Biffle captured the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of the season in his Ford Fusion. In the process he pushed Ford to its milestone triumph on the day of company’s 110th birthday.

Biffle held off a fast-closing Jimmie Johnson in the late stages of the race, but when Johnson suffered a blown tire, his car scraping the wall with two laps remaining, Biffle was home free with his fourth triumph at MIS in 21 races and his 19th win overall in 381 Sprint Cup races.

“I knew the 48 (Johnson) was really fast,” Biffle said. “I was really worried about the 48 but once this car got in clean air it was all over. The guy (Johnson) started 10^th and was behind me with 10 to go. That’s a really fast race car. We’re not to that level yet but we’re sure a lot closer than we have been. This is really exciting to win the 1,000^th for Ford.”

Biffle held off a fast-charging Kevin Harvick over the final three laps. Martin Truex Jr. came home in third and Kyle Busch in fourth, followed by Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth.

“We just struggled with maintaining track position but I had a fast car and I could drive up through there and I would get to first or second and then a caution would come out,” said Johnson, who remains winless at Michigan in 23 attempts. “I hate having that problem at the end.

“I had run the car really hard to get through all those guys and must have worn through that right front tire with two laps to go and it went down in Turn 1.”

Johnson, who led a total of 16 laps, fell victim to what other race leaders faced during the race, untimely bad luck.

Kurt Busch brushed the wall after leading 21 laps. Kasey Kahne was leading with 97 laps remaining in the 200-lap race when his car hit the wall hard, catching on fire. And Dale Earnhardt, Jr., was leading on lap 127 when his engine expired in a cloud of smoke.

For Biffle it was his second consecutive win at MIS. He captured the Pure Michigan 400 last August. Johnson was leading that race with eight laps remaining when he suffered an engine failure.

Biffle helped Roush Fenway Racing record the its 13th win at MIS, the most by any team at the fastest track in NASCAR.

“MIS had been a great race track and we’ve had a lot of success here over the years,” Roush said. “I was as proud to help Ford win its 1,000th race in NASCAR as I was to win the race here on the 100th anniversary of the Ford Motor Company that Greg won as well. Those are two milestones that I’ve been very proud to be a part of.”

Schatz, the five-time and defending series champion who won on Friday night at Jackson Speedway, was running second mid-way through Saturday night’s 30-lap Mediacom Shootout when Brown tried to get through lapped traffic. Brown bounced his car off the wall, damaging the front suspension and nearly stalling it, but he was able to keep the car going without bringing out a caution.

Schatz charged ahead into the lead in his STP/Armor All J&J and drove off to victory, becoming the second driver in the past two weeks to sweep the weekend events after Craig Dollansky accomplished the feat last weekend.

“We’re just doing our job right now, we’re having fun and that’s important and we’re making changes for the better,” said Schatz, of Fargo, N.D. “I’m glad to be heading near home next weekend and running good, that’s always good because we would like to get a win at home, that’s for sure.”

Even with a few restarts, Brown would neither gain nor lose much ground to Schatz, but would still settle for second in the Casey’s General Stores/FVP Maxim. Brown has finished second or third to Schatz in each of the past three World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series races at Knoxville, including last year’s Knoxville Nationals.

“We got in there behind those lapped cars and they were racing hard for position and I just got tight,” said Brown, of Grain Valley, Mo. “I couldn’t get it off the cushion and got into the fence and nearly crashed. It bent the front axle back. It sounds familiar, wins the heat, wins the dash, leads the feature and runs second. I think we’re closing on him. I don’t think Donny was as good as he was last time here, or that we got better.”

Late in the race Paul McMahan would return to his starting spot of third, but the podium position did not come easily. Bronson Maeschen, the fast qualifier for the event, held the position for much of the race. Maeschen held off charges by fellow Knoxville regular Ian Madsen and World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series championship contender McMahan. Just before the mid-race point Maeschen’s motor was audibly hurt, but he still held the spot over Madsen and McMahan.

As the race went on, McMahan made the top of the track work in his CJB Motorsports GF1 and he would capture the position and hold on to the spot.

“The top kind of went away and I was super tight from the center out, the thing would stand up on the left rear,” said McMahan, of Nashville, Tenn. “When it did finally clean off I was actually able to get the car down and drive off half-way decent. I had my hands full there for the 25 laps, but it was a good run for us tonight.”

