Here are the hot topics, trending news and key story lines to get you ready for this weekend’s races — and Sprint Cup Series Chase opener — at Chicagoland Speedway.
WEATHER
The weekend forecast for Joliet, Illinois, looks relatively clear. Friday night — when the Camping World Truck Series will take the track — there is a 90 percent chance of rain and expected evening thunderstorms. For the XFINITY race, Saturday looks promising for the afternoon XFINITY race, with partly cloudy skies, a high near 78 degrees and a 20 percent chance of rain. Sunday looks to be ideal race day weather, with sunny skies and a high of 75 degrees.
Sprint Cup Series: The Sprint Cup Series holds its first practice Friday at 1:30 p.m. ET (NBC Sports App) followed by Coors Light Pole qualifying at 6:45 p.m. ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App).
XFINITY Series: The XFINITY Series qualifies Saturday morning at 11:45 ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App), turning around to race that day at 3 p.m. ET (NBC/NBC Sports App).
Camping World Truck Series: The Camping World Truck Series is scheduled for a Keystone Light Pole qualifying session at 4:45 p.m. ET on FS1 Friday followed by the American Ethanol E15 225 race at 8:30 p.m. ET (FS1).
CATCH DRIVERS LIVE
We’ll stream every driver press conference in the Chicagoland media center at NASCAR.com/presspass. Click here for a full XFINITY Series/Camping World Truck Series press schedule. With this weekend being the first race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR.com will also live stream a Ready. Set. Chase. launch event, which includes interviews with all 16 competitors, on Thursday at 3:05 p.m. ET. Click here to tune into the live stream.
LAST TIME
Denny Hamlin notched his second win of the 2015 season at Chicagoland, beating Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards across the finish line by .962 seconds to advance to the next round of the Chase.
YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman‘s conflict on track last weekend at Richmond could be far from over. Stewart made the 16-car Chase field, while Newman missed out and was noticeably frustrated with “Smoke” post-race, saying it was “just disappointing that you have somebody old like that that should be retired the way he drives.” Will that spill over into the opening Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race? We’ll find out Sunday.
• Alex Bowman will be wheeling the No. 88 Chevrolet for sidelined Dale Earnhardt Jr. this weekend at Chicagoland. Bowman has made two starts in the Hendrick Motorsports ride and will make seven more starts for the team this season, splitting seat time with veteran driver Jeff Gordon. Click here for the 2016 No. 88 driver schedule.
• Given Chicagoland’s relatively young age, there have only been nine Sprint Cup winners at the Illinois track. “Smoke” leads the pack with three trips to Victory Lane, with Brad Keselowski on his heels with two wins. Six of the nine winners are current Chase competitors.
• A win at Chicagoland would guarantee a Chase competitor entrance into the next round of the Chase, beginning on Oct. 8 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. One thing to watch though, NASCAR announced rules updates for the Chase regarding post-race laser inspection and lug nuts and the penalties associated with those. Read more on those updates here.
THE FAVORITE
Brad Keselowski. Nope, he’s not a JGR driver, who many consider the Chase favorites. But don’t rule out Kes: He’s won two of last four Sprint Cup races at Chicagoland and finished the past five straight races in the top 10. Good odds for taking the Blue Deuce.
Others to consider: Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth.
THE SLEEPER
Tony Stewart. “Smoke,” a sleeper? Well, he hasn’t won at Chicagoland since 2011 and finished his last two events there 18th and 25th. But he leads all-time drivers with the most wins at the Illinois track with three trips to Victory Lane. More importantly, the last time Stewart won at Chicagoland, he won the title later that season. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.
Others to consider: Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman.
STAFF PICKS
Brad Keselowski: 3
Matt Kenseth: 2
Joey Logano: 2
Martin Truex Jr.: 1
Kevin Harvick: 1
Carl Edwards: 1
The postseason for all three NASCAR national series gets into high gear this weekend. It will mark the first time the Chase format is used for the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Watch the videos below to brush up on how it all works.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
The 2016 season is the third year under the enhanced Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup elimination-style format. Watch the video to learn more about the format.
