NASCAR viewer’s guide: Michigan International Speedway

After a controversial race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, the NASCAR Cup Series moves on to the wide open spaces of Michigan International Speedway this weekend.

The 200-lap, 400-mile race is scheduled  for 3 p.m. (ET) Sunday (USA Network). Xfinity drivers are scheduled to race at 3:30 p.m. (ET) Saturday, also on USA.

Only four races remain in the Cup regular season as drivers search for spots in the playoffs. Fourteen drivers have qualified by winning races; Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. continue to sit in the 15th and 16th playoff positions via points.

Tyler Reddick won at Indy Sunday and became the sixth driver with multiple victories this year. Others are Chase Elliott (four), Ross Chastain (two), William Byron (two), Joey Logano (two) and Denny Hamlin (two).

Fords have had a rough year with only four Cup wins, but Ford drivers have won the past seven Michigan races. Over the span of the past eight races at MIS, Fords have led 66 percent of the laps.

Although teammate Ross Chastain has gathered in much of the publicity surrounding Trackhouse Racing this year, Daniel Suarez is showing strength as the playoffs approach.

Over the past seven races, beginning with his victory at Sonoma, Suarez has an average finish of 9.5. With finishes of 32nd and 27th in the past two races, Chastain’s average over that seven-race run is 12.1.

Suarez, who sits ninth in playoff points entering Sunday’s race, doesn’t have an impressive worksheet at MIS. In nine career starts at the fast 2-mile track, he has seven finishes of 11th or worse and has not finished better than fourth.

Kyle Larson, the Cup Series’ defending champion and a race winner 10 times last year, continues to have a confusing season.

Larson’s winless