Tag Archives: Chase Elliott

NASCAR

Kyle Busch Wins the Furious 7 300 at Chicagoland Speedway

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The NASCAR Xfinity Series came to Chicagoland Speedway to run the Furious 7 300. This race is their eighth to the last race of the season and the Championship is on the line.

Kyle Busch in the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota won the Coors Light Pole earlier in the day and led the field to green. His teammate Matt Kenseth in the No. 20 Reser’s Main Street Toyota started alongside. Right from the start it was apparent that they were going to battle it out the entire race for the win.

Kyle Busch led the about the first quarter of the race only to give the lead to Kenseth for the second quarter. They continued leading each quarter like they were just playing with the field. They were not playing with each other though Kenseth made a serious charge on the second to last lap and they swapped the lead back and forth until the last lap when Busch held on to  win the race. They lead a combined 186 laps of 200 with Busch leading 102 of them.

“We had a very fast Camry here. Can’t say enough about Chris Gayle (crew chief). All the adjustments we made all night long to make the car better and better.” Busch added, “That battle with Matt Kenseth, I don’t know. I thought when I got to him and I got clear of him and I drove away by a second-plus it was over and I can breathe a little bit and I tried to go back up to the top and I was loose up there. I just had to battle through that and try to beat him – he was right there.”

The No. 54 Monster Energy Car has swept both Xfinity races at Chicagoland in 2015 with the June race being won by Erik Jones.

Kyle Busch extends his series winning record to 74 in 305 NASCAR Xfinity Series races. It is his fourth victory and eighth top-10 finish of the year in spite of missing eleven races due to his injury at Daytona. It is also his fourth victory at Chicagoland Speedway.

In the after the race inspection the No. 54 car was found to be too low in all four corners. Penalties, if any, will be given by NASCAR on Tuesday.

Chris Buescher finished seventh and has now increased his lead in the standings by four points to 25 over Ty Dillon. Chase Elliott dropped to third from second in the standings three points behind Dillon.

Darrell Wallace Jr. finished third and is the highest finishing rookie of the race.

Brian Berg Jr. is a NASCAR writer for BehindPitRow.com.

Feature Photo Credit: 312785 Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

NASCAR

Chicagoland Speedway NASCAR XFINITY Practice Notes

The NASCAR XFINITY Series held two practice sessions for Saturday nights Owens Corning AttiCat® 300 at Chicagoland Speedway. Here is some of the highlights of what happened.

Friday’s on track activities was not open to Fans unless they happened to be staying in the infield or campground on the back stretch.

The first practice was 1 hour and 25 minutes. Austin Dillon (#33) and his brother Ty Dillon (#3) were the first to go out followed by the current point’s leader Chris Buescher (#60). They each made 3 laps setting the pace for the first 30 minutes of practice at #33 176.702 MPH, #60 176.114 MPH 60 and #3 176.056MPH.

#22 Ryan Blaney made a lap 30 min into practice and went right to the top 176.876MPH.

With 29 min. left in practice Ross Kenseth in his first NASCAR XFINITY Series start got loose coming off of turn four to bring out the one and only Caution of the practice. Until that point his fastest lap was 173.589 MPH 13th on the chart. Four new tires and he was back out with 12 minutes left in practice.

Ty Dillon made a mock qualifying run with 10 min to go in practice improving his time to 177.392 to lead first practice. The end of the first practice session is about the same time of the day that qualifying will be tomorrow.

The top ten of first practice is 3, 22, 33, 60, 2, 28, 54, 18, 62, and 6.

The second session of practice is actually the last practice session of the whole weekend. There will only be qualifying on Saturday before the race. As such most every car on the track ran in race trim multiple laps, some racing one another. It showed on the speed chart.

All of the drivers in the top swapped positions multiple times. Austin Dillon went to the top on his first lap of 34 with a speed of 177.340.

