THREE THINGS TOWATCH

1. Kyle’s streak

Kyle impressive at Speedway. Michigan Larson Since streak has International an the going

second season, race he has of the won 2016 three

straight NASCAR Cup Series

races at the fast two-mile

oval. Is his No. 42 Chevro

let up for the challenge?

“We need to be a little bit

better to compete with Kyle

Busch, Kevin Harvick and

Martin Truex Jr.,” he said.

“They are definitely the

class of the field. We are

close.”

2. 14 and 40

It Cup took Series Jimmie races Johnson to lead 14

his first laps of competition

in the No. 48 Chevrolet.

Johnson, the seven-time

NASCAR champion, led

Laps 26 and 27 at Pocono

to push away that embar

rassing statistic. Now there

is that little matter of the

40-race winless streak. He

has back-to-back top-10

finishes. “We just need to

keep improving, but we're

slowly chipping away at it,”

Johnson said.

3. Better get to it

Don't look now, but the

NASCAR Cup Series just

passed the halfway point of

the regular season, leav

ing only a dozen races for

drivers to get qualified for

the playoffs. Kevin Harvick,

Kyle Busch and Martin

Truex Jr. have hogged

Victory Lane, combining for

11 wins in 14 races. Drivers

around the bubble area

can hear the clock tick

ing. “When you are racing

(Busch) and (Truex) you

are splitting hairs,” Harvick

said.

[AP/PAUL SANCYA] Kyle Larson hopes to celebrate his fourth straight win at Michigan on Sunday.