JOLIET, Ill. — When it comes to oval tracks, Denny Hamlin has established himself on the throne as king of qualifying.
In Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series time trials at Chicagoland Speedway, Hamlin beat Kyle Larson by 0.001 seconds to claim the pole position for Sunday’s eero 400 (6 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Hamlin sped around the 1.5-mile intermediate track in 30.296 seconds (178.241 mph). Larson, who ran later in the qualifying order, fell just short at 178.235 mph.
The Busch Light Pole Award was Hamlin’s fourth of the 2026 season, his first at Chicagoland (which hasn’t hosted a NASCAR national-series race since 2019) and the 52nd of his career, breaking a tie with Ryan Newman for ninth all-time.
Hamlin, the 2015 Chicagoland winner, won poles at the previous two oval tracks on the Cup Series schedule: Michigan International Speedway and Pocono Raceway. He is the only driver to win poles at both Chicagoland and the Chicago Street Course (2023).
“I’m the Chicago master — what can I say?” Hamlin said.
In fact, Hamlin considered himself lucky to win his third straight oval-track pole, having gotten the benefit of favorable cloud conditions.
“I don’t want to continue to underplay it, but we got very fortunate,” said Hamlin, who leads the series standings by one point over Tyler Reddick. “The last 12 cars had full sun — 100% sun. The last few had 90%, but I think that was the deciding factor.
“We saw that, right after I went, the track definitely got hotter, and it seemed like the corner speeds of those guys started to slow down. I think if there was one more car behind Ty Gibbs (the final qualifier), they definitely would have beaten us, because it went full shade. We got fortunate there, but they (Hamlin’s No. 11 team) did a real good job overnight with my car (whose balance wasn’t ideal during Friday’s practice).”
RFK Racing drivers Chris Buescher (178.153 mph) and Brad Keselowski (178.089 mph) qualified third and fourth, respectively. With two victories at Chicagoland, Keselowski is the only driver in the field for Sunday’s race with multiple wins at the track.
Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe claimed the respective fifth through seventh starting positions. Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott and William Byron completed the top 10, which consisted of four JGR Toyotas, three Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets, two RFK Fords and one 23XI Racing Toyota (Wallace).
The No. 2 and top remaining seed in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge, Hamlin, faces Erik Jones in Sunday’s second round. Jones qualified 22nd.
In battles between teammates, Larson faces Byron, and Gibbs takes on Briscoe.
Hamlin, however, will have his eye on Larson.
“In my personal opinion, Kyle Larson is the best driver at this race track, so he’s going to be someone I have to contend with, and I’m sure all the Hendrick cars are.”
JOLIET, Ill. — To say Carson Hocevar hasn’t been focused on the In-Season Challenge is putting it mildly.
Last Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, the driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet finished 11th to Zane Smith’s 18th, eliminating Smith in the opening round of the tournament.
Asked after Friday’s practice about his second-round matchup Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway (6 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Hocevar responded, “Who is it?”
In fact, Hocevar will face Todd Gilliland, who eliminated Daniel Suárez in the first round at Sonoma.
“Oh, it’s Todd?” said Hocevar, who will make his 100th NASCAR Cup Series start on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. “I don’t know. Hopefully he’s slow.”
In Friday’s practice, Hocevar was ninth fastest while Gilliland was 27th best.
About his 100th start in NASCAR’s top division, Hocevar was equally nonchalant.
“Yeah, you just kind of blink and you’re at a hundred,” he said. “Blink twice, and you’re at 200. “I just try to enjoy as many as possible. I’m just glad I have a win in the win column before a hundred, right?”
Hocevar picked up his only career victory so far on April 26 at Talladega Superspeedway. With eight races remaining in the regular season, he’s eighth in points.
JOLIET, Ill. — Ty Gibbs believes he can win the NASCAR Cup Series championship. And halfway through the 2026 campaign, he’s giving others a reason to believe, too.
The fourth-year, second-generation driver enters Chicagoland Speedway fourth in the points standings after 18 of 26 regular-season races, with the 10-race Chase looming in September. Gibbs drove the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to his first career Cup win at Bristol Motor Speedway in April and has largely been a top-five mainstay in the points standings since.
