Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway (⏰ Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET | 📺 FS1, FOX Sports App | 📻 MRN, SiriusXM)
Everything you need to know for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race in Illinois, the 15th points-paying race of the 2023 Cup Series campaign.
Weekend schedule | TV schedule | Weather tracker | St. Louis 101
📍 Location: Madison, Illinois 📐 Track length: 1.25 miles 🎟️ Buy tickets: Find weekend passes, seats for the race 💰 Cup Series race purse: $7,425,976 📏 Race distance: 300 miles | 240 laps 🔢 Stages: 45 | 140 | 240 -- 🚪 Entry list: Cup Series drivers entered 📋 Starting lineup: Kyle Busch lands P1 for Sunday 🚗 Pit stall assignments: Where drivers will pit 🏆 Most recent winner: Joey Logano Key things to watch 🔑 Big story line Round 2 in St. Louis. Last season's race was the debut for the Cup Series at the 1.25-mile facility — yet another debut race won by Joey Logano. But there were a number of comers-and-goers throughout the race and plenty of on-track run-ins between top contenders. How much of last year's technical notebook will carry over to Sunday's race? Will we see another first-time winner this week? Ryan Blaney's win in Charlotte brought the season total to 10 different winners, meaning there are only six points positions up for grabs if you're trying to make the NASCAR Playoffs. Entering the summer stretch with only 12 races until the playoffs begin, tension and tempers are heating up. ICYMI: Chase Elliott suspended | No. 14 SHR team fined, penalized History tells us... Ryan Blaney is on Kevin Harvick's career trajectory. Blaney's drought-ending win on Monday in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway sparked comparisons to the legendary wheelman's illustrious career. Through their first 284 Cup Series starts, they have shocking similarities in wins, top-five finishes, average points finish and a handful of other important categories. A big test for Blaney will be if he can keep up his newfound momentum, now only trailing Ross Chastain by one point in the regular-season standings. After finishing fourth in the inaugural race at World Wide Technology Raceway last year, another strong finish could certainly throw his hat in with the top title contenders. 🔍 FULL ANALYSIS: See how Blaney, Harvick stack up through 284 races He may not be the betting favorite to win, but watch out for... Corey LaJoie. Bettors have clearly respected his shift to the No. 9 Chevrolet this weekend, resulting in 35-1 opening odds for the Spire Motorsports regular. He presents an interesting opportunity to find some value without taking an enormous risk and is still a few tiers below this week's betting favorites. LaJoie is already having the best statistical season of his career, with an average finish of six positions better than any other year — and he's already run more laps inside the top 15 than all of the 2022 season. Don't be surprised to see him making some noise throughout the weekend in a very different role. LaJoie qualified in 30th, so he will have a lot of work to do, but it's a long afternoon in Illinois. | LaJoie on what Rick Hendrick said to him Saturday's sessions Following the trend of his success in last year's race, Kyle Busch put on a show in qualifying, landing his first Busch Light Pole Award since 2019 — yes, you read that correctly. Busch posted a 137.187 mph lap time in the final round, sneaking past Ryan Blaney, who starts alongside the Richard Childress Racing driver. In practice, Joey Logano had the hot hand and topped the charts over the pair of Hendrick Motorsports teammates in Kyle Larson and William Byron. | Read full practice and qualifying recap