RELATED: See the Chase Grid
NASCAR XFINITY Series
The 2016 season marks the inaugural NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase. The 12-driver field kicks off the postseason at Kentucky Speedway. Watch the video to learn more about the format.
RELATED: See the Chase Grid
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
The 2016 season marks the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase. The eight-driver field kicks off the postseason at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Watch the video to learn more about the format.
RELATED: See the Chase Grid
CHICAGO — Perhaps this is the last one of these for Tony Stewart, the last time to answer the somewhat entertaining questions and to skewer reporters for the lame ones at a media day.
For Chase Elliott, it was the first one, the bright-lights pre-staging to the rookie’s first Chase playoff run and likely the first of many to come.
But it will be the only one where Elliott gets to go head-to-head and fender-to-fender with Stewart. For that, the 20-year-old is thankful.
“Tony is a guy I’ve looked up to for a long time,” said Elliott, son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott. “As many of you guys know, Tony was the first guy, other than my dad, I was ever OK with pulling for. I’ve always had a lot of respect for him.”
It’s a mutual feeling, Stewart said, and one of the ties that binds the oldest and youngest competitors in the 16-driver Chase field.
Thursday was Stewart at his best in the Windy City’s South Side at the Ready. Set. Chase. launch events, offering witty barbs in one breath and suffering no fools in the next, all the while commanding the attention that a freewheeling three-time champion is prone to do. But the 45-year-old veteran was his most open in discussing his relationship with Elliott, who joins Denny Hamlin (2006) and Chris Buescher (2016) as the only rookies ever to qualify for Chase eligibility.
Stewart recognized the youngster’s focus early on, when Elliott and his father would pay visits to Stewart’s car at the race track. What Stewart said he noticed was an engaged kid, but one who was too shy to speak before his grade-school years — “I didn’t know if he was going to be mute or what,” Stewart said.
As the years moved on, Elliott began to open up more and his fandom for Stewart’s racing career began to grow. Eventually, the fondness for his own racing pursuits sprouted as well, steadily advancing up the NASCAR ladder to his current state as the premier series’ presumptive Sunoco Rookie of Year.
“That’s what was cool about him,” Stewart said. “I mean, you never dream at that spot, at that time, that these guys are going to grow up and they’re going to follow in their father’s footsteps. I’d say Chase has got an extremely good chance of being every bit as good if not better than his father, and his father was great.
“So, you know, it’s cool to say that I got to know these guys. I mean, John Hunter Nemechek, I was his very first sponsor when he was racing go-karts. You know, stuff like that. When you see these kids that are growing up now, you don’t realize how old you are until you realize how old they are now. Start doing the math. You’re like, hmm, it’s changed a lot.”
Stewart’s calculations this year seem to add up after a tumultuous last few seasons. He’s in his first Chase since 2012, has his first race victory since 2013 and will wrap up his final full season with a chance at a fourth championship. The upswing in performance stands in stark contrast to the lean years that were marked by personal hardships away from the NASCAR world.
The adversity from his extracurricular events was almost enough to make him walk away from stock-car racing’s big leagues after the 2015 season, but Stewart said he returned to bid his fans farewell. Elliott — a fan himself — is among those selfishly happy that he did, providing a 10-race denouement to his own Hall of Fame career.
“I’m glad that he decided to wait one more year because that is a pretty special moment for me to be able to race against one of my heroes like that,” Elliott said. “So, you know, I don’t necessarily look at him any different than I do anybody else when it comes to a competitor or how you treat anyone. But, you know, I think he’s obviously done a good job. I have a lot of respect for him. I expect him to be strong in these next few weeks.”
While Stewart acknowledges that his time as a full-time driver in NASCAR is coming to a close, he’s hoping to rekindle some of the magic from his championship charge in 2011. Thursday, he superstitiously reiterated his refrain that he was “wasting a spot” in that year’s Chase, when he turned a winless regular season into a stirring five-win playoff run.
