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Preview: The Kansas Speedway hosts Chase race No. 4 on this 1.5-mile, flat tri-oval track. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series last raced here in June. At that time, Brad Keselowski won, though teammate Kurt Busch led the most laps in a race that came down to fuel mileage.
Preview: Dover is the third race of the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, the first two having been won by Tony Stewart, who now leads the point standings. Although he’s won twice at Dover in 25 starts, Stewart’s two wins here came back-to-back in 2000, and Dover has not been a great track for him recently.
Preview: It’s race number two in the ten-week Chase for Sprint Cup and the first time that Loudon has been the second Chase race. Last week’s race at Chicago was won by Tony Stewart, posting his first win of the 2011 season and shaking up the early point standings.
Date: Sunday, September 18, 2011
Time: 2:16 PM ET (scheduled green flag)
TV: 2:00 PM ET on ESPN
Preview: At long last, the ten-race NASCAR Chase is here, starting with this Sunday’s “GEICO 400” at Chicagoland Speedway. This is the first time since the inception of the Chase in 2004 that it has started at the Chicago track, and only the 11th race at the speedway in Sprint Cup history. All seven previous Chase sessions started at Loudon, New Hampshire, and all ten previous Chicago races took place in July. In addition, the once-a-year Chicago race has been a Saturday night event since 2008. Seven of the ten races here have been won by Chevy teams, while Ford has never been to Victory Lane at Chicago in a Cup race. Six of the 12 Chase drivers are previous winners here.
Safe Bet: (odds of less than 10/1)
• Jeff Gordon (7/1): Gordon has the best average finish at Chicago (8.6) with a win here in 2006. He finished 2nd in 2009 and 3rd in 2010. Gordon was 6th-fastest in Happy Hour and also looked strong on longer runs. He won at Atlanta two weeks ago and finished 3rd last week at Richmond. Gordon is 3rd in points to start the Chase.
Mid Range: (odds between 10/1 – 20/1)
• Kevin Harvick (10/1): Harvick and Tony Stewart are the only drivers with more than one win at Chicagoland with two wins a piece. Harvick’s wins here came back in 2001-2002, but he’s finished 4th or better three of the last five Chicagoland outings. Kevin was in the top 3 in Happy Hour and will be riding the momentum of last weekend’s win at Richmond, where he led 202 laps. He starts the Chase tied with Kyle Busch for the points lead.
Long Shot: (odds of greater than 20/1)
• Kasey Kahne (22/1): Though he’s never won at Chicago, Kahne has finished as high as 3rd (2009) and ran 6th here last year. In Happy Hour practice on Friday, he was second-fastest on the speed chart, which could lead to a strong qualifying run and good pit stall selection Saturday.
Summary: There are lots of unknowns heading into Sunday’s race, since the Cup Series has never run here in September and hasn’t had a daytime race at Chicago since 2007. But, with half the current Chase field previous winners at Chicagoland, it won’t be surprising to see a Chase contender in Victory Lane again on Sunday.
Preview: As far as big races go, the second Richmond race on the Cup schedule is huge. It’s the last race of the “regular season,” making it the site where the Chase field is set.
Preview: For the first time since NASCAR began racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1960, the Sprint Cup circuit is making just one stop at AMS this year.
Preview: It’s time for short track beatin’ and bangin’, NASCAR style! This week, the Cup Series visits Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night for the “Irwin Tools Night Race.”
Preview: It’s getting to be that time of year when the Sprint Cup circuit starts circling back to tracks they’ve recently raced on. Such is the case with Michigan International Speedway, which just hosted a Cup race on June 19.
Preview: NASCAR’s annual trek to upstate New York and Watkins Glen International represents the second of just two road-course races on the 36-race Sprint Cup schedule.
Preview: If it seems like NASCAR was just at this track recently, you’re right. This is the Cup boys’ second visit to the “Tricky Triangle” this year, having just raced here in mid-June. That race was won by Jeff Gordon with Kurt Busch finishing second.
Preview: Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been the home of the Indy 500 for 100 years, but NASCAR has only been competing on the hallowed racing ground since 1994. IMS is a very flat 2.5-mile quad-oval which the Cup Series visits just once a year for the Brickyard 400.
Preview: Loudon, New Hampshire, a flat 1.058-mile oval track, is a technical race track that many drivers consider challenging, as Denny Hamlin explained Friday:
Preview: Saturday night’s race at Kentucky Speedway marks a couple of firsts – it’s the first time the Cup Series has ever raced here, as well as the first new track on the Cup circuit since 2001. Kentucky is a bumpy 1.5-mile oval that Ryan Newman describes as “part of the cookie-cutter spectrum of race tracks.”
Preview: The big issue so far at Daytona has been rain. Only one practice session was held on Thursday and it was rain-shortened, but led by Marcos Ambrose and AJ Allmendinger, both in Fords, followed by the Penske Dodge tandem of Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski.
Preview: Road courses in NASCAR – most fans either love them or loathe them, but either way they are definitely a diversion from oval track racing.
Preview: For the past few weeks, pit strategy and fuel mileage have been taking center stage in the Cup Series and that might be the case again this weekend at Michigan, where fuel mileage often comes into play as the race winds down.