Maeschen’s motor let go with just one lap to go and he was forced to pull off, finishing a disappointing 17 after starting the event so strong. Ian Madsen finished fourth while championship leader, Daryn Pittman, who started 12th, moved up seven spots to round out the top five.

Tim Kaeding was able to finish 8^th after starting a dismal 21^st in the feature event and earn the event’s KSE Hard Charger honors.

Schatz and McMahan are still nearly deadlocked in the championship standings after both drivers picked up podium finishes Saturday. Schatz trails Pittman by 137 points, while McMahan trails Schatz by just four points.

Austin Dillion started on the pole for the Alliance Truck Parts 250, his second straight season leading the field to the green.

A year after starting setting the pole qualifying record at 190.375 MPH, Dillon was even faster. He eclipsed his previous mark to set the record at 191.882 MPH. He was joined on the front row by teammate Paul Menard. A third Chevrolet driven by Brad Sweet started the Alliance Truck Parts 250 in third.

Meanwhile Smith started the race in 20th place while Kyle Larson opened in 11th.

But both managed to find the answers they never anticipated to finish one-two, respectively, in the 22nd Annual Alliance Truck Parts 250.

Smith, the Nationwide points leader, held off the fast-closing Larson to win by 0.330 seconds or about five car lengths. Smith was aided by Greg Ives from Bark River, Mich. who made the crucial calls in the middle of the race.  It was Smith’s second victory of the year, both times starting from 20th after poor qualifying attempts.

Larson, vying for Rookie of the Year honors, continued his strong showing in his first full year in the Nationwide Series.

“We worked hard this entire weekend but after qualifying I was worried,” Smith said. “I was actually scared to death and we were not even trimmed out like the other guys. I still knew we had a good race car and we used track position to get up front and we caught a little bit of a break with a timely caution.

“Once we got in front it was a situation of holding off the No. 32 (Larson). Kyle had a fast car and even though he was drafting up on us at the end I felt confident he wasn’t going to get much closer than that five-car gap.”

It was Larson’s 11th top-10 finish overall this season in his MIS debut.

While Smith led for the final 13 laps, Larson never led but was also never out of contention over the last few laps. He closed ever so slightly on Smith with each lap to match his career-best finish with his eighth top-10 finish this season.

“I could inch up to Regan and get a big draft on the front stretch and then I’d get too tight off of Turn 2 and he would get away from me on the backstretch,” Larson said. “But I definitely didn’t think we had a second place car at the beginning of that race. We were in danger of going a lap down during that first run, but we worked on the car quite a bit, got it good, and then really good at end.”

Menard finished third, followed by Kyle Busch and Trevor Bayne. Dillon led for the first 41 laps and a race-leading total of 61 before getting caught up in some untimely pit stops to finish 20th. Sam Hornish, Jr., from nearby Defiance, OH, was also an early-race threat, running as high as second before running over debris that penetrated his engine and broke the oil pump.

Hornish continues to place second in the Nationwide points chase, falling 58 points behind Smith.

Defending series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay claimed his second consecutive Milwaukee IndyFest title today. The America started fourth and took the twin checkers to capture his 11th career victory. Hunter-Reay moves to second in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship points standings.

“The other guys had such a great car, Helio (Castroneves) and Taku(ma Sato). I thought we might have not had a good enough car to win it, and we just pushed through in the end. I just can’t say enough about these guys on this No. 1 DHL car – they did such a great job on these pits, as they always do, getting me out in front of traffic and in front of the other guys, just an excellent job. I’m so proud of this race team. We had the balance we needed. Thank you to all the fans for coming out today and making this another Milwaukee Mile race that’s very special – I appreciate it.”

On how special it is to have his son here for his first Father’s Day:

“It’s the best. Those last two laps I was thinking, ‘Man, I got to do this for him.’ So, here it is, and it’s so special having this six-month-old at my side in Victory Lane on Father’s Day (weekend).”

E.J. Viso, No. 5 Team Venezuela PDVSA CITGO Chevrolet

Making his sixth consecutive top-five start of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season, E.J. Viso followed up with 10 laps led and his career best finish at the historic Milwaukee Mile in fourth. The Venezuelan moves up one position in the championship points standings to 12th.

