Posted on by Dustin Albino

MADISON, Ill. — The checkered flag was in sight. Reigning Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney was on the brink of punching his ticket to the playoffs in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Coming to the white flag, Blaney’s No. 12 Ford began to slow off Turn 4. Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric shot to the inside of Blaney to take the lead. Cindric captured his second career Cup Series win, earning his first top-five finish on a non-superspeedway or road-course race.

MORE: Race results | Cindric steals win; race recap

Blaney limped around the track and was credited with a 24th-place finish, the final car on the lead lap.

“It quit running. Just a lap short,” Blaney said. “I thought we were plenty good. They must not have gotten it as full as they thought. I thought we were plenty good to go to the end and it wasn’t meant to be.”

After the final cycle of green-flag pit stops, Blaney was the first car on fresh tires. Christopher Bell elected to pit 18 laps after the No. 12 car and chased Blaney down after taking the lead with 19 laps remaining in the race.

The two Championship 4 drivers from last season had an epic battle for the lead until Bell had a mechanical issue. Blaney thought it was clear sailing to the finish line for his Ford team.

“That’s frustrating to drive your ass off to keep [Bell] behind you,” Blaney said. “I don’t know what happened to him, but you think you do a good job and drive your [expletive] off and feel like you weathered the storm of just trying to get it home and you run out. Proud of the day. It’s just one of those deals.”

RELATED: Watch final lap as Cindric swoops by

The No. 12 team knew it was playing it close on its fuel strategy, but never thought Blaney would run out of gas. Instead of being locked into the playoffs, Blaney remained 12th in the regular-season standings and was knocked down on the playoff grid due to Cindric’s victory.

“We knew we were close, but that was a little closer than we expected,” said Jonathan Hassler, crew chief of the No. 12 car. “Like everyone else, we were trying to be aggressive and put ourselves in position to win and you have those things.”

Ryan Blaney congratulates Austin Cindric in Victory Lane at Gateway.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images

Blaney finished third in each of the opening stages, minimizing the points lost. All three of Team Penske’s cars were a mainstay inside the top five throughout the 240-lap event.

And though it wasn’t Blaney who delivered Penske its first win of the season, he can take solace that one of the team’s cars won.

“It was a good day for our cars to run first, fifth and we were there in the top five,” Blaney said. “Proud of the effort, and I’m proud a Penske car won. I don’t think we were the fastest. Bell seemed like he shot out of a cannon. I don’t know where he came from, so battling him was tough.

“It just sucks we don’t end up with a finish that we deserve. I thought we did a good job all day doing what we needed to do. It’s a kick in the nuts but you move on past it.”

Dating back to Darlington, Blaney has three straight finishes outside the top 20. Blaney led 20 of the final 23 laps in Sunday’s contest and was set for his first top-five finish since the April 7 race at Martinsville Speedway. That would have been a much-needed uptick for the No. 12 group after consecutive DNFs at Darlington Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“Really happy with our showing today,” Blaney told FOX Sports. “Just, I don’t know what I gotta do to get some luck on our side. Gosh, wrecked the last two points races and thought we had a great shot to win today, and it ended up bad. So, just appreciate the effort. Just gotta keep sticking with it.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

MADISON, Ill. – Surprise and elation were the watchwords for Team Penske driver Austin Cindric, who won Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at the expense of teammate Ryan Blaney.

The race was Blaney’s to win — until the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion ran out of fuel on the next-to-last lap and handed the lead to his teammate. Cindric charged past Blaney at the start/finish line and completed the checkered-flag lap as Blaney rolled agonizingly slowly to a 24th-place result.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos

The victory was Cindric’s first since he won the 2022 Daytona 500 as a rookie, a dry spell that lasted 85 races. Nevertheless, Cindric expressed conflicting emotions after he climbed from his No. 2 Ford.

“This weekend was a great weekend for everybody involved,” Cindric said. “But, yeah, to have two cars in the fight, eventual 1-2. Heartbroken for those guys.

“This is huge for me. This is huge for this team. I’m so glad I was able to get a win with Brian (Wilson) as my crew chief in the Cup Series. You never know when it’s going to happen again. Just drove my butt off, hope for the best.”