With just eight races left before the postseason fight begins, the 23-year-old racer is confident this success is sustainable.
“I think we’re easily a championship contender, honestly,” Gibbs said Friday at Chicagoland. “I’m very happy about that and just got to stick to it and got to keep working hard. We’ve not really had any bad weekends; we just got wrecked out a bunch by some guys and myself, and then we still are in the position we’re in.”
Gibbs’ performance has considerably improved from past seasons, already collecting seven top fives and 11 top 10s through 18 races. His 9.3 average start is on track for a career best, as is his 13.2 average finish, a notable uptick from last year’s 17.9 average. Over a seven-race spring stretch, he scored 33 or more points each week.
He points to the make-up of his No. 54 team as the catalyst for this year’s improvement, particularly as second-year crew chief Tyler Allen has settled into the role.
“It’s been great working with great people the whole time, and the right people make a big difference, obviously,” Gibbs said. “We compare last year to this year, we see so much of a difference. And getting more experience is really helpful as well. I love the people around me. It’s been so much fun this year. It’s been such a pleasure to drive the car and just working with great people.”
Gibbs was left with mixed emotions after last weekend’s race at Sonoma Raceway, where he finished third after leading 31 of 110 laps and sweeping both stages on the California road course. He was admittedly disappointed the team’s strategy didn’t allow him to chase the race win, but Gibbs left the day with a fitting and impressive 54 points earned, his most since earning 59 points in his Bristol win and bumping him one spot higher in the points standings.
“I mean it’s a great points day, right?” Gibbs said. “And being in the top five is super important going into the playoffs, and so I think it just is what it is, and sometimes that’s how it is. … I’d rather win a championship than a road-course race. I’ll leave it to the team to make that decision.”
Gibbs was fifth-fastest in Friday’s 50-minute practice session at Chicagoland, marking his inaugural laps around the 1.5-mile tri-oval. The Cup Series makes its return to competition at Chicagoland for the first time since 2019 on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET (TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
JOLIET, Ill. — Through the first half of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Toyota teams have combined to win 11 of 18 races.
RFK Racing team co-owner and driver Brad Keselowski said Friday at Chicagoland Speedway he believes the manufacturer has earned its flowers. But he also sees lessons Ford and Chevrolet can learn from what a rival Original Equipment Manufacturer is accomplishing behind the scenes.
With 10 weekly entries from Team Penske, RFK Racing, Front Row Motorsports and Wood Brothers Racing, Ford has combined for just one points-paying win this year, courtesy of Penske’s Ryan Blaney at Phoenix Raceway in March. Ford will get a new body on the race track in 2027 via its Mustang Dark Horse SC, but no body updates can be made until then.
In Keselowski’s opinion, “dramatic” rules changes made in the last decade have altered the NASCAR paradigm, specifically as engineering responsibilities pivoted from the teams to the manufacturers, creating “a tremendous dynamic shift in the sport” triggered after Furniture Row Racing’s alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing led to a 2017 championship followed by a departure from the sport after the 2018 campaign.
“So the rules and all the things behind the scenes got altered and pushed in such a way as to prevent that from possibly happening again, and I think that’s where they are right now,” Keselowski said. “The unintended consequences, whether that was second-order or third-order effect, is you created this stalemate of organizations. And the OEMs all either consciously or subconsciously decided who their favorite was because they had to — or felt like they had to. And I think you’ve seen that now with how the last six or seven seasons have played out where it’s the top organization at each OEM.”
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Today, Toyota is excelling above its counterparts, notably through the performance of Joe Gibbs Racing’s four-car operation and an alliance shared with 23XI Racing, sharing 11 wins this year among four drivers. Other manufacturers’ lead programs share alliances, such as Chevrolet’s Hendrick Motorsports with Spire Motorsports and Ford’s Team Penske with Wood Brothers Racing. But those partnerships haven’t produced the same results as Toyota’s.
“What’s become unique, I think, over the last two or three years specifically is — and I’ll give a lot of credit to Toyota for this — is they’ve recognized that that stalemate is not necessarily good for the sport or for them as an OEM,” Keselowski said. “And they’ve done a lot of things to push elite collaboration amongst their top organizations so that they have, for reference, two ‘A’ organizations, rather than an ‘A,’ ‘B’ and ‘C.’ As I’ve seen to date, the other OEMs have not done that, and Toyota is making them pay for that with results on the race track. They deserve credit for that.
