Welcome to Racing America On SI’s live NASCAR race updates post for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. This post will be updated throughout the day on Sunday with key updates leading into and through the second race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Related: Previewing the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWT Raceway

Video highlights of crashes or incidents will be populated along with lead changes, stage and race results, and more. Continue checking back for additional updates on the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway throughout the day.

Enjoy Illinois 300 Pre-Race Info

The Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway will be televised on USA Network and can be streamed on the HBO Max streaming platform, as well as the NBC Sports App. The race broadcast will begin at 3:00 PM ET.

The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of Sunday’s race. For subscribers of the HBO Max streaming service, NASCAR Driver Cam, which streams live in-car camera footage from every car in the field, will be available for today’s race.

The overall race purse, which teams will fight for their portion of in Sunday’s race, is a total of $9,797,935.

The race distance is 240 laps around the 1.25-mile oval, which equates to a 300-mile race distance.

The Enjoy Illinois 300 will be broken up into three Stages. Stage 1 will end at the conclusion of Lap 45. Stage 2 will end at the conclusion of Lap 140. And the race is scheduled to finish at the end of Lap 240, barring an Overtime finish.

The winner of Stages 1 and 2 will be awarded one Playoff Point, and the overall race winner will be awarded five Playoff Points. The Playoff Points will be added to the reseeded point totals in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, and will be carried through each round of the Playoffs.

This race is the second race of the three-race Round of 16 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. If one of the 16 drivers in the Playoffs wins this event, they will automatically advance to the Round of 12 of the Playoffs. Chase Briscoe locked his spot into the Round of 12 with a win last weekend at Darlington Raceway. Briscoe will start third on Sunday at Gateway.

Austin Cindric, who drives the No. 2 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is the defending winner of this race. Cindric is a Playoff driver, so a repeat win for him in this race would move him onto the next round of the Playoffs.

Denny Hamlin Rockets to Second Straight Pole to Start 2025 Playoffs

Two races into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, we still have just one driver, who has collected pole positions as Denny Hamlin collected his second consecutive pole position Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Hamlin claimed the pole with a 32.330-second (139.190 mph) lap time, which was enough to top Kyle Larson for the top spot by 0.021 seconds. The pole is the third of the season for Hamlin and it’s the 46th of his NASCAR Cup Series career. Incredibly, Hamlin feels he could have been better during his lap.

“I thought I could have done a little bit better job for the team. But I’m proud of this whole Progressive Toyota team. Chris and the whole guys, making really great adjustments,”said Denny Hamlin. “That’s what they did so well last week, was make those good adjustments before qualifying. Now, we’ve got great track position. Just have to maintain it, and we’ll be in good shape.”

Enjoy Illinois 300 Starting Lineup

Pos

Car

Driver

Lap time

Speed

1

11

Denny Hamlin (P)

32.330

139.190

2

5

Kyle Larson (P)

32.351

139.099

3

19

Chase Briscoe (P)

32.397

138.902

4

1

Ross Chastain (P)

32.408

138.855

5

12

Ryan Blaney (P)

32.432

138.752

6

24

William Byron (P)

32.467

138.602

7

45

Tyler Reddick (P)

32.501

138.457

8

20

Christopher Bell (P)

32.512

138.410

9

2

Austin Cindric (P)

32.571

138.160

10

38

Zane Smith

32.674

137.724

(P) indicates Playoff Drivers

Click here for the complete official starting lineup for the Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway.

No. 41 Haas Factory Team Penalized After Multiple Pre-Race Inspection Failures

NASCAR has ejected Marc Hendrickson, an engineer for the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series, after the car failed pre-race inspection twice prior to practice and qualifying on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Additionally, the No. 41 team lost their chance to select a pit stall, in which the selection order is determined by qualifying position.

The car passed inspection on its third attempt through the inspection bay, which means there were no further penalties assessed to Cole Custer and the No. 41 Haas Factory Team entry.

The Haas Factory Team has had a big week as it announced on Friday that it will swap manufacturers in 2026 from Ford to Chevrolet, and the team will form a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports with the manufacturer change.

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