WATCH: Cindric reacts to St. Louis victory

All three Team Penske drivers — Cindric, Blaney and Joey Logano — made only three pit stops to at least four for all other competitors. They stayed out under caution for the Stage 2 break and restarted 1-2-3 on Lap 149.

After pitting early in the ensuing cycle (Blaney on Lap 176, Cindric on Lap 177 and Logano on Lap 179, Blaney gained a spot on Cindric and began working his way through the field, improving his position as cars ahead of him came to pit road.

On Lap 217, when Kyle Larson pitted, Blaney assumed the lead, but with the race’s fastest car — the No. 20 Toyota of Christopher Bell — in hot pursuit. Bell soon caught Blaney and pulled alongside several times before engine issues caused Bell to slow dramatically.

“I’m blowing up, I’m blowing up,” Bell radioed to his crew.

But Bell, who had won the first two stages, nursed his car to the finish with help from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. Three laps down and mired in 34th place, Truex repeatedly pushed Bell’s Camry in the closing laps.

Then, it was Blaney’s turn to suffer game-changing misfortune.

“Never thought in my mind we were short,” Blaney said. “One of those things. Gosh, proud of the 12 boys. We were fast. Had my work cut out for me holding off Christopher. That was a fun battle. I don’t know what happened to him.

“Yeah, one lap short, which just stinks. Congrats to the 2 team. They did a good job all day. Props to them, Austin. Proud for Team Penske and Ford.

SHOP: Race winner gear

“Really happy with our showing today. I don’t know what I’ve got to do to get some luck on our side. Gosh, wrecked the last two points races. Thought we had a great shot to win today. Ended up bad.”

Bell was fresh from victory in the rain-shortened May 26 Coca-Cola 600 and had a car that was dominant from the outset. He passed pole winner Michael McDowell on Lap 41 to win Stage 1 and stayed on the track under caution for Josh Berry’s collision with the Turn 3 wall to win Stage 2.

In the closing laps, it seemed inevitable that Bell would overtake Blaney until Bell’s engine turned sour.

“I have no idea what happened,” said Bell, who rolled to a seventh-place finish. “Some sort of motor issue. I’m surprised that I made it to the end. Glad we were able to salvage something out of it.

“You don’t get race cars like that very often. Whenever you do, you need to take advantage of it. Disappointing day.”

Tyler Reddick finished fourth and Logano fifth, followed by Austin Dillon, Bell, Sunoco rookie Carson Hocevar (a career-best eighth), Justin Haley and Larson.

On Lap 140, the final circuit of Stage 2, Kyle Busch and Larson were battling in close quarters for the seventh position when Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet broke loose underneath Busch’s No. 8 Camaro, sending both cars sliding into the outside wall.

Busch’s car was damaged beyond repair and he exited the race in the 35th position — the first DNF of the season for the two-time Cup champion. Larson, on the other hand, was able to salvage the 10th-place result.

“We can’t afford days like this,” said Busch, who is winless this year and squarely on the bubble for a playoff spot. “Yeah, he got loose and wiped us out.”

MORE: Cup Series standings | Cup Series schedule 

The Cup Series will next head to Sonoma Raceway to participate in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 next Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NOTE: Post-race technical inspection is clear with no issues, confirming Austin Cindric as the race winner. The Nos. 31 and 41 cars will head back to NASCAR’s R&D Center for further inspection.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch crashed on the final lap of Stage 2 in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

The pair of past champions were running inside the top 10 before the incident.

RELATED: Race results

Larson was racing to the left of Busch on entry to Turn 1 when his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet snapped sideways. That slide led him directly into Busch, who slammed the outside SAFER barrier in Turn 2. The incident ended Busch’s day after the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet led 15 laps, his first circuits out front since Kansas on May 5.

Busch, the defending winner at Gateway, instead leaves with his first DNF of the season and first since the playoff race in September 2023 at Texas Motor Speedway.

“It looked like he got loose, I guess, down the front straightaway into Turn 1,” Busch told reporters after being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “He was on older tires and trying to get us for a spot. Not sure what that single point was really gonna mean for him, but certainly hurt us a lot because (it) took that point away as well as the others that we’d get for the stage and then also the rest of the day. So very frustrating.

