What to watch for in today’s NASCAR Cup race at Michigan

BROOKLYN, Mich. — With the drama of Richmond behind, the NASCAR Cup Series makes its annual trip to Michigan International Speedway.

Rain canceled qualifying and limited practice Saturday, giving teams little track time in preparation for today’s race (2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network).

MORE: Michigan starting lineup

Here are three things to watch with three races left in the regular season.

1. Points race

There are points races throughout the standings to watch. The top three are separated by six points — the closest the top three in the standings have been at this point in a season.

Kyle Larson leads the standings. Tyler Reddick is five points behind. Chase Elliott is six points behind Larson. Lurking is Denny Hamlin, who is 21 points from Larson.

Reddick has been among the hottest drivers, scoring four top-three finishes in the last five races. Reddick starts second today. Larson has scored two consecutive top 10s, including his Indianapolis win. Larson starts fourth today. Elliott has three top 10s in a row. Elliott starts sixth today.

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The points are just as intriguing in the race to make the playoffs. Four drivers are clustered together for the final three spots. Ty Gibbs is 18 points above the cutline. Bubba Wallace is three points above the cutline. Chris Buescher holds the final playoff spot. Ross Chastain is the first driver below the cutline even though he’s tied with Buescher in points (Buescher owns the tiebreaker).

Wallace starts fifth, Chastain seventh, Buescher 18th and Gibbs 19th today.

Wallace comes into today’s race off back-to-back top-five finishes.

“We’ve shown up with a lot of speed the last few weeks,” he said. “We’ve shown up with our heads in the game.”

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Buescher moved into the final playoff spot after NASCAR stripped the playoff eligibility that went with Austin Dillon’s win last weekend at Richmond. Richard Childress Racing is appealing the penalty. That will be heard Wednesday.

Buescher, who won last year’s Michigan race, says moving into the final playoff spot won’t change how he races.

“We knew at the beginning of the year before we ever got to Daytona that … the only way to really be comfortable at any point before playoffs was a win,” he said. “And really, there’s no way to get through the next three weeks and be comfortable without one.”

2. Finding the air

Last year’s race saw some drivers spin when they were underneath another car, a situation that hadn’t been seen as often with the Next Gen car.

Among the victims in last year’s race was Christopher Bell, who was racing Alex Bowman for the lead in the second stage when he lost control and crashed.

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“With the old car, being underneath of (another) car, you would lose a lot of side force and it would cause you to spin out,” Bell said. “This car, we don’t rely on side force near as much and we were very cautious whenever you would go side-by-side and then you got more confident with it.

“It’s like as time has progressed with this car, I don’t know if we’re building more side force into them and that’s coming back now with people spinning out being side-by-side, but certainly this is the most aggressive we’ve been with these cars, making those moves and driving into the corner really hard with guys on your doors.

“It bit me last year, and I certainly learned from that and know to not put myself in that position again. This place is just really fast, so you’re really relying on the aerodynamics of the car. Once the grip is gone, you’re going to be along for the ride. It’s just an easy place to make a mistake at.”

3. Racing the radar

The forecast looks much better for today than it did earlier in the week but there is still the chance of rain this afternoon. That could impact how drivers race and crew chiefs make decisions.

With the end of the regular season near and so many drivers trying to score a win to make the playoffs, who might gamble and will they be rewarded? Or will it be a team that has already won this year looking to gamble to score a victory and the five playoff points with it?

That could add another layer in what happens today.