Advance to Victory Lane: Ryan Blaney tries to go back-to-back

Ryan Blaney snapped a 59-race winless streak by capturing the Coca-Cola 600 on Monday, and Racing Insights projects that the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford will go back-to-back by being victorious in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 near St. Louis (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCARadio).

But in order to do so, Blaney will need to buck recent statistical trends where parity has once again invaded the NASCAR Cup Series. Seven different drivers have won the last seven races this season starting with Christopher Bell at the Bristol Dirt Race and continuing with Kyle Larson (Martinsville), Kyle Busch (Talladega), Martin Truex Jr. (Dover), Denny Hamlin (Kansas), William Byron (Darlington) and Blaney (Charlotte).

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There will be plenty of stiff competition in Sunday’s field with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace being a candidate to keep the run of different winners going. Wallace is riding a career-best streak of top-five finishes with three in a row, and he and teammate Tyler Reddick both finished in the top five at Charlotte — a first for the young organization.

Adding to the intensity is the fact the gap between first place and sixth place in the regular-season point standings is just 17, the closest margin of all time after 14 races. St. Louis could be a hotbed of action on Sunday with potentially slick track conditions and temperatures expected to reach 93 degrees in Madison, Illinois, on race day.

OTHERS TO WATCH

Martin Truex Jr.: He has five top-10 finishes in the last seven races, including a win at Dover and a third-place result on Monday at Charlotte.

Joey Logano: He won last year’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway by passing Kyle Busch during a dramatic overtime restart.

William Byron: He leads in several of the major statistical categories this season, including wins (three), top-five finishes (seven) and laps led (687).

Kyle Larson: Larson is second to Byron this season in wins and laps led with two and 583, respectively.

Projections as of Sunday, June 4.

RACING INSIGHTS‘ PROJECTIONS FOR ENJOY ILLINOIS 300

Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula includes current track, current track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to arrive at a projected winner and full race results.