“We can’t afford days like that,” continued Busch, who exits Gateway with his fourth finish of 15th or worse in the past six races. “The Rebel Camaro wasn’t what it was last year, but it was a top-10 car, and we were gonna finish there. But (now) we’re not going to finish at all.”

MORE: Watch Busch’s post-crash interview

While Busch finished 35th, Larson, a two-time winner this year, continued despite the contact and finished 10th. The 2021 Cup champion missed last week’s Coca-Cola 600 after participating in the Indianapolis 500, with weather thwarting his attempt at the 1,100-mile double.

“We were coming to the end of that stage, and I was a little bit better than him,” Larson told reporters post-race. “Left (Turn) 4 to side-draft him and barely touched his quarter panel. I don’t know. I’m guessing it ticked him off, and he squeezed into me. I honestly thought I had a flat (tire) when I went into 1 because it just turned around backwards, but I guess he just must’ve took the air off of me and just spun.”

Contributing: Dustin Albino

Posted on by Alex Cadavid

The Cup Series heads to World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday for the Enjoy Illinois 300 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio), and a winless past champion might crack Victory Lane for the first time this year.

RELATED: Set your Fantasy Live roster | Weekend schedule

The big change is that it’s a different past champion who is favored to win Sunday’s race after Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions. Instead of Martin Truex Jr., who was the top pick originally, now it’s Ryan Blaney because Team Penske started the weekend strong in terms of practice times and qualifying positioning.

Blaney qualified third but also led the field in 15-lap averages during practice. That in part has helped him catch the eye of the Racing Insights’ predictors. After Blaney comes Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Truex in the updated projections. Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson and William Byron round out the projected top five.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano is sixth, with Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch completing the projected top 10.

With the first half of the season over and eight winners in the books, will anyone else emerge as a title contender? Sunday’s race appears to be wide open for a new winner to add his name to the ledger.

OTHER DRIVERS TO WATCH

KYLE BUSCH: Busch finished in the top two in both races at Gateway, and last year’s win is his most recent victory. It will be interesting to see how Busch runs this weekend and if he can match the pace he showed last year.

JOEY LOGANO: Logano has two top-five finishes in the two Cup races at Gateway and is another Gateway winner in need of a change in luck. His last top-10 finish was at Martinsville, and he’s currently outside of the playoff picture — but he’s also Joey Logano and is always a threat to win.

ALEX BOWMAN: Bowman continues to put together a stellar season. While he has yet to step into the winner’s circle this year, his four top fives and nine top 10s are some of his best career numbers through 14 races. Plus, he’s riding a five-race streak of finishing in the top 10.

ROSS CHASTAIN: Chastain’s eighth-place finish in Charlotte was his first top-10 finish since COTA. He could build some momentum this weekend at Gateway with another strong run. He finished eighth there in the inaugural Cup race and won a Truck race there.

CARSON HOCEVAR: More of an under-the-radar pick here, Hocevar made his Cup Series debut in this race a year ago, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet and was on pace for a decent finish until a brake failure took him out while running 16th. He had good runs in the Truck Series and could find some luck at Gateway for win No. 1 of his career.

RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE 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.

FinishCar NumberDriver
112Ryan Blaney
211Denny Hamlin
319Martin Truex Jr.
45Kyle Larson
524William Byron
622Joey Logano
720Christopher Bell
89Chase Elliott
945Tyler Reddick
108Kyle Busch
111Ross Chastain
126Brad Keselowski
1354Ty Gibbs
1448Alex Bowman
1523Bubba Wallace
1617Chris Buescher
1734Michael McDowell
182Austin Cindric
1914Chase Briscoe
2099Daniel Suárez
2143Erik Jones
224Josh Berry
2341Ryan Preece
2477Carson Hocevar
2510Noah Gragson
263Austin Dillon
2751Justin Haley
287Corey LaJoie
2938Todd Gilliland
3047Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
3121Harrison Burton
3271Zane Smith
3342John H. Nemechek
3431Daniel Hemric
3516Derek Kraus
3615Cody Ware

Posted on by Dustin Albino

MADISON, Ill. — Joey Logano is good at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Like, really good. Two races are a small sample size, but he and Kyle Busch are the only drivers to have podium finishes in the first two Cup races at the Illinois oval.