“It was my best finish here, and a top four is pretty impressive. We know we’ve had the speed because we’ve seen it at almost every event this year, but I think we hadn’t quite been able to close the deal. We have been struggling a bit thus far, and I think we’re due for some podiums and wins. Hopefully this is just the start. It’s a good result for the whole crew and the whole team – I’m just looking forward to the next race. I hope we can keep building this momentum and that more strong results are ahead. I’m happy for Ryan (Hunter-Reay) – he did a good job. I like Milwaukee, I like Iowa and the short ovals. These places are fun; they’re basically super fast corners on a road course. It’s a nice combination of factors, and we have a good package… We’ve qualified in the top five for six races in a row. We’re very close, we’ll keep fighting, and we’ll look forward to Iowa.”

James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet

Rolling off the grid in second for the 250-lap Milwaukee IndyFest, GoDaddy driver James Hinchcliffe marked his fourth top-10 finish of the season with a fifth-place tally. The Toronto native remains ninth in the championship points fight.

“Any time you get a top five in a series so competitive, it’s a good day. To have three of our cars in the top five is incredible; the team’s done a great job. I’m just a little upset we weren’t a tiny bit better in traffic today in the No. 27 GoDaddy Chevy, because I think that would have helped us get around the lapped cars and we could have challenged the guys we were actually racing for position with.

“This track is the ultimate test of patience. It’s so easy to over-do it and get in the marbles and end up in the wall – and I had a couple close calls for sure – but you’ve got to be aggressive. You also have to have respect to this place… it was a lot of fun out there either way. We always love coming here – I think it’s one of the best race tracks in the country. Hopefully we put on a good show for the fans. So, I want to wish a Happy Father’s Day to everyone. We wish the GoDaddy car was a little bit higher, but really happy for Ryan (Hunter-Reay), and having three Andretti Autosport cars in the top five is incredible.”

Marco Andretti, No. 25 RC Cola Chevrolet

Starting on the pole position — the third-generation racer’s third career pole award and second at the Milwaukee Mile — Marco Andretti led for 61 laps early in the race before suffering an electrical issues sending the No. 25 car to the garages for repair. He later rejoined the field and recorded a 20th-place finish. Andretti will now sit third in the championship points standings.

• This is Ryan Hunter-Reay’s third win at The Milwaukee Mile (2004, ’12, ’13)

• This is Hunter-Reay’s second win of the season (Barber) and his 11th career Indy car win. Three of his wins have come at The Milwaukee Mile.

• Hunter-Reay has five podium finishes this season (Barber, Indianapolis, Belle Isle 1, Texas, Milwaukee)

• Hunter-Reay is the first back-to-back winner at Milwaukee since Tony Kanaan in 2006-07.

• This is Andretti Autosport’s 47th IZOD IndyCar Series victory and fourth of the 2013 season (St. Pete, Barber, Sao Paulo, Milwaukee).

• Today’s win was the fifth win in the last nine races at Milwaukee for Andretti Autosport (2004- Dario Franchitti, 2006 - Tony Kanaan, 2007 - Kanaan, 2012 – Ryan Hunter-Reay
2013 – Hunter-Reay)

• The last team to win back-to-back races at Milwaukee was Target Chip Ganassi Racing (Dixon – 2009 and Franchitti – 2011. There was no race at Milwaukee in 2010).

• Helio Castroneves finished second. It is his second top-five finish at Milwaukee in 13 starts (finished second in 1998) and his fourth podium finish this season (St. Pete, Barber, Texas, Milwaukee).

• Will Power finished third. It is Power’s second top-five finish at Milwaukee (fourth in 2011) and his second top-five finish of the season (fifth at Barber).

• E.J. Viso finished fourth. It is his first top-five finish of the season and a career best finish at Milwaukee.  His previous best finish of fifth at Milwaukee in 2012.

• James Hinchcliffe finished fifth. It is his second top-five finish at Milwaukee (third in 2012 and his third top-five finishes to date this season (St. Pete, Sao Paulo, Milwaukee).

MILWAUKEE INDYFEST POST-RACE QUOTES:

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 1 DHL Chevrolet): “The team did just awesome today.  We had varying levels of grip through the whole race, different levels of balance, and we just stuck with it.  In the end, we knew what we had to do to win.   What a race it was.  It was a lot of fun.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet): “Certainly it was a great day for us.  Starting from the back, it was tough.  Yesterday I stayed late talking to Jonathan (Diuguid), my engineer, on what we were going to do with the car.  It was tough, but today it definitely paid off. We were a little conservative, and we had to be patient.  In the end, it was a great job by the PPG boys.  It’s not a win, but you know what, I’m very, very happy.”