“The challenge that I see is: Will the other two OEMs actually react to that? I haven’t seen that at the moment. I think RFK is doing all the things it needs to do to position itself to be successful if that were to happen, particularly in the Ford camp. But at this point we have not seen the level of collaboration at Ford that we see at Toyota, and it creates challenges for the program. And I have not seen from the outside — I’m not inside Chevrolet — the same things there. So we’re having one of these seasons where it looks like Toyota is going to dominate throughout, and there’s a great argument to be made that they’re winning races in the boardroom with really great decision-making.”
RFK Racing and Penske, both of which are three-car operations, sit atop the pecking order in Ford Racing, though Penske has been considered the manufacturer’s most successful outfit with championships in four of the last eight NASCAR Cup Series seasons. If the information among Ford’s top teams could be shared equally the way Keselowski believes it should, he sees a path in which the rising tide could lift Ford’s boats.
“In my mind, at least, I think the burden is on the OEMs and the decision-makers at the highest of levels that want their programs to be successful in NASCAR to react accordingly within the rules,” Keselowski said. “And there’s means and measures to do that. As it works its way specifically into RFK, I think we’ve proven our merit. We have three teams that are in a position that I’m proud of. Are we winning races every week? No. We only have one win this season in the non-points-paying race with the Clash. But we continue to show that we have, I think, the organization to push to that next level, given the right opportunities. And I’m really proud of that.”
The team isn’t going anywhere any time soon, Keselowski said, as he confirmed RFK Racing has a long-term contract in place with Ford Motor Company.
“We’re committed to that. We want to be successful with them,” he said. “We’re hopeful that we can continue to innovate with them to this next level. We’re in a lull right now that we don’t want to be in. Ford doesn’t want to be in the same lull — I feel pretty safe in saying that. The onus is on us to step it up and figure it out.”
JOLIET, Ill. — Ryan Blaney described last week’s cool-suit failure as a “snowball effect” of cascading problems that caused him to overheat at Sonoma Raceway. Any snowballs or other forms of frozen precipitation would have come in handy during his sweltering Sunday drive.
“Yeah, I was down bad,” Blaney said Friday, five days later. “I was down bad. Your boy was struggling.”
Blaney gutted out a sixth-place finish last weekend at Sonoma, visiting the track’s care center post-race for fluids after exiting his No. 12 Team Penske Ford. He arrives this weekend at a revived Chicagoland Speedway in better health, riding a consistent streak into Sunday’s eero 400 (6 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Blaney said when he flipped on his driver-cooling suit after Stage 1 of last weekend’s event, the system malfunctioned. Cycling through and resetting it didn’t work. As the cool suit’s fluid warmed, his No. 12 crew handed him a pressure-filled tool during a pit stop to help him flush the system. The race, however, stayed under mostly green-flag conditions the rest of the way, and Blaney didn’t have much chance for a water-bottle break as he navigated the intricate road course at speed.
Blaney tried to stash the tool in a small compartment inside the driver’s door, but it rattled loose to the floorboard — “into the abyss,” he said. Then leg cramps cropped up with 20 laps left, especially in his left calf entering the Turn 11 hairpin.
“I haven’t had that in a while, and like the worst place to cramp is your left calf at a road course, and I was happy I didn’t run off anywhere,” Blaney said. “But we got through it, and the AMR (medical) folks were great. They were at me really quick and got me fixed up after, so appreciate them for responding really quick from when I needed them. I think we diagnosed the problem, so that was good that we found the gremlin and were able to fix it, so hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”
Blaney has equaled a career-best streak of six consecutive top-10 finishes heading into Sunday’s 400-miler, the first event of the season’s second half. He’s also heading into a potentially opportune time to heat up — his last two summers have been marked by multirace performance spikes, and 11 of his 18 career Cup Series wins have arrived in the back half of the season.
Other bellwethers are a little less favorable. Ford is winless in the last 14 Cup Series races, dating back to his March 8 victory at Penske stronghold Phoenix Raceway. Ford drivers have also managed just one top-five result in the four events on 1.5-mile tracks in 2026, and Team Penske has weathered the last 10 races without a top-five finish — its longest dry spell since 2008.