The rest of the top ten were #28 JJ Yeley, #22 Ryan Blaney, #54 Drew Herring subbing for Erik Jones, #3 Ty Dillon, #60 Chis Buescher, #25 Dylan Lupton subbing for John Wes Townley, #62 Brendan Gaughan, #9 Chase Elliott and last year’s pole winner #2 Brian Scott.

Although the top ten cars in the second session is significantly different than the first they all were on very different agendas and tires. The weather will also be significantly different when they qualify on Saturday. Over all the fast cars appear to be the Richard Childress Racing cars of Austin and Ty Dillon and Brian Scott. Ryan Blaney in the Hertz Ford for Penske Racing was also fast throughout both sessions.

Qualifying will be Saturday at 5:00 PM ET.

If you cannot get to the Chicagoland Speedway for the Owens Corning AttiCat® 300 it will be broadcast live on Saturday June 20th at 9:30 PM ET on Fox Sports 1.

Brian Berg Jr. is a NASCAR writer for BehindPitRow.com.

Feature Photo Credit: Brian Berg Jr.

NASCAR

The NASCAR XFINITY Series Stars Get to Shine at Chicagoland Speedway

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is off for this Father’s day weekend but that doesn’t mean there is no NASCAR racing. The XFINITY Series is racing has the spotlight on Saturday night at Chicagoland Speedway.

There is only one Sprint Cup Series regular interloping in this race and that is 2013 XFINITY Series Champion Austin Dillon driving the No. 33 Rheem Chevy for Richard Childress Racing. With nine out of 13 races in the Series won by Sprint Cup Drivers this year, including two by Austin Dillon, will he spoil the XFINITY Series Regulars Saturday night party?

Will Austin Dillon spoil his Brother Ty Dillon’s quest for his XFINITY Series Championship? Ty Dillon is currently second in the points, 25 points behind the leader. They also happen to be teammates.

Brian Scott, last year’s pole winner, has shown lots of speed all season. Will he be able to hold off his teammates Austin and Ty Dillon and finally seal the deal to get his first XFINITY Series win?

Last year’s winner and XFINITY Series Champion, Chase Elliott is also back driving the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports. He is currently third in the standings, ten points behind leader Chris Buescher, can he repeat?

Speaking of Chris Buescher, the XFINITY Series point’s leader driving the famed No. 60 for Roush Fenway Racing has won two races this season. The only other XFINITY Series drivers to win are Ryan Reed and Erik Jones. Can any of these drivers repeat with a win here at Chicagoland?

Part time Sprint Cup and XFINITY driver Ryan Blaney will be back in the No. 22 Penske Racing car that is currently leading the Owner’s points in the XFINITY Series. They lead the No. 60 by 26 points and are looking to keep that lead. Joey Logano has won three of the 13 races in this car. Blaney came close finishing second at Las Vegas, can he add to that total with a win at this 1.5 mile speedway?

Ross Kenseth, last weekend’s ARCA series winner at Michigan will make his first XFINITY Series start driving the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing car. He is not entered in the accompanying ARCA race here. How will his first stint go in one of the best XFINITY team cars in the series?

There is a whole lot to watch on Saturday Night and there is a whole lot of other good drivers not mentioned who can equally race for the win. That is why this Saturday the XFINITY Series has the spotlight and is a must watch.

If you cannot get to the Chicagoland Speedway for the Owens Corning AttiCat® 300 it will be broadcast live on Saturday June 20th at 9:30 PM ET on Fox Sports 1.

Brian Berg Jr. is a NASCAR writer for BehindPitRow.com.

Feature Photo Credit: 300031 Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Rk. Car Number Driver Average Finish High Rating Average Driver Rating
1 9 Chase Elliott 5.5 145.2 126.9
2 3 Austin Dillon 4 127.1 119.4
3 22 Ryan Blaney 6.5 118.7 113.5
4 3 Ty Dillon 6 110.9 104.6
5 20 Erik Jones 7 99.5 99.5
6 2 Brian Scott 9.3 117.4 98.3
7 11 Elliott Sadler 14.3 138.1 94.7
8 60 Chris Buescher 10 95 94.2
9 33 Cale Conley 12 87.5 87.5
10 62 Brendan Gaughan 16.2 86.9 80.3
11 29 Daniel Suarez 15 78.9 78.9

Note: Drivers listed may only have a few starts at this track!