Stewart still pines for a last hurrah behind the wheel, starting this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway, site of Sunday’s Chase-opening Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But win or lose when his driving days are done, he already sees a bright future in the sport coming from the next generation, from a driver he first encountered as a quiet kid from Georgia with a rich racing pedigree.
“He’s definitely going to be a marquee guy. I mean, he’s already a marquee guy and is in his rookie season,” Stewart said of Elliott. “As time goes on, some of us that are getting up there in age and are retiring, he’s going to be the guy that’s going to carry the flag and carry the torch for NASCAR.”
RELATED: O’Donnell discusses contact between Newman, Stewart
CHICAGO — Sometimes putting the regular season to rest also means burying the bygone grudges, clearing the decks of any lingering hard feelings as the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs becomes the prime focus.
For the 16 playoff-eligible drivers, some differences have been aired out — and some not — after an especially chippy regular-season finale last weekend at Richmond International Raceway that left both teammates and old rivals at odds with each other. For all concerned, it’s back to business this weekend with another brand of intensity in Sunday’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM), the first event of the 10-race Chase for the championship at Chicagoland Speedway.
One on-track altercation that bubbled into post-race bitterness in televised interviews will require NASCAR competition officials to mediate the disagreement to make sure it goes no further. NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said Monday that he expects to consult with Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman regarding their late-race run-in last Saturday night.
RELATED: Photos of the big wreck at Richmond
Stewart said Thursday from the annual Ready. Set. Chase. launch events at Chicago’s Bridgeport Art Center that he expected the meeting to be preemptive in nature, to keep any animosity from festering after Newman questioned Stewart’s anger management and composure in post-race interviews at Richmond.
“I haven’t heard anything from him,” Stewart said of his former teammate as he enters the final Chase of his Sprint Cup driving career, “but it’s like I said, it would be easy to take it personal. But I mean, that was the deciding factor in his season whether he was going to make the Chase or not. So we’ve been friends a long time, we’ve been teammates and I respect him a lot.
“It’s a high-pressure moment, and I’ve been in those, too, and I’ve said things. Whether he meant to say it or not or whether he still believes it or not, that’s up to him, but that moment is a hard moment for any of us. It’s tough in that scenario.”
Newman, who was the highest-ranking driver to miss the Chase field, also played a role in a small but curious dust-up between Hendrick Motorsports teammates. Newman forced his way into a three-wide battle early on at Richmond, nudging Jeff Gordon — Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s substitute in the No. 88 Chevrolet — into rookie Chase Elliott, Gordon’s successor in the No. 24 Chevy.
WATCH: Elliott finds the wall after contact with Gordon
That slight issue, Elliott indicated, appears to be resolved.
“He sent me a text after the race. I knew it wasn’t his fault,” Elliott said. “I wasn’t concerned with it at all. It was a racing deal and you hate, of course, it had to be two teammates and it had to be myself and Jeff, but at the end of the day, we both get it and our teams get it. … He did give me an apology, but it was not necessary whatsoever.”
One on-again, off-again conflict among Matt Kenseth and Team Penske‘s Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano also resurfaced at Richmond. Kenseth and Keselowski have been involved in far bigger rhubarbs than the contact that flared up last weekend, but a certain testy tinge laced Kenseth’s post-race interview.
Each shared common ground in Thursday’s pre-Chase media rounds, focusing on securing their second premier-series championship and minimizing any potential bad blood between the two.
“I don’t want to play the conversation game,” Keselowski said. “I don’t think I need to have a whole media discussion about any time there’s a small bump on the race track, whether it’s me or somebody else. It’s just how racing’s going to be. When it’s egregious and there’s things that happen, that’s one thing. (Expletive) just happens, (expletive) just happens and we don’t have to play drama queen for everything. That’s kind of how I feel about it.”
WATCH: Kenseth frustrated with Keselowski at Richmond
Kenseth offered a flat “no” when asked if Team Penske‘s two-driver stable was successfully playing mind games with him.
“We didn’t really talk about it and I didn’t really re-watch any of that, so I don’t know,” Kenseth said in response to Keselowski’s post-race remarks. “We didn’t really talk about it.”
