BROOKLYN, MICH. — Rain forced the cancellation of NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying Saturday morning for the LTi Printing 250 at Michigan International Speedway.

As a result, NASCAR said the race would be set by the rulebook. Kyle Busch and Paul Menard will lead the field to green hopefully still Saturday afternoon, though weather could still be an issue. Sunset at MIS is 9:11 p.m., which means the race would have to start by 7 p.m. to get it in today. Updates will be provided throughout the day.

Brad Keselowski speaks to the media Friday morning at Michigan International Speedway. Keselowski said if NASCAR runs the All Star package permanently, the top drivers will leave the sport. Eric Young/The SuperSpeedway

BROOKLYN, MICH. — Many are calling it the All Star package. Kevin Harvick called it “the snorkel package” on his SiriusXM radio show Tuesday, Happy Hours.

Whatever it’s called, if it becomes permanent, former NASCAR champ Brad Keselowski said the great drivers will choose somewhere else to race.

“I think that package needs to remain solely at the All Star race,” Keselowski said during a press conference at MIS Friday. “I think a lot of the drivers in this sport are in a position where they chose Cup racing because of the demands that the cars take to drive. I think there are a lot of fans that come to our races expecting to see the best drivers.”

“I think if you put a package like this out there, like we had at the All Star race, on a consistent basis that the best drivers in the world will no longer go to NASCAR. They will pick a different sport.”

He said the shift would not happen immediately or overnight, but it would happen eventually.

“It would happen over time and be a tragedy to the sport,” he said. “They want to go where they can make the biggest difference to their performance and there is no doubt that the driver makes less of a difference with that rules package.”

Keselowski used IndyCar as an example, which experimented with high-drag packages that created pack racing on some of its oval tracks. It was during one of those races in October 2011 that Dan Wheldon suffered fatal injuries during a multi-car crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Since that time, IndyCar has introduced different cars, culminating in a lower-downforce package this season designed to put the racing back into the hands of the drivers.

“I think a decade ago if you wanted to see the best racing in the world, it was in IndyCar,” Keselowski said. “They ran three- and four-wide and put on great shows, but long-term it didn’t translate to the fans or better racing than NASCAR. There are a lot of reasons for that and I would speculate that it goes back to the fact that the best race car drivers in the world were here, in NASCAR. And we saw that when IndyCar drivers came over here and didn’t find success. And they were some of the best IndyCar drivers. We have to tread very lightly with the next steps of this sport.”

In the end though, Keselowski said the decision was NASCAR’s.

“I don’t know what decision NASCAR will make,” he said. “It is their decision. All I can do is give my input and at this time, those are my strongest thoughts.”

Does it matter what the drivers think?

“Long term yes, short term no,” Keselowski said. “Long term yes because if you go to a package where drivers have less ability to determine their fate, they will go to an avenue where they can.”

“There’s a reason why Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon and some of the best drivers of our time moved from open-wheel to NASCAR,” Keselowski said. “Kyle Larson is another great example. They know they have a better opportunity to affect their finish based on talent and they know they are racing the highest caliber race car drivers. They know that they can attain the highest level of notoriety with the highest wages in motorsports in the United States. I don’t think that is a coincidence.”

Kurt Busch speaks to the media after winning the pole for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Eric Young/The SuperSpeedway

BROOKLYN, MICH — Kurt Busch ran a lap of 203.361 miles per hour to win the pole for the 2018 FireKeepers Casino 400 during qualifying Friday.

It was Busch’s 24th career pole position and his second of 2018.

Brad Keselowski qualified second with a speed of 203.166 mph. Kyle Busch barely made it into the second round of qualifying but was good enough for a third-place starting position in the final round with a speed of 203.120 mph. Kevin Harvick qualified fourth and Joey Logano fifth.

“I left a little bit out there,” Keselowski said after his run. “I’m kind of kicking myself in the butt. I don’t know if I could have gotten to Kurt.”

Busch said his run was fun because he knew he needed to go after it hard, but he had confidence in his car.

“Watching all the Forts in practice I knew we had a good shot at it,” Busch said. “The guys tweaked on the tires the right amount. It is a new compound, left and right side, and we didn’t want to get caught up too much in chasing the tires. We went with the status quo. I think it is because of the speed that I like here and Texas and the balance we had in our car in qualifying.”

He said now it is time to put it together for the race.

“Now we need to translate that to race speed,” Busch said. “I enjoy qualifying here. It’s a pleasure to have one of these Fords and have Yates power under the hood. To go 217 miles per hour, to haul the mail going into the corner, I love that feeling.”

Ryan Blaney turned the fastest lap in the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway Friday. Eric Young/The SuperSpeedway

BROOKLYN, MICH. — Ryan Blaney topped the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway Friday.

Blaney turned a lap of 202.617 mph. Kyle Busch was second fastest with a 201.925 mph. Brad Keselowski was third at his home track with a 201.867. Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five. Last year’s winner Kyle Larson was 16th fastest with a speed of 199.242.

Kyle Larson speaks to the media at Michigan International Speedway Friday. Eric Young/The SuperSpeedway

BROOKLYN, MICH. — While the talk of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season so far has been the disadvantage the new Chevrolet Camaro has versus the Fords and the Toyotas, but defending Firekeepers Casino 400 winner Kyle Larson said Friday during media availability that he’s not buying it.

“I’ve never felt like Chevys have been at a disadvantage this year,” Larson said. “Our team has been pretty solid every race. I think some of the teams maybe just use it as an excuse where we don’t do that.”

After 14 races this season, Larson has five top-five finishes and nine top-10s. He has yet to get a win. Last year Larson was coming into the June MIS race with a victory at Auto Club Speedway.

“Obviously I don’t think we’re as fast as we were at this point last year, but I don’t think we’re that far off either,” Larson said. “Honestly, I feel like maybe we’re kind of where we were at last year, just other teams are a little bit better.”

If Larson wins Sunday, he will become only the second driver in the 50-year history of the track to win four Cup Series races in a row. But he said that isn’t on his mind at this point.

“I don’t really think about it,” Larson said. “It’s honestly just another race to me. I think it’d hit me, I think the importance of it and I would really feel how special it is when we’re standing in victory lane after the race. I think everything before that though, I try not to focus on it or worry about it. Just go out there and do what we do as a team and try to get a win.”

That being said, Larson said it would be special to tie a record set by Bill Elliott with four in a row.

“For sure it’d be special if we did get that fourth win, and then I think you’d start thinking about breaking that record of getting five in a row,” he said. “But there’s no guarantees that we’re going to win this weekend. I would say this one would be tougher than any of them just looking at how fast those three guys (Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr.) are right now.”

Larson said he is optimistic how the season has been so far and added the team continues to improve.

“We’re making our cars better every week,” he said. “The guys in the shop are really excited about every car that we’ve been bringing to the track because there’s little things that have made them better each week. That’s exciting. I feel like the engine department with Hendrick engines, I don’t think we’re lacking there at all. They’re doing a really good job. We just have to get probably some more downforce and just overall performance and at least the 42 team will be right there competing for wins.”

The Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway is Sunday. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will qualify at 4:10 p.m. Friday.