This weekend will mark the first NASCAR action at Chicagoland Speedway since 2019. Prior to that, the circuit made a yearly stop at the 1.5-mile track for 19 consecutive seasons, starting in 2001. The sport returned to the Windy City three years ago to race in the streets of downtown Chicago and completed a successful run last season.
THE SCHEDULE
- Sunday, July 5– NASCAR Cup Series, 6 p.m. ET (TNT)
UP TO SPEED
BLANEY TOP 10 STREAK AT SIX
Ryan Blaney extended his streak of Top 10 finishes to sixth after his sixth-place run on Sunday in Sonoma. The only race keeping that streak from being eight came last month when he finished 11th at Watkins Glen International. The Team Penske driver currently sits third in the point standings as he heads to Chicagoland Speedway, where he has four career starts and a best finish of fourth (2016).
ZANE SMITH MAKING 100TH CUP START
Ford Racing’s Zane Smith will be making his 100th career NASCAR Cup Series start this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. Smith is in the midst of a breakout year as he’s already established career-highs for most Top 10 finishes (6) and laps led (62) in a single season. He’s currently 23rd in the point standings and 61 points out of the final Chase berth with eight races remaining. This will mark his first Cup start at Chicagoland, but he does have one NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series start at the facility with that coming in 2019 when he finished 17th.
FOUR IN CHASE POSITIONS
With eight races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, four Ford drivers find themselves in Chase positions. As noted above, Ryan Blaney is tops on the list in third while Chris Buescher is solidly in the field in seventh. Ryan Preece (15th) and Austin Cindric (16th) are both on the Chase bubble and are separated by only one point.
IN-SEASON CHALLENGE UPDATE
Four Ford drivers advanced to the second round of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge and are still alive for the $1 million bonus that will be awarded at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Todd Gilliland and Chris Buescher all emerged victorious in their opening matchups. This weekend, Cindric is paired against Alex Bowman while Gilliland battles Carson Hocevar. Blaney and Shane van Gisbergen are matched up on the other side of the bracket with Buescher set to face Christopher Bell.
SITTING ON 749
The next Ford win will be its 750th all-time in NASCAR’s top series. Ned Jarrett is Ford’s win leader with 43 while Bill Elliott is second with 40. Shirtless Jimmy Florian scored the Blue Oval’s first series victory when he upset the likes of Lee Petty, Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly at Dayton Speedway on June 25, 1950. Florian earned his nickname after getting out of his 1950 flathead Ford without a shirt. Overall, 91 drivers have won at least one series race with Ford, including notable drivers Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt.
THEY SAID IT
RYAN BLANEY
YOU PARTICIPATED IN THE APRIL TEST AT CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY. WHAT DID YOU THINK?
“It was nice to be there. That was the first time we’ve been there since ‘19 and the track was actually in really good shape. I thought the property looked great. A lot of fans came out. They said they had over 1,000 people that just came out to watch practice for a little bit. The track is very similar to what I remember it being. There’s a big patch bump into one, big bump over the tunnel. We didn’t get super wide. We only got to a couple lanes at the test, but it’s just dirty. If you don’t start up there, it just eventually gets too dirty to run it, but when we go back there we’re gonna use everything, which is good. The surface is pretty worn out, but I’m excited to get back there. I think it’s gonna put on a great show. I think this car is gonna perform really well there when it has multiple lanes and stuff like that, so I’m excited.”
A LOOK BACK
KESELOWSKI RECORDS FIRST FORD WIN
Brad Keselowski owns the only Ford victory at Chicagoland Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series as he finally broke through on Sept. 14, 2014 while driving for Team Penske. Keselowski won the opening race of the postseason with an aggressive pass as he went between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson to take the lead with 16 laps to go. That marked Keselowski’s second straight series victory after winning at Richmond the week before and fifth overall that season.
FORD'S PAST NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS AT CHICAGOLAND
2014 – Brad Keselowski
