The Toyotas continue their winning ways in the Windy City.
Prior to last weekend’s race at Chicagoland Speedway, the last NASCAR Cup series race was held there on June 30, 2019. Almost 7 years to the day, the series returned. I was eager to see what the learning curve would be, since many drivers in the field had never raced at Chicagoland before, and none of them had raced the NextGen car here before.
As a result, I wasn’t surprised to see Denny Hamlin on the pole. I was similarly unsurprised to see Kyle Larson on the outside pole, just 0.001 seconds behind his friend and rival. In the leadup to last week’s event, the infamous 2018 Kyle and Kyle show clip – complete with Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s famous “SLIDE JOB!” call – was reposted countless times on social media. It was a great memory to be sure, but a stark reminder of what the sport has lost. We still miss you, KFB. We always will.
Austin Hill, driving Kyle Busch‘s renumbered RCR machine, apparently still hasn’t smoothed things over with Shane van Gisbergen after their crash in San Diego. They tangled with each other early in the race, with Hill showing his displeasure by whacking SVG during the ensuing caution. When asked about it later, van Gisbergen stated that he’d consider trying to talk things over with Hill, who, in his words, “just grunts.”
It was a rough day for RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece, who went several laps down after a first-lap crash with Erik Jones, causing him to slide to 15th in the season standings. Connor Zilisch attempted to avoid the crash, but wiped himself out, resulting in his seventh DNF of the season.
The winner of the day would be Chase Briscoe, who held off teammate Christopher Bell, relegated to yet another second-place finish. Denny Hamlin would finish third, extending his points lead over Tyler Reddick, who finished 36th after another mechanical failure. With the series heading to Echopark Speedway in Atlanta this weekend, we expect the Toyotas to continue running strong. Will Reddick bounce back before the regular season is over?
Photo: Associated Press
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