By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
NILES – The stars of the NEXTEL Cup invade the Irish Hills on Sunday for the Citizens Bank 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
The question on everyone's mind as the series hits the two-mile oval in Brooklyn is 'can anyone stop Hendrick Motorsports?'
Hendrick picked up its 10th victory of the season last Sunday at Pocono as Jeff Gordon defeated the field and the weather.
The win was the fourth of the season for Gordon, who is the current points leader and is looking for his fifth season championship.
Sunday's victory in the rain-shortened Pocono 500, tied Gordon with teammate Jimmie Johnson for the season lead in victories.
The win was also the 79th of Gordon's career. He has two victories at MIS and 19 top 10s in 28 starts.
Gordon is not the only driver fans should be looking for in victory lane on Sunday.
The other three Hendrick drivers have six wins between them.
Johnson has never won at Michigan, but he has run well there.
Kyle Busch and Casey Mears would love nothing more than to notch their second wins of the season at MIS.
Then there are the Roush Racing cars.
Fords have performed well at MIS in the past and Sunday could be another strong day.
Matt Kenseth has run well at MIS in the past, as has his teammate Greg Biffle.
Dodge has also performed well at Michigan of late. In fact, a Ford or a Dodge has been to victory lane in each of the last 11 races.
Ford has six victories, while Dodge has five, including last year's win by Kasey Kahne.
Kahne won from the pole last June.
The last Chevrolet to pick up a victory was Gordon.
Sunday's race will be the 15th of 36 races for the NEXTEL Cup drivers.
The Citizens Bank 400 also leaves just 11 races left in the 'Race for the Chase."
The top 12 drivers after the 26th race of the season will contend for the NEXTEL Cup championship.
The race can be seen live on TNT, with the prerace show scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m.
The green flag is scheduled to drop at 2:10 p.m.
On Saturday, the Craftsman Truck Series will race at MIS beginning at 3 p.m.