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| Denny Hamlin won at Chicagoland in 2015. He's 12/1 to win Sunday. |
Next Race: Overton’s 400
The Place: Chicagoland Speedway
The Date: Sunday, July 1
The Time: 2:30 p.m.
TV: NBCSN, 2:00 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 400 miles (267 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 80),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 160), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 267)
Same Dale, New View
With the return to Chicagoland Speedway also comes the return of NBC Sports to the broadcast schedule…and a face very familiar to all NASCAR fans will be wearing a rookie stripe as a member of the on-air talent team.
15-time Most Popular Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. joins the broadcast team starting this weekend. The two-time Daytona 500 winner retired from full-time driving following the 2017 season, but he’s been all over TV screens lately.
He started his on-air work with NBC during the off-season. He traveled to Minneapolis for Super Bowl pre-game segments, flew to PyeongChang to cover the Olympics and appeared in Stanley Cup intermission reports.
His popular podcast, the Dale Jr. Download, now airs on NBCSN on Thursday nights following NASCAR America. And this week, he’s on a whirlwind trip to New York City, appearing on Megyn Kelly TODAY, the Dan Patrick Show, E! News and the Tonight Show.
Now with a four-person booth, NBC will employ a wide variety of unique and creative set-ups to best utilize the on-air talent. Included in that is the introduction of the “Peacock Pit Box,” an on-location studio set designed to bring fans closer to the action.
Same Track, New Vibe
For the first time in eight years, Chicagoland Speedway’s place in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is an early summer race.
This Sunday’s Overton’s 400 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks the July return of the 1.5-miler after seven years as the Playoff opener. And it will undoubtedly be interesting to see how the shift in schedule affects the vibe in the garage.
Instead of just 16 drivers searching for a Playoff victory to advance – the race now becomes a high-stakes postseason qualifier in a season that currently has only six “guaranteed” Playoff positions secured by race winners.
Last week’s winner at Sonoma Raceway, Martin Truex Jr., is the defending race winner, having one the last two fall races at Chicago. He has never won at Chicago in the summer. Interestingly, the 2018 season’s most prolific winner to date, five-time winner Kevin Harvick, won both his Chicagoland races (2001-02) in the summer.
Young Luck
There is some positive precedent for the Monster Energy Series’ youngest talent at Chicago. Second-year driver, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones, 22, has won two of the last four NASCAR Xfinity Series races at the track. Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott, 22, won here in the summer of 2014 in the Xfinity Series.
The former Xfinity Series champ Elliott continued to do well at Chicago after moving into the Monster Energy Series in 2016. He finished third and led 75 laps in his Cup debut. And last year he finished runner-up to Truex and led 42 laps. He boasts the top driver rating (125.6) at Chicago.
Rookie Bubba Wallace also has an impressive record at Chicago with three top-10 finishes in four Xfinity Series starts, including a best of third place in 2015. He had finishes of 11th or better in both his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at the track. His current rookie rival William Byron had a 33rd-place finish in one Xfinity start and a 30th-place finish in one truck start.
Seven-time Looking for “Breakthrough” Win
It’s not often that we think of a seven-time champion looking for a first-time win, but Jimmie Johnson has an interesting history at this week’s Chicagoland Speedway.
It is one of only three tracks (also Kentucky and Watkins Glen) on the Monster Energy Series schedule where Johnson has not won. He has finished runner-up three times (2004, 2008 and 2012). And in 2016 led a race-best 118 laps only to finish 12th. Johnson has won the pole position twice – the 2005 summer race and the 2012 fall race.
Interestingly, however, Chicagoland Speedway is the only place he ever won a NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Johnson won the Xfinity Series race there in 2001, edging out Mike Skinner and Jeff Burton. It was his only win in 83 Xfinity starts…and Johnson now has 83 Cup victories.
The champ heads to the Midwest ranked 12th in the 2018 Monster Energy Series points standings after an 11th-place result Sunday on the Sonoma road course. He has four finishes of 11th or better in the last six races. His best showing of the season was a third-place at Bristol in April.
Keselowski on Course
This week’s venue could well prove to be the place where Brad Keselowski earns his first win of the season. He is a two-time winner at Chicago – taking the trophy in his 2012 championship season and then winning again in 2014. And he won the 2011 Xfinity Series race as well.
He has finished eighth or better in the last seven races here, including fifth-place in 2011 and 2016. He’s led laps in six of the previous seven races.
He is ranked fourth in the Monster Energy Series standings – highest among those drivers still without a win this season and has three top-six finishes in the last four races.
Kyle Busch on Point at Chicagoland
Count Chicagoland Speedway as another venue where championship leader Kyle Busch has celebrated in Victory Lane – in all three NASCAR national series. His Monster Energy Series win in 2008 marks the only time the race has been won from the pole. His four Busch Pole awards in 12 tries at Chicago is an all-time best mark.
He is the 2011 Xfinity Series race winner at the track and has five Camping World Truck Series wins in the nine truck races the facility has hosted. Twice he won back-to-back truck races (2009-2010 and 2013-14).
As for the Monster Energy Series, Busch has finished among the top-10 in five of the last six races and has won pole position in three of the last four races, including the last two.
And Busch’s lone Cup win in 2008 – by 0.159-seconds over Jimmie Johnson – is the closest margin of victory in track history.
Going for Three
Not only is Martin Truex Jr. the most recent Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race winner, toasting for the second time in California’s wine country over the weekend, he is the two-time defending winner at Chicagoland Speedway.
In the last three races, Truex has led 148 of his career 176 laps led at the track and his two wins for the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team are the only top-fives he has in 12 starts in Chicago.
He and Kevin Harvick are the only two drivers to win consecutive races at Chicago.
Statistically Speaking
Young driver Chase Elliott and his veteran Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson lead the six primary loop data statistical categories at Chicagoland Speedway (statistics from 2005-present).
Elliott, 22, has only two starts at the track and is always quick to caution about taking statistical signs too seriously with so few races under his belt. But his finishes were good enough to earn him the top driver rating (125.6). He is tops in average running position (2.9) and has the rare distinction of running 100 percent of the time among the top-15 on the track.
His teammate, seven-time Monster Energy Series champion Johnson, has 16 starts and although Chicagoland is one of only three track where he hasn’t won a Cup race, his driver rating is 113.0 – best among all the competition except his teammate Elliott. Johnson is tops in Chicago in Laps Led (637), Fastest Laps Run (412) and Quality Passes (421).
Statistically Speaking, Part 2
Unlike most tracks the series visits, the majority of Chicagoland races have not been won from a front-row starting spot. Kyle Busch is the only Busch Pole winner (2008) to win the race and only 6 percent of the time has the race winner started from second through fifth place.
The winningest starting positions are sixth-10th, statistically speaking, with 29 percent of the winning drivers starting there on the grid. Even more interesting, 24 percent of the race winners have started in positions 11-15.
Historic Milestones
Three drivers are a victory away from impressive positions on NASCAR’s all-time win charts. Jimmie Johnson is one victory away from tying Hall of Famers Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip with 84 wins.
Kyle Busch is one win away from earning his 48th victory, which would tie him with Herb Thomas, 14th on the all-time list. Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin is one victory away from tying NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett with 32 wins, which is the 24th best win total all-time.
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