Logano points to short tracks as Team Penske’s strongpoint. Measured at 1.25 miles, Gateway doesn’t quite fall under that category, but there is plenty of throttle management through the long straightaways and tight corners. Neither side of the race track looks the same.

“Our team excels where you have to get out of the gas pedal, and here there is a lot of speed variance from the straightaway into Turn 1 to where you are in Turn 2,” Logano said Saturday. “You’re on the brakes hard. I know it’s a long track, but we still call it a short track because you have to use the brakes and you have to do different things.

“You don’t drive it like a mile-and-a-half. You drive it like a short track, like a Loudon or Richmond where you can fall it into that category which is better for us.”

MORE: Weekend schedule for Gateway, Portland

Entering Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Logano ranks 18th on the playoff grid, 30 points below the elimination line, currently held by a surging Chris Buescher. Four months ago, it would have been hard to imagine the two-time Cup Series champion missing the postseason. But that possibility is becoming increasingly possible with each passing week.

Through 14 races, Logano has just three top-10 finishes. He is on pace for his fewest top-10 total since joining Team Penske in 2013. The No. 22 team has led 199 laps, the same amount he led en route to winning the exhibition NASCAR All-Star Race two weeks ago at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

That wasn’t a points race, however, and Logano followed it up by earning 23 points in the Coca-Cola 600 last weekend, in a race where teams could score a maximum of 70 points. In the previous three races combined entering Gateway, he has scored a whopping 49 points. His six straight races without top 10s is the longest streak of his Penske tenure.

MORE: Logano’s career through the years

But there are signals of optimism. After Gateway, the Cup Series heads to a repaved Sonoma Raceway before a trip to Iowa Speedway, where the No. 22 team expects to be competitive. After that is New Hampshire, a track at which Logano has top-five finishes in three of the last four races, including a runner-up result last season.

“The next four weeks or so line up pretty good for the [No.] 22, we just have to capitalize on that,” Logano said. “We don’t have any mulligans left at this point with where we are in points. We have to get up in points, get all the points we possibly can, win a race if possible.

“I look at this [Gateway] as one of the strongest the last two times we’ve been here. First and third, so I feel like we should have a good spot.”

So far so good, with the No. 22 Ford being fastest in practice. He was the lone Penske driver to miss the final round of qualifying and will take the green flag from 12th position.

RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup

Posted on by Brandon White

SEEKONK, Massachusetts — Matt Hirschman was visibly disappointed when he made his selection during the redraw for the J&R Precast 150 at Seekonk Speedway.

After setting the fastest time of the day in qualifying, Hirschman would forgo the pole position by drawing the lowest starting position possible, eighth. This left Hirschman with 150 laps to work his way up from the middle of the pack at a 0.333-mile facility where track position is paramount.

Hirschman predominantly relied on skill instead of luck to surge towards the front of the field. After methodically climbing to second, Hirschman emerged victorious in an intense restart duel with his Northampton, Pennsylvania, neighbor Austin Beers to obtain his second consecutive NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory at Seekonk.

“We had to work for that one for sure,” Hirschman said. “[Seekonk] is always a challenging track. The characteristics change throughout the race, but the characteristics of my car changed throughout the race. It came in good on the restart and I was able to go side-by-side with Austin and get past him.”

RELATED: Complete race results from the J&R Precast 150

Hirschman joined an exclusive list of drivers who have multiple Seekonk wins in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. The only other member of that group is Doug Coby, whose triumphs came in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

Even with his odds of a victory hindered by a poor draw, Hirschman never doubted his ability to find his way towards the front. Each pass required diligence and patience around Seekonk’s narrow racing line. Hirschman’s superior speed proved crucial in gaining the valuable track position he needed to chase down Beers.

Despite this, Hirschman still faced a heavy deficit to Beers by the time he had climbed to the runner-up position. With Beers facing no serious challengers as he worked through slower traffic, Hirschman needed a caution to mount a challenge for the lead.

