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NASCAR at Michigan live updates: Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. chase first checkered flag of season at FireKeepers Casino 400

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NASCAR at Michigan live updates: Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. chase first checkered flag of season at FireKeepers Casino 400

On Sunday, NASCAR turns its attention to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn for the FireKeepers Casino 400. There are now just four races left in the season before the playoffs, so the pressure is on drivers without a win this season. Among those drivers are Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr., who are both on the bubble (Truex is in, Harvick is out heading into Sunday). With that in mind expect aggressive races from them. Truex is starting seventh whereas Harvick is starting 16th. At the top of the standings, everyone is still chasing Chase Elliott, who has four wins on the season. This year has seen a whopping 14 different winners, so despite Truex's high spot in the standings, the only way to guarantee a playoff spot in 2022 is to win. Ryan Blaney also hasn't won a race this season, although he has a bit more cushion than Truex does in the standings. It should be a tense race as the season winds down. The Sporting News will be tracking the FireKeepers Casino 400 throughout the race below. MORE: Watch NASCAR races live with fuboTV (free trial) (All times Eastern.) 7:06 p.m. -- This is how it should be. Harvick vs. Wallace coming out of the green. Both of these two are looking to clinch a playoff berth with a race win. 7:04 p.m. -- More trouble at the front of the pack, as Hamlin gets penalized for having too many men over the wall. It's 31 penalties this year from that team. Harvick and Wallace will be in the front row. 6:56 p.m. -- Chastain and Bell have been dancing for this entire stage, and they collide into the wall. Both of them peel off the wall pretty effectively. It looked like Bell cut off Chastain at the wall. Christopher Bell in the wall!Bell and Ross Chastain were racing hard in the closing laps at @MISpeedway, and this move just didn't work out. #NASCAR📺 : @USA_Network pic.twitter.com/15gHsaZ9op— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) 6:52 p.m. -- Pit stop is incoming for the top three, and all three need fuel. Huge moment in the race here. 6:48 p.m. -- Suarez staves off a move from Bell, who took the lead for a moment but ultimately fell back to third behind Suarez and Chastain. Maddening for Bell. Denny Hamlin is also interjecting himself into the conversation. 6:43 p.m. -- Suarez's car is not happy with Bell and Chastain hot on his tail. He's driving rigid right now. 6:40 p.m. -- Alex Bowman catches a break there as he starts to spin out a bit. Good adjustment to ultimately stay in the race. 6:36 p.m. -- Suarez, Bell, Chastain restart as the top three, and Joey Logano has catapulted into the top five. A lot of race left. Hamlin is still top 10. 6:33 p.m. -- Suarez is now in the lead with Bell as the runner-up, whereas Hamlin gets his stage win and drops off in caution. Clean 76 laps to go. STAGE WINNER: Stay out and capture the playoff point? ✅@dennyhamlin takes the green-and-white checkered in Stage 2 of the #FireKeepersCasino400. pic.twitter.com/naRsMSlZnF— NASCAR (@NASCAR) 6:25 p.m. -- Hamlin's gamble pays off and he takes Stage 2. Credit to him and his crew, that's gutsy racing. 6:23 p.m. -- Driver update: Reddick is officially out to the garage with engine issues. Reddick to the garage (has had engine issues).— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) 6:22 p.m. -- Upon the restart, Keselowski and Suarez are keeping Hamlin honeset up front. We almost get a collision on the outside but they recover nicely. 6:20 p.m. -- Hamlin explains why he's staying out for the last few laps. It's all about the playoff point for him now. Interesting decision with Brad Keselowski behind him. Eight laps in Stage 2. 6:16 p.m. -- Under 10 laps to go in this stage. Hamlin is staying out, it looks like he's trying to win the stage. 6:13 p.m. -- Inauspicious end to the stage for Noah Gragson, who has front-end damage and is sliding sideways into pit road. Unfortunate for him as he crept into the Top 5 earlier in this stage. 6:11 p.m. -- Harvick and Hamlin are really battling it out for the No. 1 spot here right now, and Bell pulls off a great move to slip into second behind Hamlin. This stage is going to have a ridiculous finish. 6:10 p.m. -- Hamlin retakes the lead on the restart with Harvick in second. Brad Keselowski in third. Tyler Reddick pulls off as he smells smoke before the restart. 6:09 p.m. -- We're over 100 laps, so this race is official one way or the other. 15 laps remain in Stage 2, but they're still under caution. 6:01 p.m. -- Video of Custer's fire. Cole Custer was able to get out of the car after a big fire. #NASCAR📺 : @USA_Network pic.twitter.com/ULN3DVbHjn— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) 5:57 p.m. -- Unfortunate there for Cole Custer, who gets a flat left front tire and catches fire in the wheel well. Crew quickly tells him to get out of the car, not the first time this has happened to the No. 41 car. 5:55 p.m. -- There's Bell's pit, just came a lap late and Jones moves into first with Buescher, Suarez, Briscoe, and Dillon on his tail. 5:54 p.m. -- Chastain gets a big penalty for an uncontrolled tire sending him to the back. Hamlin, Reddick, and Truex all pit. Bell is back in the lead for the time being. 