improve we’re going to do that. We wanted to go the direction of low downforce, see how that worked, not kind of go all the way in and hope that we are directionally right. And we are seeing that play out. We’ve seen some great racing at the beginning of the year. But we also knew that we had some more levers that we could pull if the direction kind of proved out, so we’ve tried some of those things. We’ve tested it and what we’ve also wanted to do is lower some of the corner speeds to allow for even more passing. That was one of the areas where we’ve seen minimal change, but there are some levers we can pull to really drive that down.”
Entry list The preliminary entry list for the race included forty cars and was released on June 3, 2016, at 12:29 pm ET. Driver Team Manufacturer1Jamie McMurrayChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet2Brad KeselowskiTeam PenskeFord3Austin DillonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet4Kevin HarvickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet5Kasey KahneHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet6Trevor BayneRoush Fenway RacingFord7Regan SmithTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet10Danica PatrickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet11Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota13Casey MearsGermain RacingChevrolet14Tony StewartStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet15Clint BowyerHScott MotorsportsChevrolet16Greg BiffleRoush Fenway RacingFord17Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Roush Fenway RacingFord18Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota19Carl EdwardsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota20Matt KensethJoe Gibbs RacingToyota21Ryan Blaney (R)Wood Brothers RacingFord22Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord23David RaganBK RacingToyota24Chase Elliott (R)Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet27Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet30Josh WiseThe Motorsports GroupChevrolet31Ryan NewmanRichard Childress RacingChevrolet32Jeffrey Earnhardt (R)Go FAS RacingFord34Chris Buescher (R)Front Row MotorsportsFord38Landon CassillFront Row MotorsportsFord41Kurt BuschStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet42Kyle LarsonChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet43Aric AlmirolaRichard Petty MotorsportsFord44Brian Scott (R)Richard Petty MotorsportsFord46Michael AnnettHScott MotorsportsChevrolet47A. J. AllmendingerJTG Daugherty RacingChevrolet48Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet55Cole WhittPremium MotorsportsChevrolet78Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row RacingToyota83Matt DiBenedettoBK RacingToyota88Dale Earnhardt Jr.Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet95Ty Dillon (i) Circle Sport – Leavine Family RacingChevrolet98Reed SorensonPremium MotorsportsChevrolet Official entry list Key Meaning (R) Running for Rookie of the Year (i) Not eligible for Sprint Cup Series points
Practice
First practice Chase Elliott was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 35.709 and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 24 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 35.709 201.630 2 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 35.765 201.314 3 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 35.782 201.218First practice results
Practice (post-qualifying)
Second practice Carl Edwards was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 36.406 and speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime119Carl EdwardsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota36.406197.770218Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota36.412197.737322Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord36.466197.444Second practice results
Final practice Austin Dillon led the final practice session with a lap time of 37.056 and speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime13Austin DillonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet37.056194.30122Brad KeselowskiTeam PenskeFord37.111194.013348Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet37.142193.851Final practice results
Qualifying Joey Logano scored the pole for the race with a time of 36.080 and a speed of . He said afterwards that starting first "feels good. Finally, we were able to break through. The last two weeks have stunk for me and my team. We have won the first two rounds the last few weeks and qualified second. Now we figured out how to be second in the first round and first in the last two. That is a good move. I couldn’t be more proud of the team and the effort they put into this new package. This is such an unknown showing up here so it is cool to show what all the engineers and simulation department were able to do to put together a good package off the truck. I am very happy to be driving this car.”
Martin Truex Jr. said after qualifying second that the track was slippery and hot.
After qualifying third, Tony Stewart said his team is "gaining on it. We've just got to get a little break here to get going. We were going good last week. The guy that won the race, our teammate [Kurt Busch], we were running the same lap times as him the whole race until we had our problem."
The session was halted in the first round after David Ragan spun out and tagged the wall with his right-rear corner.