Blaney has stayed steady through the season’s first half, slotting him third in the Cup standings but still 100-plus points behind Toyota drivers Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick, the campaign’s front-runners. Before his top-10 streak began, Blaney was 162 points off the top, but now stands 104 points back of Hamlin, the new series leader.
Just eight races remain until the 16-driver Chase field is determined, and there’s more ground to gain to fulfill Blaney’s aspirations of claiming the Regular Season Championship and the advantageous No. 1 seed. Difficult but doable is how he sees it.
“You never know,” Blaney said after Friday’s practice. “I don’t know. You can see big, big swings week to week. Denny was able to do it off of really, really good performance, and tons and tons of points winning races. I think the 45 (Reddick) might have had a little bit of trouble while he was winning. Like, Michigan was a big one, then like in our case, we just kind of banged out some top 10s. Those guys had some problems, and we cut down a lot of points in the last just two weeks. So, you never know. We just try to focus on us. Like, I look at the points, but I don’t study it methodically. I kind of look at it a few times through the week to remind myself where we’re at, and just try to put together the best weekend.
“So you never know, the last couple months could get interesting, and we just try to get better week in, week out, and you never know where that stuff could go. So I’d say it’s not out of the question, but it’s going to be really, really hard to achieve.”
Blaney made four Chicagoland starts in Cup Series competition before the track was temporarily shuttered after the 2019 season, but he’s among a handful of drivers with recent experience here. Blaney joined Hamlin and defending Cup champion Kyle Larson in participating in a Goodyear tire test in April, and those laps may prove to be beneficial.
“They helped,” Blaney said. “Give us a little bit of a … I wouldn’t say head-start, but we were able to come here and learn for two days. Then as a driver, for me, up to speed a little bit faster of how to approach the race track. So, I hope it helps. We’ll see come Sunday.”
23XI Racing driver Riley Herbst topped the leaderboard in Friday evening’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Chicagoland Speedway, as the premier series hit the 1.5-mile Joliet track for the first time since 2019.
The driver of the No. 35 Toyota posted the fastest lap at 178.065 mph in the closing minutes of practice, leading a 23XI 1-2 with teammate Bubba Wallace second-fastest (177.930 mph). All four 23XI Toyotas were inside the top eight.
Kyle Larson (177.877 mph), Denny Hamlin (177.877 mph) and Ty Gibbs (177.754 mph) rounded out the top five.
Naval Base Coronado winner Corey Heim (177.719 mph), Austin Cindric (177.643 mph), Tyler Reddick (177.526 mph), Carson Hocevar (177.223 mph) and Chris Buescher (177.189 mph) completed the top 10.
Cindric led the way in five-lap average speed, but Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota was quickest in the 10-, 15-, 20- and 25-lap averages.
Qualifying is slated for Saturday at 3 p.m. ET on truTV, followed by Sunday’s eero 400 (6 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Due to inclement weather on Friday, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series practice at Chicagoland Speedway was postponed until Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET in place of qualifying. Therefore, the starting lineup for Saturday’s Cuervo 300 (5:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) has been set by the NASCAR Rule Book.
See below for the full starting lineup. Connor Zilisch will lead the field to green.
The crying eyes gesture wasn’t new for Kyle Busch.
At least twice before — after wins at Bristol Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International — “Rowdy” had gleefully pantomimed the supposed tears of the detractors who were resigned to his inevitability.
But this time was different — and not only because it became perhaps the defining episode of Busch being cast in the role of NASCAR’s greatest villain.
NBC Sports
Walking down the banking while clutching the checkered flag from a slam-bang win over Kyle Larson at Chicagoland Speedway, Busch removed his headsock and stopped to mug directly into an NBC camera. He rubbed his left eye with the poutiest of faces before flinging away his earbuds in a dramatic flourish.
The scene was captured for a live national TV audience of millions who watched a classic GIF being born in real time.
While it’s a quintessential moment in the colorful career of a captivating champion whose polarizing personality always commanded the main stage, there was also something unique about this turn as the bad guy.