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “That was close (with Helio).  I wanted to race him very cleanly because he’s leading the championship. I was like “Man, I don’t want to take you out.”  Still a good result for Team Penske.  Helio (Castroneves) continues to get good points, and it’s cool to get the No. 12 Verizon car up on the podium.  We’ve just got to keep chipping away and in the meantime, I’m going to help out Helio as much as I can.   If I can beat him, I will and make some hay on the championship.”

E.J. VISO (No. 5 Team Venezuela PDVSA Citgo Chevrolet): ”It was a good result for the whole group, the whole Andretti Autosport Team. It was a fun day, especially the final restart. That was super-fun.”

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet): “Any time you can get a top-five finish, especially with how competitive this field is, it’s a good day for the GoDaddy car. I feel like I spent half the day just trying to get around the lap traffic.”

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Hydroxycut KVRT-SH Racing Chevrolet): “It was a very difficult race for us,  We had to battle all day long, but just didn’t have the pace.  We finished in the top-10 so I will take those ponts.  Now we move on to Iowa where hopefully we can have a better finish.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda): ”It wasn’t a good day. It was a rough one. And it stinks sometimes because you don’t have the package, but we’ll keep working hard. There’s definitely no quit in the team and we’ll keep trucking away for the next one.”

SIMONA DE SILVESTRO (No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva KVRT Chevrolet): ”The car was loose from the start and then it just took off. We made contact with the wall. The guys changed the rear wing and we went back out, but I don’t know if it was damage from the crash or what, but it really wasn’t drivable after that. I feel bad for my Nuclear Clean Air Energy sponsors that we had such a short race, but we just weren’t ever able to get the car fixed right.”

MICHAEL ANDRETTI (Owner, Andretti Autosport): “It’s just a huge win for us for sure. Last year, this win kicked started Ryan’s year, hopefully it’s going to do it again. He did a great job and to win our race, the one that we promoted, is just awesome. So happy for everybody on this team and so proud of everybody, and all the cars ran really competitive today and all weekend. We got a lot to be proud of.” (What is it about this track that allows Andretti cars perform so well) I don’t know, we had a good setup last year, especially Ryan, and we started there with Ryan’s set up. It seemed to work again, so it was just one of those things, you know, everything clicked right off the trailer which you need to do nowadays because you don’t have a lot of practice, so we had a good feeling after yesterday.

ALEX TAGLIANI (No. 98 Barracuda Racing Honda): ”It’s been a couple tough weeks in a row here for the Barracuda Racing guys. I’m disappointed for our fans and our supporters at Barracuda Networks, Bowers and Wilkins, Oasis, Curb Records, and Honda. We will come back next week stronger.”

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet): “The National Guard Chevy was handling pretty good for us, but the gears were a bit long, so that was hurting us as we tried to race people off the corner. But the Panther Racing crew did a great job in the pits all day. We’re continuing to build on our continuity, and we’ll continue to get better working together. The plan is to race as many events in IndyCar as we can this year with Panther, so we’ll get them next time.”

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 6 Dragon Racing Chevrolet):“It was a very strong race in the beginning for us. The #6 TrueCar Dragon Racing car was keeping a solid pace with the front runners. The crew did an amazing job on the pit stops but unfortunately we had a mistake calling me into pit and that costs us positions and we couldn’t recover from that. I a bit disappointed with the position but its a good position for us after a rough start to the season. I defiantly want more and I will not settle for 13th position. Iowa we will be looking a lot stronger and carrying a lot of momentum, so we will stay focused and go for a strong race.”
 

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 7 Dragon Racing Chevrolet): ”It was a disappointing day for the #7 McAfee Dragon Racing car. We had a pretty good race going with a very strong start and I was passing a lot of cars making it up to 9th position. Then we had a fuel pump issue running out of fuel with still 4 gallons in the tank. During the first pit stop the wheel gun was not retrieved properly and ended up damaging the suspension and after that the car was never the same. We were 2 laps down and our day was heading south, I was trying to hang onto the car and after our final pit stop with new tires the car was loose for no reason. At that point I knew this day was not going to end well, so we brought the car in and parked it.”