NASCAR

Kevin Harvick uses Strategy to Win the Freaky Fast 300 at Chicagoland

Kevin Harvick won the NASCAR Nationwide Series Freaky Fast 300 at Chicagoland Speedway by better pit strategy than Kyle Busch.

Brian Scott won the Coors Light Pole Award and led the field to the green flag in Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast 300 Powered by Coca-Cola. He only led the first five laps then it became the Kyle Busch show.

From the fifth lap until lap 154 of 200 Kyle Busch controlled the race only giving up the lead during pit stops. Each and every restart he held off the challengers including Kevin Harvick from taking the lead.

On lap 153 the number 51 of Jeremy Clements lost an engine and put oil down on the track. Everyone pitted for tires and fuel. Busch’s team opted for four tires while some cars stayed out and other took two tires. Busch found himself sixteenth at the restart on lap 159.

The rest of the field battled on the restart with Kevin Harvick driver of the No. 5 Jimmy John’s car prevailed two laps later and never lost the lead.

On lap 166 Kyle Busch’s teammate, Denny Hamlin lost an engine and put down lots of oil on the track. Busch had already driver up to eighth and appeared to be on his way to taking back the race that would most surely be his to win. It didn’t happen. Busch lead 141 laps of 200.

The race restarted on lap 173 with Kevin Harvick staying out. Kyle Busch drove his No. 54 car hard up to third place but could not pass Kyle Larson in the No. 42 when he finally got to him.

Harvick said, “This Guy (Ernie Cope No. 5 Crew Chief) is the one who won the race today. He made a great call with two tires and the 54 got buried in the field and it felt like at that particular point it was our race to lose and our car ran faster on two tires than it did on four. Just really excited and I feel like I learned a lot today just looking forward to tomorrow as well.”

Kyle Larson was second followed by Kyle Bush, Ryan Blaney and Trevor Bayne.

The highest finishing rookie was Ty Dillon. Chase Elliott finished tenth and retains the series points lead over Regan Smith by 18 points.

Brian Berg Jr. is a NASCAR writer for BehindPitRow.com.

Feature Photo Credit:  301538 Nick Laham/Getty Images

NASCAR

Brian Scott won the Coors Light Pole Award at Chicagoland Speedway

Brian Scott was the fastest in qualifying and will lead the field to green Saturday September 13th in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast 300 Powered by Coca-Cola at Chicagoland Speedway.

The Nationwide series had only one practice on Friday due to the weather. Brian Scott wasn’t the fastest in practice but was the fourth fastest with a speed of 177.206 MPH. His team was able to adjust on the car and improve on that greatly. Scott was able to put down a lap of 181.409 MPH in order to capture the Coors Light Pole Award.

In the first round of qualifying, Ty Dillon No. 3, Kevin Harvick No. 5, Denny Hamlin No. 20 and Kyle Busch No 54 were late in getting through technical inspection. All except Hamlin were able to lay down fast laps and make it to the last round in qualifying. Denny Hamlin ended up qualifying 20th in the second Round.

In the first round Scott drove the No. 2 RCR Shore Lodge Chevrolet to ninth at 178.483 MPH. He improved in the second round to third at 181.305 MPH saving his best for the Round. This was Scott’s fifth pole in 168 NASCAR Nationwide Series Starts and his third at the Chicagoland Speedway.

The rest of the top five are Ryan Blaney No 22, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott No 9 and Kyle Larson No 42. Chase Elliott, the current series point’s leader was the highest qualifying rookie.

Carl Long, Mike Harmon, and Morgan Shepard did not qualify and will not race.

If you cannot get to Chicagoland Speedway for the Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast 300, it will be broadcast on ESPN2 starting at 3:30PM ET.

Brian Berg Jr. is a NASCAR writer for BehindPitRow.com.

Feature Photo Credit:  Emmett Bird