Of all the iconic instances in which Busch is remembered for playing the heel, this was among the least performative. The crying eyes gesture hardly required an acting job.
Busch was channeling his authentic disappointment at the perceived lack of appreciation that thousands showed for the enthralling series of haymakers just traded by two Hall of Fame-level talents.
In a failed attempt at a “slide job” (a dirt-racing maneuver involving out-braking to gain a spot), Kyle Larson drove into the side of Busch and then into the lead on the backstretch. Busch repaid the contact in the last turn and reclaimed the position for the win.
Epic stuff.
Yet a familiar chorus of boos still erupted as Busch triumphantly exited his No. 18 Toyota.
“When you put on a great show and have a really fun time being able to do everything as hard as you can to try to win a Cup Series race, for as hard as they are to win, it would certainly be nice to have some appreciation for putting on a good show for those fans,” he would later say. “When the boos are raining down on you in that moment, it certainly doesn’t make you feel good about yourself or what you just did, and so you sometimes aren’t thinking straight or clearly in those moments.”
His interview in the immediate aftermath underscored the genuine befuddlement with the negative reaction to a final lap destined to be replayed for eternity.
“I don’t know what you are all whining about, but if you don’t like that kind of racing, don’t even watch,” Busch said with a dismissive wave of his right hand that he followed by later blowing a kiss to the crowd. “Pretty cool going to Victory Lane.”
When he got there several minutes later, the next interview revealed he was still hung up on the crowd’s reaction.
“My fans, they’re pretty passionate, they’re pretty powerful for what we got going on with Rowdy Nation,” he said. “The rest of them, I don’t know what they’re booing about. That was a hell of a race. You got problems if you don’t like that.”
Of course, Busch could understand their reaction because he often was the one who stoked it over two decades and 234 wins in NASCAR’s top three national series.
Among stars who were comfortable and secure enough to wear the black hat, he was unequaled at effortlessly embracing the opportunity.
Smashing a guitar in Victory Lane at Nashville Superspeedway … literally dropping a mic in the Charlotte Motor Speedway media center … giving a sarcastic thumbs up in a post-Bristol Motor Speedway care center interview.
NBC Sports
The visuals are among the many reasons Busch was the “Most GIF-able Driver in NASCAR History.”
As he once put it, “people are obsessed with everything I do.”
And on July 1, 2018, there was ample reason to be mesmerized.
What’s forgotten about Busch’s win at Chicagoland is how unlikely it was.
He qualified 16th, failed to score a point in either stage and hardly factored until seizing control to lead the final 59 laps. On a scorching summer day, crew chief Adam Stevens was struck by how, “given how poor our car was,” Busch stayed focused on improving by giving strong feedback without giving up.
“We missed it all weekend,” Stevens said. “But he’s a one-in-a-million talent. The sport hasn’t seen too many people with his level of talent. To get the chance to win races with him is what every little boy dreams about.”
Even the runner-up was somewhat in awe of the finish.
“I love racing Kyle,” Larson said. “I know all you fans are probably mad at him, but hey, we put on a hell of a show for you guys. That was a blast. That’s got to be one of the best NASCAR finishes of all time.”
Maybe it’s also the way to reinterpret Busch’s gesture eight years later.
Editor’s Note: Keep tabs on this page for lineup advice following qualifying, including changes you should consider.
Fantasy Update: The more things change, the more they stay the same in 2026. Surprise, surprise, Toyota unloaded with an abundance of speed at Chicagoland Speedway as Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing paced practice on Friday. Denny Hamlin led the field in qualifying, winning his fourth Busch Light Pole Award of the season. RFK Racing showed up with legitimate speed, sweeping the second row. San Diego winner Corey Heim could play sleeper again this weekend, ranking inside the top five on five-, 10-, 15-, 20- and 25-lap averages in practice. The lone change in my lineup is adding a Toyota in Christopher Bell, and I’ll replace Kyle Larson with Hamlin as my 36 for 36 pick.
For the first time in 2,562 days, the Cup Series will return to the challenging and bumpy Chicagoland Speedway this weekend. Eighteen drivers — nearly half the field entered — have never run a Cup race at the 1.5-mile track. The last two events there in 2018 and 2019 had banger finishes, including Alex Bowman breaking through to Victory Lane for the first time. Kyle Larson was in the mix both times and participated in April’s Goodyear tire test, so look for the No. 5 team to be among the race favorites.