Unlike earlier at the redraw, luck was on Hirschman’s side when a spin by Tyler Catalano brought out the first and only caution of the night with 30 laps remaining. Hirschman held his own on the top side against Beers, who lost the lead after slight contact with the No. 60 caused him to briefly lose control of his No. 64.

Beers held on to finish second, but he felt dejected knowing he was only a few laps away from claiming a win at the same track where his father Eric picked up his maiden NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory in 2005.

There were several aspects of the J&R Precast 150, including the final restart, that Beers wishes he could repeat, but he departs Seekonk feeling optimistic his first victory of the 2024 season is near.

“[Hirschman] was a little bit better,” Beers said. “It was kind of my fault, because I wanted to start a little freer than we usually do and that bit us. I probably should have picked the top and pinched him like he pinched me, but it was a fun side-by-side battle. Three seconds in a row is nothing to hang our heads about.”

For Hirschman, winning at Seekonk was a necessary change of pace following an inconsistent start to 2024 by his standards. In his three starts prior to Seekonk, Hirschman only recorded one top five and had failed to lead a lap.

Hirschman considered himself lucky his first victory of 2024 came during Seekonk’s tribute weekend to Modified legend Bugsy Stevens, who passed away on May 20. He has long respected Stevens’ ability as a competitor and hopes to keep honoring his legacy with more Seekonk victories.

“To finally get out on the road and have a big win, that’s overdue at least in my opinion,” Hirschman said. “Everybody kept working and we got it done tonight on a special night where we remembered Bugsy Stevens. It was an honor to be here.”

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour points leader Ron Silk placed third after starting 11th. He was followed by Stephen Kopcik and Justin Bonsignore. The rest of the top 10 finishers were Jacob Lutz, Kyle Bonsignore, Patrick Emerling, Jake Johnson and Matt Swanson.

The next stop for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will be the series’ most prestigious venue, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, for the running of the Mohegan Sun 100 on June 22 at 6:40 p.m. ET. FloRacing will provide live flag-to-flag coverage.

Posted on by Staff Report

J&R Precast 150

Seekonk Speedway

  • Race results
Pos. Car No. Driver Sponsor Laps Diff.
1 60 Matt Hirschman PeeDee Motorsports 150  —
2 64 Austin Beers G&G Electrical Supply/Dell Electric 150 1.769
3 16 Ron Silk Blue Mountain Machine/Future Homes 150 2.835
4 21 Stephen Kopcik* Newtown Pools & Karchner Warehousing 150 4.462
5 51 Justin Bonsignore Phoenix Communications, Inc. 150 4.515
6 14 Jacob Lutz* Advantage Trucks/Anastasi Trucking/Washtronics 150 4.689
7 22 Kyle Bonsignore Chalew Performance/MTT/Munns Auto 150 4.99
8 1 Patrick Emerling Fleetworks Inc 150 5.613
9 3 Jake Johnson Propane Plus/Lin’s Propane Trucks 150 6.531
10 89 Matt Swanson Cervaolos Auto/Casella Snowplows/Mully’s Auto Repair 150 6.884
11 06 Sam Rameau Rameau Family Motorsports 150 7.387
12 56 Trevor Catalano* Catalano Motorsports 150 10.265
13 54 Tommy Catalano FX Caprara 149 1 Lap
14 44 Doug Coby Baldwin Automotive 149 1 Lap
15 58 Timmy Solomito GAF Roofing 149 1 Lap
16 19 Anthony Sesely Franzosa Trucking Co/Karchner Warehousing 149 1 Lap
17 5 Kyle Ebersole Ebersole Excavating Inc. 149 1 Lap
18 00 Tom Rogers Jr. BNP Machine/SSRP 148 2 Laps
19 46 Craig Lutz Riverhead Building Supply 148 2 Laps
20 4 Tim Connolly Connolly Companies, LLC 148 2 Laps
21 84 Tyler Catalano* Catalano Motorsports 147 3 Laps
22 18 Ken Heagy Buoy One Seafood & Restaurant 146 4 Laps
23 01 Melissa Fifield Pine Knoll Auto Sales 128 22 Laps

 

Posted on by Dustin Albino

MADISON, Ill. – Ty Majeski has seen this story before. For the second consecutive season, he led a good chunk of laps from the pole position — 43 to be exact — at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, only to come short in the fight for victory late in the race.

