Gateway NASCAR Playoff race will be about execution

The Enjoy Illinois 300 is going to be an execution race; or as these types are more commonly referred to under derision — a track position race.

And Denny Hamlin will take the green flag with the best track position possible after scoring his third pole of the season and on back-to-back weeks to start the Cup Series Playoffs.

This is a track position race because World Wide Technology Raceway (née Gateway) is the type of race track the current configuration of the NextGen car hates the most. It’s a relatively flat track, 11 degrees of banking in Turns 1 and 2, and two less in 3 and 4.

In other words, any issues on pit road or a mistake on the track, will be near impossible to come back from purely from a race craft standpoint. To wit, William Byron chuckled and simply said ‘no,’ when asked on Saturday before qualifying if this was a race where he mistake could be overcome.

“This is a place where you need to execute really well,” Byron said. “You need to execute all day and you need to be towards the front and if you have some strategy things that happen where you fall out of the top-10, you have to find some way to advance forward.”

NASCAR and Goodyear have delivered a new tire combination for this track after three years, the same combination that was new for Iowa earlier in the summer too, but the general consensus throughout the field is that on-track passes will be hard to come by.

This includes Austin Dillon.

“I think that qualifying today, again, if we can execute like we did at Darlington — this is a place that is tougher to pass than Darlington,” Dillon said. “Maintaining track position is a bit easier because of that but you also have to do a really good job in strategy and different things.”

Which by the way, as best articulated by Austin Cindric, sometimes maintaining track position isn’t even something that a team and driver can even control.

“The caution that I don’t know is going to happen in the middle of stage two or stage three,” Cindric said. “That’s not necessarily in my control but the strategy for this race is going to be probably as challenging as a road course in the playoffs because of how important track position is going to be. How tight the fields going to be. You know qualifying today will be exceptionally important to give yourself options.”

Playoff driver starting spots

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Kyle Larson
3. Chase Briscoe
4. Ross Chastain
5. Ryan Blaney
6. William Byron
7. Tyler Reddick
8. Christopher Bell
9. Austin Cindric
12. Josh Berry
13. Joey Logano
14. Bubba Wallace
15. Austin Dillon
18. Shane Van Gisbergen
19. Chase Elliott
25. Alex Bowman

Of these drivers, only Southern 500 winner Chase Briscoe is unconcerned about points for the next two weeks right now because he is already locked into the Round of 8.

Current Playoff Grid

Chase Briscoe Adv.
Denny Hamlin +43
Kyle Larson +38
Tyler Reddick +35
Bubba Wallace +25
William Byron +25
Ryan Blaney +22
Ross Chastain +21
Austin Cindric +12
Christopher Bell +11
Chase Elliott +9
Shane Van Gisbergen +3
—
Joey Logano -3
Austin Dillon -8
Alex Bowman -19
Josh Berry -19

Basic mathematics

Of the playoff drivers, beyond locked-in Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick are the most comfortable in advance of Sunday. Everyone else is already facing long odds or are one bad day from elimination.

That includes Chase Elliott, just nine points up, who does not want points updates on Sunday.

“None,” Elliott said about how much he cares to know what’s happening. “If it were the last race and you are in a position or two, you are going to be made aware of that, but otherwise, it’s pretty straightforward.

“It’s simple math. You know who’s in and who you are around and you have a general awareness of everything. If you’re in front of the other playoff guys, that’s generally a good thing, and if you’re not, it’s generally a bad thing.”

Elliott said everyone in his media scrum passed basic math and that’s what this comes down to.

At 25 up, Bubba Wallace says ‘we are in a good spot’ so he isn’t obsessing over points either.

“It’s different looking at the points now then when we were on the bubble before we won,” Wallace said. “We’re 25 up? Yeah. I’ll take that.”

Austin Dillon is eight under but thinks he should have a chance to score stage points and challenge for a top-10.

“I think the past history of Kyle (Busch) running really well here and winning,” Dillon said. “Last year, we had a very fast car and we were able to take advantage of that and finish sixth and score stage points. If we score some stage points and finish in the top-10, I feel like we’ll go into Bristol just above the cutline, and then we’ve got to do the same thing there.”

And then, there’s just Briscoe, who wants to know what’s going on but only as a race fan.

“Yeah, I love knowing. Just the fan in me. I like to know what is going on and what guys are racing for. I just like knowing what is going on. So yeah, I’ll ask James (Small, crew chief) all of the time. We’ve not really been in that situation yet, but I think Jeff was asking me the other week, I can just ask him a random question and James is tense all of the time, he’ll jump me. (laughter) I’m sure at some point it is coming over the course of the next nine weeks – him telling me I need to stop worrying about everyone else, but I just love knowing. So yeah, I’ll definitely be asking for sure, and I’ll be checking out the big screen under caution to kind of know what is going on.”

Photos from Gateway – PracticeBrad Keselowski, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Brad Keselowski, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Cody Ware, Rick Ware Racing Ford

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Chevrolet, Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Chevrolet

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Chevrolet

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Toyota

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing Toyota

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Austin Cindric, Team Penske Ford

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Noah Gragson, Front Row Motorsports Ford

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Chris Graythen – Getty Images

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Gateway NASCAR Playoff race will be about execution

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