RELATED: Meet all 16 Chase drivers
Two more teammates — Richard Childress Racing‘s Austin Dillon and Paul Menard — had a chance to settle their squabble by sharing a ride back to North Carolina on the team plane. Dillon, who had on-track clashes for running room with Menard in successive weeks, found an empty seat on the plane beside his teammate and took it.
“Well, I’m learning a lot about relationships — I’m engaged,” said Dillon, who is prepping for his first Chase this season. “And communication is everything, and communicating with him was a good start to it. I’ve always had a good relationship with Paul. We both love a lot of the same things — we love the outdoors, we love racing.
“I just wanted to tell him, ‘Hey, I’m not doing this on purpose or any certain way. I’m just racing hard,’ and he said the same thing.”
The hard racing — and potentially the tensions that accompany it — are expected to continue over the next 10 weeks, starting this weekend in Chicagoland.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 15, 2016) — NASCAR drivers competing in the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ will display their personal Twitter handles on their respective car windshields during the first three-race round of #TheChase, NASCAR and Twitter announced today.
Beginning with Sunday’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Twitter handles including @KyleBusch, @keselowski and @austindillon3 will adorn the windshield headers normally reserved for driver last names.
The activation is part of an aggressive push by NASCAR to use Twitter, Vine and Periscope to elevate The Chase experience for fans during the sport’s most social postseason ever. Earlier today, @NASCAR unveiled a new, racing-themed Twitter emoji, which will help bring #TheChase tweets to life throughout the 10-week postseason.
“Twitter brings the passion and excitement of NASCAR to millions of our fans every single day in very unique and innovative ways,” said NASCAR Managing Director, Social Media, Scott Warfield. “As we embark on The Chase, the platform is helping us make the overall social experience that much richer and more memorable for our fans and followers.”
Beginning this weekend, @NASCAR will curate Twitter Moments and share Vines and live video via Periscope all capturing the spirit, excitement and behind-the-scenes action of this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
The first Chase race will also feature the Twitter bird logo, @NASCAR and #TheChase displayed as giant stencils in the infield atChicagoland Speedway.
“NASCAR truly embraces Twitter as a bridge between fans and the drivers they love,” said Andrew Barge, Sports Partnerships, Twitter. “During this year’s Chase, with Twitter handles on windshields and hashtags on the infield grass, NASCAR demonstrates just how much it genuinely values and encourages that fan engagement.”
After each round of #TheChase, NASCAR will tweet action-packed digital films that feature NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers reenacting the on-track highlights and storylines. Part of the sport’s Ready. Set. Chase marketing campaign, the first video in the five-part series can be viewed on NASCAR.com/TheChase.
Twitter handles displayed on Chase driver cars for the Round of 16 include the following:
Chase Driver Car Twitter
Kyle Busch No. 18 Toyota Camry @KyleBusch
Brad Keselowski No. 2 Ford Fusion @keselowski
Denny Hamlin No. 11 Toyota Camry @dennyhamlin
Kevin Harvick No. 4 Chevrolet SS @KevinHarvick
Carl Edwards No. 19 Toyota Camry #CarlEdwards
Martin Truex Jr. No. 78 Toyota Camry @MartinTruex_Jr
Matt Kenseth No. 20 Toyota Camry @mattkenseth
Jimmie Johnson No. 48 Chevrolet SS @JimmieJohnson
Joey Logano No. 22 Ford Fusion @joeylogano
Kyle Larson No. 42 Chevrolet SS @KyleLarsonRacin
Tony Stewart No. 14 Chevrolet SS @TonyStewart
Kurt Busch No. 41 Chevrolet SS @KurtBusch
Chris Buescher No. 34 Ford Fusion @Chris_Buescher
Chase Elliott No. 24 Chevrolet SS @chaseelliott
Austin Dillon No. 3 Chevrolet SS @austindillon3
Jamie McMurray No. 1 Chevrolet SS @jamiemcmurray
The best and fastest way to join the NASCAR conversation and connect directly with the teams, drivers and fans during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is to Tweet with, and search for, #TheChase.