Majeski ultimately finished fourth despite sweeping the stages in the St. Louis suburb, his fifth top-five finish of 2024. In fact, Majeski has finished in every top-five position this season except the top spot, remaining winless since the series’ playoff opener last year at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

RELATED: Race results

“The other guys just got better, and we didn’t keep up with the race track,” Majeski told NASCAR.com Saturday. “Probably a couple adjustments away from being able to hold on. Just fell behind a little bit. This is the same thing that we’ve experienced here over the course of the last couple of years. As the race progressed, we build tight and didn’t keep up with it today.”

Majeski and the No. 98 ThorSport Racing team kicked off the weekend as the fastest truck in town, taking the top spot in practice before backing that speed up in qualifying. Their Ford commanded the race early before Majeski was passed by Christian Eckes late in the stage. In the waning laps, Majeski got back by him to score the stage victory — his fourth of the season.

Throughout the second stage, Majeski battled his ThorSport Racing teammate Ben Rhodes — who led laps for the first time since the season opener at Daytona — for the lead. Majeski got the upper hand at the end of the stage, scoring his series-high fifth stage victory of the season.

The No. 98 team was settled on taking four tires throughout the race and dropped four positions on pit road at the end of the stage. Corey Heim and Nick Sanchez leaped Majeski of drivers that took four tires, and Majeski never got his track position back.

Majeski has led at least 36 laps in five of the 12 races this season. He has no wins to show for it, despite ranking third in the series in laps led, trailing the series’ two frontrunners Heim and Eckes.

“Sometimes, when you’re the better truck at the beginning (of the race), you get gun-shy at making changes to keep up with the race track,” Majeski said. “I think we got behind, just fought tight as the run progressed and didn’t keep up with the race track enough. I think [Heim], [Eckes] and some of the others were able to make changes because they were catching us and felt like they couldn’t win the way they were. We felt like maybe we could, and we didn’t keep up with the race track well.

“Disappointing, but I thought we executed on all fronts today, and our strategy was good.”

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is off until a trip to Nashville Superspeedway on June 28 (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Majeski has a pair of top-10 finishes at the concrete oval in three starts.

Posted on by Holly Cain

New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen claimed his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Raceway. The popular Kiwi celebrated the hard-earned win with a burnout all the way around the 1.967-mile road course and then climbing out of his Chevy and topping it off by kicking a soccer ball into the thrilled crowd.

It was a popular win all-around for the 35-year-old three-time Australian Supercars champion, but he had to work for it. The series rookie — who won the inaugural Chicago Street Race in his first Cup Series start last summer – led laps early in the No. 97 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet but struggled with race restarts for much of the day.

He lost positions on the early restarts and even had to overcome a couple of miscues — dropping his tires off-track into the dirt — before masterfully working his way forward in the closing laps to challenge for the win.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Portland

He passed the day’s most dominant driver, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, on the final restart with four laps to go and pulled away to a 0.941-second victory over the series veteran, who led a race-best 46 of the race’s 75 laps.

JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer, van Gisbergen’s Kaulig teammate AJ Allmendinger — who started last in the field — and Sam Hunt Racing’s Ed Jones — an IMSA and IndyCar veteran – rounded out the top five.

“What a day, really cool, had some great racing,’’ said van Gisbergen, who immediately apologized to pole winner Sam Mayer, the driver he collided with and spun on the opening turn of the race.

“I need to get better on my restarts and learn how to position, but that was so much fun. Really cool racing. I love these cars, they’re great.’’

It was a particularly crushing runner-up showing for Allgaier, who finished second in this race last year as well. At various points, his No. 7 Chevrolet held a nearly three-second advantage on the field, but two cautions in the final 12 laps essentially equalized the competition, and van Gisbergen steadily made his way forward on the restarts before taking the lead in Turn 5 with four laps to go.

Allgaier not only led the most laps but swept both stage wins for the third consecutive race — the sixth consecutive stage win which is a series record. His series-leading 10 stage victories on the season are the most ever through the opening 13 races.

But it just wasn’t enough for the trophy on Saturday.