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): ”I think we went down a road earlier in the year and now we’re just trying to regroup and find our way.  Maybe we’re lacking confidence in our changes with the car but we’ll work hard and get better.  We had a good day but went back and forth on some things.  We had understeer in the middle of the corner and the car snapped coming off.  We had a bit better car then we showed.  I got ran wide on the restart by Kanaan and didn’t quite agree with it but then again what can you do.”

DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Kimberly Clark Honda): “Obviously we didn’t have a great qualifying effort and then we took the engine change penalty before the race.  We started in the back, made some good progress, but it was difficult to pass.  The guys made good calls to keep me in the hunt but keeping the car pointed straight was a challenge.  To pass people was very tough. The cars are so close, so the series might be a victim of their own success right now. We need to start allowing something to differentiate when guys get it right and wrong.  Great to be here as always at the Mile. Great crowd and great event.”

TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing Honda): ”What an eventful and exciting race it was. We slowly started to move up through the field and on every pit stop we adjusted on the car and then the car started working really well. By mid race the ABC Supply car was beautiful and I was so enjoying driving it. The car was so strong in clean air and very strong in traffic as well. We were really happy with the whole balance of the car in the middle stint, but then unfortunately there was such a sudden loss of the rear grip towards the end of the race and I got high and lost track position. We thought there was an issue so we decided to pit as soon as our pit window opened and then try to charge back with fresh tires. We were confident we could do it. But then the yellow came out and that was very bad timing for us because it put us behind those who hadn’t pitted yet. They were able to pit and get ahead of us which is why we lined up in 7^th. Then they had fresher tires too so it was really tough to pass them back. The boys did a great job with the pit stops all day long and I thought we could have brought a smile to A.J. and we nearly did. It was still a great race, but it was so disappointing in the end. Really a shame.”

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Midas/Big O Tires Honda): “It was a longer day. The car started off pretty sketchy but we worked hard on it and we did get it better.  I think that at the end we were competitive and if we had had a better starting position, I think that would have helped us considerably. Without a doubt we still have work to do. I think the guys did a great job, everybody is working awfully hard.  Sixteenth isn’t what we want, everybody knows that.  We want to see progress and after Texas that is progress.”

JAMES JAKES (No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Honda): “It was a disappointing day generally.  We struggled with the balance of the car. We thought we had made some changes but it wasn’t quite where we wanted it to be so it was a long day. I’m looking forward to Iowa next week. I have always been pretty quick there so hopefully we can bounce back.”

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): “That was a long day for us.  I thought we were going to be good after the early stages.  We were able to work our way pretty far up the charts (to fifth from 20th starting position).  I slid a little on our second stop and I missed my marks.  So we lost a couple of spots then.  I got loose on a restart and lost a few more spots.  We were just loose that entire stint after being good early.  Then I got in the marbles and hit the wall in turn four.  And it just got away from us from there.  It’s so disappointing because it looked like we were going to have such a good day.  At the end, it feels like a missed opportunity today.  We’ll regroup and be ready for Iowa next week.  Hope for a strong run there.”

TRISTAN VAUTIER (No. 55 coastal.com Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): “It was a tough race. I was really struggling behind other cars but I was decent by myself. As soon as I got in a pack, came up on slow cars or had restarts I went backwards. It just made for a long day. When Simon was about to lap me I went high to let him by and hit some marbles. I understeered into the wall. It wasn’t a big hit but it was big enough to bend the suspension and end our day.”

SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda): ”I have mixed feelings about today’s race. I really felt like we had a good car. We were running in the top-6 early on with really strong re-starts, but we finished 12th. I don’t quite understand. I think we had an issue in the pits and some problems with strategy which dropped us back. It’s a shame because the HP car was really fast. We made a lot of improvement on the car but this is costly on our championship. It’s a long championship though so we’ll bounce back and try to do better in Iowa.”

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Honda):  “There are definitely a lot of lessons to be learned that we’ll take from today.  We just have to figure out what they are and make the most of them moving forward.  We’re looking forward to making our way to Iowa so we can make the changes and we’ll go racing.”