5:52 p.m. -- Denny Hamlin is now in the lead with Bell about two seconds left. Chastain pits over five seconds back. Under 30 laps here in Stage 2. 5:37 p.m. -- Kyle Larson in second place is talking about what his next move is going to be as he tries to catch up to Chastain. Nearly a third through the second stage, Bell has dropped to third and Noah Gragson is a new addition to the top five. 5:29 p.m. -- Chastain has moved into first with the top four all within one second of each other. 5:25 p.m. -- Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain will be in row one coming out of caution, and Corey LaJoie will be in second place. 5:17 p.m. -- We enter another caution with the first stage in the rear view. Good start for Bell. STAGE WINNER: He stays out. He picks up a NASCAR Playoff point.@CBellRacing takes the opening stage of the #FireKeepersCasino400! pic.twitter.com/FrUWkrnHKJ— NASCAR (@NASCAR) 5:16 p.m. -- Bell takes the first stage by over a second over Hamlin. Erik Jones, Martine Truex Jr., Chris Buescher make up the rest of the top five. 5:15 p.m. -- Down within the last three laps, Bell still leads with two laps in the first stage. 5:11 p.m. -- Under 10 laps to go in the first stage as Bell looks for his stage win. 5:10 p.m. -- Back to the race itself: Christopher Bell is in first coming out of the restart with Denny Hamlin close behind him. Erik Jones is over a second behind and Martin Truex Jr. is about 2.5 seconds back. 5:09 p.m. -- Fallout from the crash on Busch's car. Kyle Busch car … pic.twitter.com/odnnpUtKxI— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) 5:06 p.m. -- Tempered from Kyle Busch after the race, he didn't blame other drivers, but he was clearly extremely frustrated. Said his frustration is "infinity" on a scale of 1-10. 5:02 p.m. -- No hard feeling from Cindric on the course, he says 45 (Ty Gibbs) apologized but it wasn't all his fault. Just a bad situation on the restart all around. 5 p.m. -- Austin Cindric definitely took the worst of that spin. A brutal hit for Austin Cindric to end his day early. #NASCAR📺 : @USA_Network pic.twitter.com/uKU4SnDqGS— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) 4:55 p.m. -- Kyle Busch's day ends early in a big crash that also affected Cindric, Almirola, and Yeley. Tough ending as they all spun out and hit the wall. 4:51 p.m. -- Bubba Wallace still holds the lead after 20 laps into the competition caution. Tyler Reddick is pulling in behind him in second place. 4:36 p.m. -- There's our green flag and we're underway! Barring rain, plenty of time to get a race in before sunset. 4:25 p.m. -- Some friendly local faces give the call at MIS, MSU's Mel Tucker and Tom Izzo join for the start your engines call. .@MSU_Athletics fans, this one's for you! @Coach_mtucker and Tom Izzo get the engines fired in Michigan! pic.twitter.com/R2MPiwCOm1— NASCAR (@NASCAR) 4:20 p.m. -- Engines are fired, green flag incoming. Engines fired. stages 45-75-80, 7 sets, fuel 44-47 ... competition caution Lap 25. No cars to the rear. Sundown 8:49p ET.— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) 4:16 p.m. -- Nearly underway! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸It's almost go time from @MISpeedway! (📺: USA) pic.twitter.com/XgfmtxjSI5— NASCAR (@NASCAR) 4:12 p.m. -- Command will come at 4:15 p.m. Command to start engines 4:15.— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) 4:08 p.m. -- At this point, all that remains to be seen is when we'll get a call for drivers to start their engines. NASCAR will now do the invocation and the anthem at 4:05 and then will finish drying track. No time set yet for engines to be fired. https://t.co/Dv6XqdOMyv— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) 3:57 p.m. -- It looks like things are on track for a 4:15 invocation, as the covers remain off. Covers off the cars and drying continues. Invocation scheduled for 4:15. pic.twitter.com/FyBlDhsGc3— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) 3:44 p.m. -- Car covers are coming off, so we may see things start to ramp up soon. 3:41 p.m. -- There are still some trickles of rain but NASCAR is now hoping for 4:15 ceremonies and a start shortly after. NASCAR is shooting for 4:15 invocation and anthem and then a start soon afterward.— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) 3:25 p.m. -- NASCAR's jet dryers are still at work on the course, and we don't yet have an estimated start time. 3 p.m. -- Welcome to Michigan International Speedway! There's some concern around the start of this race, as they're in the process of drying the track after a rainy morning. Without lights, they'll need to get at least 100 laps in. But the track will take a while to dry off. Rain has stopped around much of the track. No estimate for race start. Likely will take at least 90 minutes to dry (depends on wind/sun) but also possible for more rain. Race would take 2.5-3 hrs. Sundown 8:49p ET. No lights. Lap 100 or later would be an official race if it rains pic.twitter.com/74nB9ds0Sb— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) The FireKeepers Casino 400 at the Brickyard is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. E
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