Advance to Victory Lane: Sunday shakeup for Chicago projections

Chase Elliott, who has been making steady progress since returning from a leg injury but still needs a win to secure a spot in this year’s playoff field, was the early favorite for Sunday’s race. He was slow in practice, though, and then crashed in qualifying, forcing the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team to bring out the backup car.

Elliott wasn’t the only driver who ran into problems on Saturday, and Racing Insights’ updated projections for Sunday reflect the shakeup.

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Tyler Reddick is now projected to win the inaugural race on Chicago’s streets, with Elliott projected to come in second. Kyle Larson moves up to third and road-course ace AJ Allmendinger is fourth.

Since coming back in April at Martinsville Speedway, Elliott has finished in the top 12 in seven of eight races and has moved from 32nd in the points standings to 25th. More recently, he has finished in the top five in three of the last four races.

Reddick will roll off second, and he’s part of a Toyota fleet that has flashed tremendous speed on the Cup Series’ first visit to a street course.

Tune in at 5 p.m. ET on Sunday on NBC to see what happens.

OTHERS TO WATCH

TYLER REDDICK: The driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota has won three of the last six road-course races in the Cup Series.

AJ ALLMENDINGER: Kaulig Racing’s road-course ace has finished top 10 in five of his last six road-course starts.

KYLE BUSCH: The Richard Childress Racing driver has finished top three in the last three road-course races. His season is on the upswing, too, thanks to five straight top-10 finishes.

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Truex Jr. just won at Sonoma Raceway in the Cup Series’ most recent road-course race — and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has five career road wins overall. He was among the leaders on the practice board all day Saturday.

Projections as of Sunday, July 2.

RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE GRANT PARK 220

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.