The performance of the Toyotas in both Michigan races were not awful, but it was terrible enough to have the suits snicker and gloat about how much muscle their American cars had over the foreigners. However, the funny thing is that the Toyota Camry on sale to the public is actually more American than the three competitors on the circuit. The Ford Fusion is assembled in Mexico, The Chevy Impala and Dodge Charger are both put together in Canada, with only the Dodge Avenger actually being put together in the good old USA. The Toyota Camry is made in Georgetown, Kentucky, a place that is about America as it gets.

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Coming into this years race, the Toyota’s are a bit more confident considering their horses under the hood have powered the current Sprint Cup series point leader, Kyle Busch, to a series leading 4 wins. Ford and Dodge have dominated over the years at Michigan combining to win the last 13 races in a row. Chevrolet has been a no show, claiming only two Jeff Gordon wins since 1996, as their only opportunity to boast with the bow-tie among their colleagues.

It’ll really be interesting to watch the cringes from the upper brass in the luxury boxes above Michigan Speedway as Toyota makes a serious run for the win crashing the big motor party. The Joe Gibbs trio of Busch, Tony Stewart, and Denny Hamlin will all be top contenders to win the race with an outside chance given to another Toyota driven by Red Bull Racing’s Brian Vickers at 40/1.

The favorite for this weeks race is Carl Edwards’ Ford at 5/1. Based on his performance at Michigan’s sister track in California and his two other wins on 1.5 mile tracks, he will be tough for anyone to challenge.

We are still seeing instances of teams not being comfortable in their Car of Tomorrow on tracks that the car didn’t run on last season. There are only a few drivers that have shown consistency on all those tracks that are seeing the COT for the first time. Edwards and Busch lead the way as those having a huge edge over the others.

Two of the drivers that did very well in California back in February, yet have fallen off dramatically from their usual consistent dominance are Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. They finished 2nd and 3rd at California, but have had some days since that look more reminiscent of a Petty team than Hendrick. They admittedly say they didn’t spend as much time and research for the COT on these type of tracks as they did last season when they feverishly prepared for the COT’s first run on the smaller tracks and it truly shows.

We already stated how big of a slump Chevy has been in at Michigan. The slump actually started one race before Johnson started his Cup career. In 12 races there, Johnson only has two top 5 finishes with a best of third coming in the fall race last season. Perhaps the change in car will be a benefit this season, but going winless in the 12 previous races is puzzling because of how similar California and Michigan are and also how dominant Johnson has been at California since winning there as a rookie.

Let’s stay with the trend of a Chevy not winning this week. The due theory is very overrated and if it was played consistently at Michigan, your bankroll would have evaporated long ago when Bill Elliott took his Ford to the winners circle 6 of 8 races in the mid-eighties.

I really like the concept of seeing Toyota not only winning to the dismay of the American Auto Giants, but maybe even finishing 1-2. Tony Stewart impressed at Charlotte and finished 7th at California. Kyle Busch has been good everywhere, but just for fun we’ll mention his 4th place finish at California.

Top 5 Finish Prediction:

1) #20 Tony Stewart (11/1)
2) #18 Kyle Busch (6/1)
3) #16 Greg Biffle (11/1)
4) #99 Carl Edwards (5/1)
5) #9 Kasey Kahne (11/1)

I just wanted wish all the Fathers a Happy Fathers day out there, including my own. It’s ironic once again that the Michigan race in the motor city happens to be on Fathers day because working on American muscle cars of the 60’s and 70’s was something that my father and I did often together.

He’d buy a wrecked GTO, bring it to the garage and go to work on it rebuilding the engine, transmission, body work, paint, and then regrettably for me, end up selling it for a profit. I loved those cars and hated to see them go, but looking back, I love those memories with my father spending countless hours in the garage night after night. He let me help at my leisure, never demanding help, and slowly in time, what looked like work became the most fun thing in my life.

It gave me a love for those muscle cars and in general an appreciation for anyone who could go faster than some one else in any type of motor racing.

It’s been a while, but every once in a while I get the urge to go the junkyard and pick out a mangled 68’ Camaro and drop it off at his garage and say, “Dad, let’s go to have some fun”.

Micah Roberts is a Race and Sports Director for Station Casinos in Las Vegas , Nevada who covers motor sports from both a bettor and bookmaker's perspective.