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 RC Cola Chevrolet): “It was electrical, but I don’t really have an idea, I mean, maybe an alternator? It just…the volts just went straight down, and I lost all types of power. I couldn’t shift, the clutch didn’t work.  Unfortunately I have to go out and be ‘that guy’ if we can fix it. We don’t know yet.” Post-race Quote: “It’s unfortunate… We came here for a win and had a car to do it. We fell back after a delay in the pits and then had an electrical issue – I didn’t have any idea of what happened at the time. The voltage went straight down and I lost all kinds of power; I couldn’t shift, the clutch didn’t work. We came back for all the points we could. We’ve been strong at Iowa in the past so we will move on and try to get points back next weekend.”

The 32-year-old Fort Lauderdale, Fla., resident overtook race leader Takuma Sato on Lap 198 of 250 and went on to win by 4.809 seconds over Helio Castroneves.

Will Power finished third for his first podium of the season. E.J. Viso and James Hinchcliffe — Andretti Autosport teammates to Hunter-Reay — also were in the top five.

The last back-to-back winner at Milwaukee was Tony Kanaan in 2006-07, when he was driving for the Andretti team. It was the 47th IZOD IndyCar Series victory for the team and the fifth at Milwaukee.

Third in the standings entering this Father’s Day weekend race, Hunter-Reay heads into the June 23 Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by DEKALB 16 points behind the front-running Castroneves. Hunter-Reay won at Iowa Speedway last year, and made it three victories in a row at Toronto two weeks later.

An electrical issue on the No. 25 RC Cola car ruined the day for pole sitter Marco Andretti, who entered the race second in the standings and led 61 laps early on. Following repairs, Andretti re-entered the race on Lap 137 and soldiered on to not lose any additional points. He is third in the championship (50 points behind) after placing 20th.

Results Saturday of the Milwaukee IndyFest IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.015-mile Milwaukee Mile, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (4) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running

2. (17) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running

3. (3) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running

4. (5) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running

5. (2) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 250, Running

6. (11) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running

7. (15) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running

8. (23) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 250, Running

9. (13) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 249, Running

10. (7) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 249, Running

11. (8) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 249, Running

12. (9) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 249, Running

13. (6) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 248, Running

14. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 248, Running

15. (18) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 248, Running

16. (24) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 247, Running

17. (21) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 246, Running

18. (12) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 245, Running

19. (19) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 242, Running

20. (1) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 176, Mechanical 

21. (10) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 173, Mechanical 

22. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 152, Mechanical

23. (16) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 146, Mechanical

24. (22) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 69, Contact

Race Statistics

Winners average speed:  136.848

Time of Race: 01:51:15.2962

Margin of victory: 4.8059

Cautions: 4 for 29 laps

Lead changes: 11 among 6 drivers

Lap Leaders:

Andretti 1 – 61

Hunter-Reay 62 – 66

Power 67 – 68

Sato 69 – 90

Wilson 91

Viso 92 – 99

Sato 100 – 156

Hunter-Reay 157 – 163

Viso 164 – 165

Power 166 – 167

Sato 168 – 197

Hunter-Reay 198 – 250

Point Standings: Castroneves 299, Hunter-Reay 283, Andretti 249, Sato 223, Dixon 221, Kanaan 215, Pagenaud 212, Wilson 207, Hinchcliffe 206, Franchitti 192.

“Yeah, I have known Jason for a long time obviously.  We grew up racing together and followed the same paths racing-wise.  So I mean he was a friend, he was a roommate, he was a teammate and I got to be around him a lot.  He loved nothing more than being behind the wheel of a race car. I was just shocked to hear what had happened and obviously it’s just a reminder of how dangerous our sport is, but we have had a lot of safety innovations over the last 15 years since I have been in Cup.  It’s just proof that we will never get to the stage where everybody is immune to getting hurt in a race car.  That is just the scenario that we are in and there isn’t anybody that gets behind the wheel that doesn’t understand that going into it, and Jason was that way as well.  He just loved doing what he was doing and it was just a rough week there and obviously Charlie is the one that we are all thinking about the most right now.  His girlfriend Juliana, it’s hard for both of those two and Amy and their family and just thinking about all those guys this weekend.”

HOW WAS PRACTICE OUT THERE FOR YOU?

“I think as the session went on, the track got more grip in it.  It was pretty slippery to begin with and you could tell it started getting some rubber in the track and it seemed here watching the times that I obviously had a problem and got loose, caught it, and just ran out of race track trying to get around the corner.  I got to watch the lap times a lot and it seemed the longer the session went, the better the track got.”

YOU AND JASON WERE CLOSE, WHAT STANDS OUT MOST ABOUT HIM?