NASCAR introduced rules updates for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs on Wednesday, giving competition officials the power to issue more stringent rulings on technical infractions involving post-race laser inspections and lug nuts.
The developments were announced just days before the series visits Chicagoland Speedway for Sunday’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM), the opening event in the 10-race Chase playoffs.
Similar clarifications, where applicable, will also be in place for the inaugural Chase events in NASCAR’s XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series, which get underway in two weeks, at Kentucky and New Hampshire, respectively.
The updates allow NASCAR officials to strip race-winning teams of the benefits associated with a Chase victory, which include the automatic advancement into the next elimination round and any tiebreaker implications, should those teams fail the post-race lug-nut check or the post-race Laser Inspection Station (LIS) platform.
Previously, lug-nut infractions have resulted in a one-race suspension and a fine for the crew chief while LIS failures have carried a point deduction in the drivers’ and owners’ championship points, in addition to the crew chief fine.
Going into the Chase, post-race failure of the LIS platform now will be deemed a P4 level penalty if a vehicle’s rear toe measurements exceed the allowed measurements on both sides.
In the Sprint Cup Series, the first violation would result in an encumbered finishing position, the loss of 35 championship driver and owner points, as well as a three-race suspension and $65,000 fine for the crew chief.
In the XFINITY Series, the penalties would be the same, but the crew chief fine would be $20,000.
The LIS platform is not a part of the NCWTS inspection process.
The penalties will be the same as those for an LIS infraction if a vehicle is found to have 17 or fewer lug nuts in place following the completion of the event (in Sprint Cup, XFINITY or Camping World Truck).
“The changes are made to assure that we have a level playing field and make sure that there’s not a carrot out there for the team to have excessive violations when it comes to lug nuts and the LIS post-race measurements,” Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, told NASCAR.com. “As we worked with those penalties during the season we realized we probably needed to have a little bit more in place as Chase time rolled around.
“The Chase obviously changes a lot of scenarios for both NASCAR and the teams; it’s ramped up the intensity and there is a lot of scrutiny, as there is every week on everything (involving) technical infractions. This is really just a matter of us putting something in place so that should something happen, we have a means to effectively deal with it.”
Miller noted that the “encumbered finish” is already a part of the NASCAR rule book. “This just adds a little bit of definition to how we will use it moving forward,” he said.
NASCAR officials cracked down on lug nut penalties with new rules this spring, making sure the wheel is securely fastened on all five studs at a pit-road checkpoint after the race. At least five teams have been found in violation during post-race inspection, including those of drivers Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing) and Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing).
The LIS platform has been used to measure cars’ chassis with precision since the start of the 2013 season. The majority of failures this year have centered on rear toe alignment.
Six Sprint Cup Series drivers and teams have been penalized this year for failing the LIS portion of the post-race inspection process — Kasey Kahne, Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet (Dover); Matt Kenseth, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota (New Hampshire), Brad Keselowski, Team Penske No. 2 Ford (Michigan), Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet (Darlington), Ryan Newman, Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet (Darlington) and Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota (Richmond).
Miller said he expects the rules to remain in place for the 2017 season as well.
LIS failures during pre-race inspection result in written warnings, with the potential for lost track time after a team’s fourth violation.
Should an infraction involving post-race LIS or lug nut inspection occur during the championship race at Homestead for any of the three series, the finish of the team found to be in violation would not count toward the determination of the series champion, or for any other positions that might be determined via tiebreakers.
Busch is the defending Sprint Cup Series champion while Harvick was the first to win a title under the current Chase format, which debuted in 2014.
These latest changes were made in collaboration with industry partners. “It should be no surprise to anybody where we landed,” Miller said.
“As we convened with some of the team principals and competition guys, it became pretty obvious that we needed to do something like this.”
RELATED: Stream here
MORE: See every driver in the Chase field | Drivers talk Chase Across America
Ready. Set. Launch. Those are the key words you need to know for Thursday when the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup kicks off in Chicago.
