This week there’s a new NASCAR Cup Series Chase leader. And a new NASCAR Cup Series track. Kinda, sorta.
For the first time this season, Denny Hamlin will carry the Cup point lead into a race, in this case the oddly named eero (it’s a wireless router system) 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, a 1.5-mile oval track coming in from the cold.
Once again, Chicago will be in the NASCAR spotlight.
After hosting races for three consecutive years on a winding course cut into the streets of downtown Chicago, NASCAR returns to a “real” speedway Sunday. When they named Chicagoland Speedway, they were liberal with the use of “Chicago,” which is 45 miles northeast of the track.
The last Cup race there (technically in Joliet, Illinois) was in 2019, and there isn’t solid information on when the next one might be scheduled. NASCAR retains a Chicago Street Race office in downtown Chicago, presumably with plans to return to racing alongside Lake Michigan.
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Brad Keselowski at Chicagoland Speedway in 2015.
For now, though, it’s Chicagoland Speedway 2.0, setting up a rather weird scenario for the 19th race of the Cup season. Almost half of the expected field for Sunday’s race will be competing in a Cup event at Chicagoland for the first time. That list includes Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, Corey Heim, Carson Hocevar, and Shane van Gisbergen. The majority of the Cup “rookie” list at Chicagoland, however, has raced there either in the O’Reilly Auto Parts or Craftsman Truck series.
Only one current driver—Brad Keselowski—ranks in the top 10 in Cup laps led at Chicagoland, and he’s 10th on a list led by seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
Three full-time Cup teams—23XI Racing, Trackhouse Racing, and Kaulig Racing—were not involved in the Cup Series for the track’s most recent race.
Sunday’s race will start with an oddity. After last week’s event at Sonoma, Hamlin, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, replaced Tyler Reddick, driving for Hamlin’s 23XI Racing team, atop the Chase standings. Reddick had been No. 1 all season, but now Hamlin leads his team driver by one point.
Hamlin enters Chicagoland with momentum and good numbers. He scored top-10 runs in five of his last six races at the track, and he has six consecutive top-five finishes on 1.5-mile tracks.
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Three of Reddick’s past four races have ended with unimpressive finishes—35th at Michigan, 25th at San Diego, and 36th at Sonoma.
Elsewhere in the point standings, Shane van Gisbergen returned to Chase contention with his win at Sonoma and now is 14th. Chase Briscoe has moved from 17th to 11th in the past six races, and Ryan Preece jumped four spots to 15th in the past two.
Joey Logano (20th) and Ross Chastain (22nd) are the most prominent drivers currently below the cutline.
Mike Hembree has covered auto racing for numerous media outlets, including USA Today, NASCAR Scene, NBC Sports, The Greenville News and the SPEED Channel. He has been roaming garage areas and pit roads for decades (although the persistent rumor that he covered the first Indianapolis 500 is not true). Winner of numerous motorsports and other media awards, he also has covered virtually every other major sport. He lives near Gaffney, South Carolina and can be convinced to attend Bruce Springsteen concerts if you have tickets.