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 122Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord36.18136.00136.080278Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row RacingToyota36.41236.36336.178314Tony StewartStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet36.38036.30836.190411Denny HamlinJoe Gibbs RacingToyota36.10436.16036.222521Ryan Blaney (R)Wood Brothers RacingFord36.24536.33736.256631Ryan NewmanRichard Childress RacingChevrolet36.45036.38136.296742Kyle LarsonChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet36.54536.31736.32883Austin DillonRichard Childress RacingChevrolet36.45736.26536.361918Kyle BuschJoe Gibbs RacingToyota36.44936.23736.3971024Chase Elliott (R)Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet36.46836.30136.4831119Carl EdwardsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota36.19136.14836.6321217Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Roush Fenway RacingFord36.58336.30036.902136Trevor BayneRoush Fenway RacingFord36.48536.387141Jamie McMurrayChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet36.48936.409152Brad KeselowskiTeam PenskeFord36.61936.4431648Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet36.66136.4561741Kurt BuschStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet36.54136.5151816Greg BiffleRoush Fenway RacingFord36.40436.575 1920Matt KensethJoe Gibbs RacingToyota36.49136.6352047A. J. AllmendingerJTG Daugherty RacingChevrolet36.67136.6432195Ty Dillon (i)Circle Sport – Leavine Family RacingChevrolet36.46036.696 2234Chris Buescher (R)Front Row MotorsportsFord36.53936.709235Kasey KahneHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet36.48236.7112413Casey MearsGermain RacingChevrolet36.54736.780 2510Danica PatrickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet36.700 2644Brian Scott (R)Richard Petty MotorsportsFord36.710 2788Dale Earnhardt Jr.Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet36.720 2838Landon CassillFront Row MotorsportsFord36.742 294Kevin HarvickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet36.747 3043Aric AlmirolaRichard Petty MotorsportsFord36.775 3183Matt DiBenedettoBK RacingToyota36.846 3227Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet36.960 337Regan SmithTommy Baldwin RacingChevrolet37.177 3415Clint BowyerHScott MotorsportsChevrolet37.359 3523David RaganBK RacingToyota37.363 3655Cole WhittPremium MotorsportsChevrolet37.652 3730Josh WiseThe Motorsports GroupChevrolet37.930 3832Jeffrey Earnhardt (R)Go FAS RacingFord38.071 3946Michael AnnettHScott MotorsportsChevrolet38.358 4098Reed SorensonPremium MotorsportsChevrolet38.789Official qualifying results
Race
First half
Start
Under mostly sunny Michigan skies, Joey Logano led the field to the green at 1:19 p.m. He got loose in turn 1 and Martin Truex Jr. took the lead. In the first 10 laps, a number of drivers were reporting being "incredibly loose" because of the changes made to the aero package. Logano made his back to the lead on lap 11. By lap 25, Truex began reeling him in for the race lead. Green flag stops began around lap 39. Logano pitted from the lead two laps later and handed it to teammate Brad Keselowski. Landon Cassill was tagged for his crew being over the wall too soon and was forced to serve a pass-through penalty. Keselowski ran out of gas on the frontstretch on lap 46. He was saved by Truex spinning out in turn 3 which brought out the first caution of the race. He made it to pit road and the lead cycled back to Logano.
Second quarter The race restarted on lap 51. Kyle Busch's car caught fire in the engine area and blew up on the backstretch. This brought out the second caution of the race on lap 54. He said afterwards that he felt "the motor kind of going south for about 30 laps or so and finally let go. At least there was plenty of warning and I knew it was going to get hot in there and it certainly did once it let go and it was on fire. It’s just been a dismal month, just haven’t been able to hit anything and get good finishes going." He would go on to finish 40th.
The race restarted on lap 61. The third caution of the race flew on lap 62 for a two-car wreck on the backstretch. Exiting turn 2, Chris Buescher got loose and tapped the left-rear corner of Dale Earnhardt Jr. He got loose, came across the nose of A. J. Allmendinger and sent them both into the wall. Earnhardt continued down the backstretch and spun down the track. Earnhardt said afterwards that he "knew I was going to hit the wall. The No. 34 (Buescher) just drove into the left front quarter panel. Oh, man. I don’t know; them restarts and all that. You’ve got a responsibility to try and take care of everybody out there even when you’re three-wide. I’m disappointed in that. But, we had a pretty good car and we were just kind of taking our time, there. And the car was great. So, it’s a shame.” When asked about the wreck from his point of view, Allmendinger said he wasn't “really sure. I think Junior got hit and I was on the outside of him and that was it. It was kind of weird back there. I’m not really sure what kind of car we had. I thought in clean air we weren’t too bad, but I guess a lot of people could say that. Just not a lot of fun racing there.”
The race restarted on lap 69. A number of cars began pitting on lap 93. Logano pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Kyle Larson. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Keselowski. He pitted on lap 99 and handed the lead to Jimmie Johnson. The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 102 for Jeffrey Earnhardt slamming the wall in turn 2. Johnson pitted under the caution and the lead cycled back to Logano. Aric Almirola was tagged for having too many crew members over the wall and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.
Second half
Halfway The race restarted on lap 107. The fifth caution of the race flew on lap 109 after Jeffrey Earnhardt's car caught on fire after slamming the wall a second time on the backstretch.