“We got to hang out a lot away from the race track as well as at the track.  When he moved from California to Indiana to start racing USAC fulltime, he moved in with me and lived with us for a little under a year and I got to see a lot of things and he was just a lot of fun.  He was a racer and didn’t care what he raced, where he raced, when he raced, it was all he wanted to do was to drive a race car.  It was fun to have a roommate like that who had the same passion and desire that I had.”

YOU GUYS AS A TEAM HAVE REALLY BOUNCED BACK HERE THE LAST COUPLE WEEKS.  HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU IN MAKING THE CHASE?

“I feel like our whole organization is getting it going and I have been really encouraged the last couple weeks and if you take our last three weeks, we have made big gains.  Until I had the problem today we were third on the sheet at the time I crashed the car.  So I feel encouraged that we are gaining ground on it and starting to get back to form a little bit.  Regarding this weekend, I was real anxious to get on track to see where we were.  The last couple weeks we had the advantage of using two tests to get ready for Pocono and Dover so we didn’t do that for here so I wanted to see how we came out of the box here and I was pretty encouraged by what I have seen during the day there.   I feel like we are gaining on it and I don’t know if we are where we to be yet, but I feel like we have definitely made big gains in the last month so I am encouraged by that.”

YOU RACE IN ALL FORMS OF RACING, HOW CAREFUL ARE YOU?

“I am as careful as I am when I get in a car on a city street.  There will be more people that die in car crashes today than die in race cars today.  It’s just part of it and I am one of those that believe when it’s your time, it’s your time.  I don’t know the details of what happened up there but from what I have been told by people is that something broke on the race car.  Whether that is what happened or not, I do not know. The cars I drive, I know the equipment.  The sprint car that I drive is one of my own cars, and its prepared by our own guys.  We have a full containment seat and we do everything we can do with the race car to make it as safe as possible. Just like we would with any other race car we drive.  So it wasn’t the fact that it was a sprint car it was the fact that it was an accident and something went wrong and we lost Jason (Leffler) because of it.”

IF YOU COULD USE A SINGLE WORD TO DESCRIBE A LAP AROUND MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY AND THEN ALSO COMPARE WHAT MICHIGAN IS LIKE IN RELATION TO OTHER TRACKS THAT COULD BE AS FAST AS THIS TRACK?

“It’s fast. It’s a two mile track that’s been freshly re-paved so it’s got a lot of grip and you carry a lot of corner speed. And when you carry corner speed, you make straightaway speed. It’s no different than anywhere else. Anytime they repave a race track it’s fast right off the bat. Now that I’ve seen from last year to the spring the color of the track has changed quite a bit. Normally in the fall the grip starts going away. It didn’t seem to be quite as line sensitive as it was last year which means it’s starting to age a little bit. It’s just a matter of getting some rubber on the track it seemed like today. As far as what other race tracks can be like, everyone is different there’s no two tracks the same. They’ve all got their quirks and characteristics about them that that make them unique.”

DO YOU HAVE TO DO ANY CONVINCING OF YOUR SPONSORS TO ALLOW YOU TO DO AS MUCH RACING AS YOU DO?

“No.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT MAYBE IMPROVEMENTS THAT YOU HAVE SEEN IN SHORT-TRACK RACING AS FAR AS THE TRACKS THEMSELVES OVER THE LAST FIVE OR 10 YEARS?

“Most of them have safety teams at each facility. I know that’s something in the promoter’s workshop down in Florida in the spring when all the promoter’s get together and track owners and operators get together that’s a high. That’s probably the one thing I’ve seen the most of is having adequate safety teams there and making sure they can respond to the problem pretty quick.”

THERE HAS KIND OF BEEN TWO OPINIONS ON SHORT-TRACKS THAT I’VE HEARD THIS MORNING.  DAVE BLANEY SAID HE WOULD RACE AT ANY SHORT-TRACK FOR THE MOST PART THE STANDARDS ARE PRETTY GOOD.  BRAD KESELOWSKI HAD ANOTHER OPINION HE SAID THAT THE STANDARDS NEEDED IMPROVING THAT THEY WERE DISMAL.  YOU ARE A TRACK OWNER WHAT IS YOUR TAKE? ARE THERE ANY PLACES YOU WOULDN’T GO TO RACE?