All 16 drivers will meet with the media for extensive interviews and coverage, all of which will be live-streamed on NASCAR.com.
Go ahead and bookmark this now to watch from work (unless you’re taking a personal day, and we wouldn’t blame you): https://www.nascar.com/readysetlaunch.
The schedule of events is below. After the live stream, make sure to come back later for our full coverage from the event.
• 3:05 p.m. ET: Chevrolet drivers (Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Jamie McMurray)
• 3:35 p.m. ET: Ford drivers (Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher)
• 4:10 p.m. ET: Toyota drivers (Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth
Tyler Hudson made his first visit to Victory Lane in the 2016 NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series at Darlington Raceway Tuesday night, holding-off Taylor Hurst (Aero Precision Chassiswerks) and Brad Davies on the race’s final run. Hudson, the 2013 series champion, had found limited success by his standards in 2016 with only a single top five to his name through the first 13 races.
Hudson took the lead for the final time on Lap 150 after completing of the final pit cycle of the race. He then ran steady, consistent lap times over the final 33 laps to earn his first trip to the winner’s circle in three years, pulling away from the rest of the field — including PJ Stergios (ineX Racing) who looked dominant early in the race.
Stergios seemed to lack long-run speed and fell to fourth on the final run. He was followed across the finish line by brother Jake Stergios in fifth.
Championship contenders Ray Alfalla (Slip Angle Motorsports) and PJ Stergios shared the front row with Alfalla getting the jump from pole position at the green flag. Alfalla and Stergios quickly built a gap on the field only for a caution flag to wave on Lap 13 for a crash near the back of the field.
The caution drew the leaders to pit road for tires and fuel where Alfalla made an uncharacteristic mistake by stopping too short in his pit box. The error cost him seven positions, allowing Stergios through to the lead; Alfalla would not lead another lap in the race.
Stergios made the most of the situation by leading 83 of 183 laps, but Hurst also looked strong and reeled-in the ineX Ford Fusion before pitting on Lap 51. Stergios made his stop on Lap 57 which gave Hurst, thanks to his fresh tires, a 12-second gap on the former race leader once the two returned to the track.
Even with the tire disadvantage and a quickly closing Stergios, Hurst was able to hold the lead until his next pit stop on Lap 84. Stergios once again inherited the lead and before he could hit pit road again, a caution waved on Lap 94 for a crash involving Robin Williams and Bryan Blackford.
The biggest loser among the leaders was Alfalla, who pitted early in the cycle and was trapped a lap down when the caution flew. He took the wave around to regain the lap lost, albeit on older tires.
When the race went green again, Stergios led from Hudson and looked to capitalize on Alfalla’s misfortune while Hurst was trying to regain the track position he lost as the result of pitting under green. As the run wore on, Stergios was unable to get away from the field as he had earlier in the race. Initially, Hudson and Hurst matched his lap times but, as the laps added up and the tires wore down, they began closing on the leader with Hudson’s iAnalyze Racing Fusion passing Stergios for the lead on Lap 125.
Then, Hudson made the winning move in the pits, gaining valuable time on Stergios while also enjoying the advantage of clean air. Stergios could never find the speed he had earlier in the race and faded as Hudson asserted himself when it mattered most.
Not all was lost for Stergios, however. Alfalla’s troubles caused him to finish a disappointing fourteenth, all but erasing his points lead with two races remaining. Alfalla now leads Stergios by only four points, setting the stage for a thrilling battle in the weeks to come. Jake Stergios is third in the standings ahead of Chris Overland and Dylan Duval (The TEAM), who holds fifth by a single point over teammate Kenny Humpe.
With the championship picture tightening once again the series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the penultimate race of 2016. The NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series has not visited New Hampshire since 2014, but both Stergios and Alfalla have had success on the Magic Mile in the past. Stergios finished fifth in 2014 while Alfalla finished second in 2012 and third in 2013.
Who can avoid trouble on the slow, flat corners of NHMS? Who will enter Homestead in the best position to win the 2016 NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series title? Find out in two weeks on iRacingLive!