“I don’t know [what I could have done differently],’’ a discouraged Allgaier said. “On those restarts, we were so free taking off, and the car was just struggling to get grip.

“I think that’s the hardest part, once he got by me there, I probably overdrove it trying to get back to him and probably didn’t help my cause any,’’ he added. “Really proud of this team. All the effort this team puts forward is incredible. To come in second two years in a row stings a little bit, but at the same time, really proud of everybody.’’

MORE: Xfinity Series schedule | Xfinity Series standings

Last year’s Portland winner Cole Custer finished sixth in the Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, with Kaulig’s Josh Williams, Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman, Jordan Anderson Racing’s Parker Retzlaff and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst rounding out the top 10.

With his sixth-place finish Saturday, Custer takes the championship lead by 18 points over Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith.  Hill — who was fined 25 points and $25,000 for purposefully wrecking Custer last week at Charlotte – finished 11th, and Smith, whose No. 81 JGR Toyota suffered a late race engine problem, finished 35th.

The series stays on the West Coast with the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 on the Sonoma Raceway road course next Saturday (8 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Aric Almirola is the defending race winner.

NOTE: No issues were found during post-race technical inspection, confirming van Gisbergen as the race winner. No vehicles will be taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center for teardown inspection.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

MADISON, Ill. — The early bird got the victory on Saturday afternoon at World Wide Technology Raceway.

In a long green-flag run to start the final stage of the Toyota 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, Corey Heim brought his No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota to pit road before any of the other top trucks made green-flag stops, and the move paid off with optimum track position.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Heim held the top spot for a restart on Lap 138 of 160 and led the rest of the way, beating runner-up Christian Eckes to the finish line by 1.854 seconds, earning a $50,000 bonus as the winner of the second leg of the Triple Truck Challenge.

The victory was a welcome turnaround after Heim’s truck was disqualified from second place on May 24 at Charlotte for three lug nuts not safe and secure. Heim won for the fourth time this season–all within the last eight races–the second time at Gateway and the ninth time in 53 career starts.

“Total team effort today,” Heim asserted. “We struggled a bit yesterday (in practice and qualifying) and worked a bit overnight on it. I have to say the pit crew redeemed themselves. Last week we could have won the race, and they made some mistakes, but they redeemed themselves today, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Heim started ninth and finished fifth in the first two stages. After a quick pit stop at the Stage 2 break, Heim restarted third on Lap 78 and grabbed the lead before the end of the circuit. He held the top spot until he pitted on Lap 115, one lap earlier than pole winner Ty Majeski who was chasing him in second place.

Vicente Salas’ spin on Lap 129 interrupted the cycle of green-flag stops, but Heim regained the lead on Lap 134 when drivers who had not yet pitted brought their trucks to pit road under caution. Heim battled Majeski on the Lap 138 restart and prevailed.

“Corey was a little bit better, and I knew it,” said Majeski, who swept the first two stages and led 43 laps to Heim’s race-high 65. “I thought if I could get track position on him, maybe I could hold him off. I threw it into Turn 1, and he cleared me off of 2, and I had a couple other opportunities.

“I got into him a little bit. Probably needed a little bit harder for me to get enough of a run to get side-by-side with him down the back. But, yeah, just a little bit short balance-wise. Sometimes, when you’re the best truck in the beginning of the race, you’re gun-shy to make changes.”

MORE: Truck Series standings | Truck Series schedule

Majeski faded to fourth in the final 23 laps, losing positions to Eckes and third-place finisher Nick Sanchez on Lap 151.

Eckes lost track position with a slow pit stop in the second stage break, restarted 11th on Lap 78 and finished second at Gateway for the third straight year.

“I definitely feel like we let that one slip,” Eckes said. “Disappointing, for sure… It sucks. I thought we had the best truck here.”

Layne Riggs finished fifth, followed by Chase Purdy, reigning series champion Ben Rhodes and Stewart Friesen. Two drivers making their series debuts–Andrés Pérez de Lara and Luke Fenhaus–came home ninth and 10th, respectively.

NOTE: No issues were found in post-race technical inspection, confirming Heim as the race winner. The Nos. 11, 38 and 77 will be taken back to the NASCAR R&D Center for teardown inspection.