Martin Truex Jr. passed Ryan Blaney to win NASCAR’s playoff opener Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, a victory that assures Truex advancement to the next round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Chris Buescher is seeded 13th and Chase Elliott 14th. Cars pitted, and Truex got out ahead of Elliott.
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Heading into the Chase, Toyota drivers have won half the races, led by the reigning champion Busch, who has four victories. Penalties for cars that fail inspection could cost a driver the title.
Simon Pagenaud gave Roger Penske an IndyCar championship to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the most storied organization in motorsports. Let’s face it, no one would be shocked if the six-time champ goes out and dominates Sunday, and he has the potential to be the steal of the weekend.
Elliott is a rookie. With 10 top-10 finishes through 26 races, Johnson will have to finish in the top 10 in each of the Chase races just to match his lowest career total of 20 in a season (2003 and 2014).
Do you think that Jamie McMurray got his ride because his vehicle is sponsored by McDonalds? While other drivers sweated out adjustments and dings, Elliott found himself leading 75 laps.
Elliott has done just about done everything but win in his first full season on the Cup circuit. It was returned to action for the August 1 race at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, where it qualified No. 1 before a fluke mishap led to a 38th-place finish. Meanwhile, Bowman showed top 10 speed during practice, and he has shown top 10 potential when he has subbed for Dale Earnhardt Jr. this year, albeit without great finishes. The only thing his hasn’t done is win. We’ve we’ve all watched as the long have we know that. “It was just a matter of time before we got around him”, Jones said. In Victory Lane, he said, “Harvick ran into us and bent our fender, I think on goal and we had to come back from that”.
Especially given his early trouble.
“Very, very proud of the effort, just so bummed”, Johnson said after using three expletives in frustration. How are we going to overcome it? We’re lucky it happened early and we were able to have an awesome race vehicle all day.
“But with that not being the case, we’re just frustrated”. And we know that we see lately it’s cautions. “I had fresh tires, he was lapped and that was after I had my flat (so) I was racing to get my lap back”.
Newman’s Chase hopes were vanquished when Stewart wrecked him in an apparent retaliatory move on the back stretch with 37 laps remaining. Twelve drivers will advance to the second round.
These days, even the cranky drivers become quite pleasant once they win a race because they’re locked into a playoff spot. Sadler had a substantial points lead that’s wiped out under the new Chase format.
Based on recently released guidelines, Johnson could be docked 10 points.
It was Truex, by the way, that smacked Harvick’s auto and led to Harvick’s troubled day.
After this race, the bottom four also included Kyle Larson and Tony Stewart.
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Kyle Larson (changed transmission), Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick (body modifications) were penalized by NASCAR’s pre-race inspection and had to start at the rear of the field. Starting outside the top 20 with a vehicle that cracked the top 10 in practice, Blaney has a chance to deliver a big score for a very affordable price. The organization extended its winless streak to 22 races, which NBC Sports said tied the organization’s longest such streak since 1994. Denny Hamlin survived a weird incident in which a lug nut went airborne, hit his windshield and with into his cowling. He has also led more than 40 laps in each of the last three races at Chicagoland, leading a race-high 121 laps a year ago. After starting in pole position, Busch led 21 laps before Johnson took control of the race. Not that he won’t try.
