The Chase to the Sprint Cup Championship starts at Chicagoland Speedway in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400.
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He can thank a late caution in what has been an emotional year for the small-team driver. They opened the Chase for the Sprint Cup by proving just that Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.
“On one hand the bad luck was going to bite us and on the other we had a lot of time to battle back”, Truex said after the race. “My approach to all those things changed and made me a better driver”. The six-time Cup Series champion led the race for 118 laps – many of them in dominant fashion.
“Just don’t give up, just keep going, it’s a long way to go at that point”, said Truex.
With all but three of the lead-lap cars pitting, Truex restarted fourth and easily snagged the lead from Ryan Blaney for the triumph, his third of the season.
The 16 drivers left in the field will be gradually cut down over several rounds to 12, then 8 and finally the Championship 4 before the title is won on November 20 in Miami. And that’s what makes 2016 different for Truex and his Furniture Row Racing team. His 2016 season started with a near miss at the Daytona 500 and a Coca-Cola 600 win. She’s now in remission.
“Oh my goodness, Darlington all over again”, Truex told NBC Sports after the race. “We kind of made that decision before everyone else came (down pit road), and we had nothing to lose as far as points. That’s what we did today”.
Rookie Chase Elliott and top-seed and pole-sitter Kyle Busch were the next two fastest, followed by Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch.
“There is no easy outcome”, Elliott said. “That’s part of life, man”. We know these races don’t go green that long, typically. We know that we see late-race cautions way more often than not.
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) – Martin Truex Jr. was a lap down after he had to make an unscheduled pit stop for a completely unraveled tire.
“The pit crew was spot on and getting four tires at the end was a great call”, said Truex. Busch led 95 of the 150 laps on the 1.5-mile oval for his 167th win on NASCAR’s top three circuits.
But with drivers in their first green-flag stops, Aric Almirola’s team lost a tire. NASCAR said both cars failed two attempts to pass the laser inspection platform, but were ruled out of tolerance by the lowest levels.
But that all changed when Michael McDowell had an accident in Turn 4 with five laps left and all but three cars went into the pits for new tires.
“I feel for Chase”.
“I’m making adjustments and I was dumbfounded that happened”, Johnson said. “I wasn’t going to catch him”.
But he has yet to win a Cup championship; his best Chase finish was second in 2010.
Larson was also fastest in Saturday’s early practice that produced faster speeds under cooler conditions. Making his day worse, his auto failed postrace tech, and the potential 10-point penalty will send him into that three-way tie for 12th – the final cutoff spot to advance to the quarterfinal round after Dover. Truex could be docked 15 points, but the win locks him into the second round.
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Ty Dillon subbed in the race for Regan Smith, who remained in North Carolina to await the birth of is second child with wife Megan. Smith left the track Friday and returned to North Carolina after his wife went into labor. The incident was retribution for a race in Kansas when Logano spun Kenseth while racing for the win.