“I think things are the best they’ve ever been at this point. There’s facilities that need some work and there’s facilities that put a lot of effort into it. It’s like getting on a city street today.  Can it be safer? Sure. Do we have to go two lanes into oncoming traffic? No we don’t have to do that. There’s always things you can do better.  Am I scared to go to any race track or feel concerned of not feeling safe at a race track? No. I think for the majority just about everywhere you go does a pretty good job and do the best they can under the circumstances they have to work with. The safety standards weren’t what caused the problem. I’d be grateful if you guys would understand that what happened this week wasn’t because somebody didn’t’ do something right with the race track. It was an accident. Just like if you go out and there’s a car crash. It’s an accident. Short track promoters are doing everything they can do to operate and just stay afloat and to keep having tracks for drivers that are upcoming that want to be NASCAR drivers just to have the ability to go to and race and learn so they can come up to this level. It’s hard enough for these promoters and track owners to do what they’re doing so please try to cut them a little slack this week. Nobody as a track owner wants to go through what happened this week but it’s not due to a lack of effort on their part to try to make their facilities as safe as possible under the conditions they have.”

YOU’VE DONE SOME IMPROVEMENTS AT ELDORA FOR THE TRUCK RACE, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT THOSE IMPROVEMENTS WERE AND WHAT THE THOUGHT PROCESS WAS WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA RECOMMENDING YOU DIDN’T NEED SAFER BARRIERS THERE?

“They did recommend that we not use them. They did make recommendations and we made the changes accordingly. The way we looked at it was a huge honor to have the opportunity to have that group come to our race track and help us make improvements. It’s something that I’m sure if every short track across the country could have that opportunity it would make things better.  That’s why I say, given the circumstances I think tracks do a really good job with what they have. But we did. We made every change that they recommended. We made those adjustments. A lot of it was with inside walls and the angles of the openings. Those were addressed right away. Roger Slack can give you the full run down of everything that was recommended and what we did to address it.”

IS THERE SOMETHING THAT’S MORE COMPELLING ABOUT RACING THE SPRINT CARS THAT KEEPS DRAWING YOU BACK IN?   

“It’s just something different. I get to race with the best stock car drivers in the world every weekend here for three days a week. In the evenings I get to go do something that’s the polar opposite end of the spectrum and it’s a challenge because it’s the opposite end of the spectrum for us. They’re 910 horse power cars that weigh 1400 pounds. It’s probably the best power to weight ratio other than a motorcycle. You put a 25 square foot surface area wing on top of it and you get to run around race tracks really fast. It’s hard to explain without getting in it. I didn’t even understand it until I got in one the first time of what it’s really like. They’re a lot of fun. Just like there’s great race teams in NASCAR, there’s great sprint car teams and late model and modified teams all across the country and getting to go to different places and run with different groups and different drivers is something that’s fun. When you want to race that’s just what you want to do and that’ just a type of car that I’ve been very interested in.”

Power completed two laps Friday around the one-mile oval at an average of 170.212 mph, which will position the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet inside the second row for the start of the 250-lap race.

“We had a good Verizon car all day,” said Power. “I thought we might have had enough for the pole today, but I made a little mistake on the last lap and we just missed it. Starting third is a good position for us tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Helio Castroneves will start 18th on Saturday after recording a two-lap average of 167.169 mph in the No. 3 PPG Automotive Refinish Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet.

“Wow, that was a tough day of qualifying — one of the toughest of my career,” said Castroneves. “The PPG Team Penske Chevrolet has been good today, but I think we got a little greedy there. We took a gamble on downforce, going really low, thinking the track would be better and it just wasn’t.”

Castroneves is coming off a victory last weekend in the Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway. He leads the IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings by 22 points entering the ninth race of the 19-race season on Saturday.

Making his debut in the distinctive blue and black PPG Chevy this weekend, Castroneves’ qualifying run was a bit dicey as the car nearly stepped out on the short oval under trimmed-out conditions.

“The car got sideways a couple of times,” said the three-time Indy 500 winner. “I’m glad the car came in on all four wheels. We have a lot of work to dotomorrow in the race, but we’ll be ready and hopefully we’ll fight for our first win at Milwaukee.”

With rain a possibility in Milwaukee on Saturday, Power knows that could play a factor in the Milwaukee IndyFest. “We’re not sure what the weather will be – we hope the rain stays away, especially for the fans – but it should be a good race,” said Power.