[4] The standard track at Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2 miles (3.2 km) long.

[6] Before the race, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards were first and second in the Drivers' Championship with 752 points.

[10] During the first practice session, Matt Kenseth, for the Roush Fenway Racing team, was quickest ahead of Ryan Newman in second and Greg Biffle in the third position.

[11] Paul Menard, Jeff Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Brad Keselowski, and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top ten quickest drivers in the session.

[13] Keselowski, Ragan, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Gordon and McMurray rounded out the top ten.

[13] The drivers that failed to qualify for the race were Johnny Sauter, Erik Darnell and T. J.

Kurt Busch, Kenseth, Newman, Ragan, and Menard rounded out the first ten positions.

[14] Afterward, Martin discussed his feelings about the track, "I really, really like running at Michigan, not just because it's so fast, but it's so wide.