Returning to Fastlane this year is my weekly NASCAR 36 for 36 pick, where you can come play along. It’s a season-long points battle introduced in 2024 where strategy is the primary emphasis. With 36 chartered cars and 36 races on the 2026 schedule, players can choose each car once for the duration of the season.
Driver: Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Selections remaining: 4 Comment: Larson has notably excelled at venues with old asphalt, and Chicagoland is among the oldest surfaces on the circuit. The two-time Cup champion has finished runner-up in each of the last two trips to Joliet, including an epic last-lap battle with Kyle Busch in 2018. Through six starts, he holds a 6.2 average finish here, the best all-time among drivers with multiple starts.
Driver:Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Selections remaining: 2 Comment: With just a couple of starts remaining for Hamlin, I’m in a pickle this weekend. But whenever the series hits an intermediate track in 2026, he is the guy to beat, finishing fourth or better in the last six races at 1.5-mile tracks. Hamlin also participated in the Goodyear tire test in April.
Driver: Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota Selections remaining: 4 Comment: Even though Reddick has never made a Cup start at Chicagoland, this old surface falls right into his wheelhouse. His dirt background has helped him excel at sister tracks Darlington Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Reddick has four top-five and five top-10 efforts in the last six races at 1.5-mile tracks, with an average running position of 5.16 at those tracks in 2026.
David Jensen | Getty Images
DRIVERS TO AVOID
Driver: Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford Selections remaining: 7 Comment: With finishes of eighth or better in the last six Chicagoland races, this weekend serves as an opportunity for Logano to flip the script on his season after plummeting to 20th in points. But Penske’s intermediate program has left much to be desired in 2026, as Logano has finished outside the top 30 in two of the last three 1.5-mile events.
Driver: Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Selections remaining: 6 Comment: Given how Chicagoland drives, it seems like a good fit for Hocevar. But the No. 77 team has struggled recently, earning a single top 10 in the last 11 visits to 1.5-mile tracks. He could spend time up front, though, leading laps in nine of the last 10 races at the cookie-cutter tracks.
Driver:Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford Selections remaining: 7 Comment: Placing 15th at Sonoma stopped an abysmal skid for Keselowski of four straight finishes of 34th or worse. He is among the best at Chicagoland, with nine straight top-10 finishes in the heartland, including a pair of triumphs.
Matt Sullivan | Getty Images
FEATURED MATCHUPS
Ty Gibbs vs. Chase Briscoe
Pick: Briscoe Comment: Low-grip race tracks favor drivers with a dirt-racing background, and while Gibbs has been introduced to dirt racing in the last few years, Briscoe is embedded in it. Expect a big weekend from the No. 19 bunch.
Kyle Larson vs. William Byron
Pick: Larson Comment: This colossal matchup is a tough pick, but Larson gets the nod. He’s been a walking highlight reel at Chicagoland but is still searching for Victory Lane. Byron shouldn’t be overlooked, though, with six top 10s in the last seven races at 1.5-mile tracks and a series-best 9.4 average finish at them in the Next Gen car.
Todd Gilliland vs. Carson Hocevar
Pick: Hocevar Comment: While Hocevar hasn’t finished great at intermediate tracks, he is always fast at them. There is plenty of upside, and it’s a favorable matchup with Gilliland having yet to score a top-10 at a 1.5-mile track.
Alex Bowman vs. Austin Cindric
Pick: Bowman Comment: Entering the In-Season Challenge as the final seed, Bowman is this year’s Cinderella story, trying to pull off a Saint Peter’s-like run in this bracket-style format. He should have the clear advantage this weekend, with Cindric having only six top-15 finishes in the last 24 attempts at 1.5-mile races.
Pick: Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Comment: We’re swinging for the fences with this pick, but Chicagoland presents a grand opportunity for Larson to snap a 42-race winless drought. He has consecutive runner-up finishes at Chicagoland and has been in the hunt here since he was a rookie in 2014. For a driver who was recently the king of intermediates, Chicagoland is statistically his best with an average finish of 6.2.
