GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS FOR NASCAR CUP TEAMS AHEAD OF CHICAGO STREET RACE ON NBC
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to the streets of Chicago for a festival of cars and concerts.
Shane van Gisbergen is back to defend his victory in last year’s inaugural event.
NBC and Peacock will have coverage of Sunday’s race. Pre-race coverage begins at 4 p.m. ET.
Here’s a look at where things stand for each Cup organization entering the 20th race of the season.
23XI Racing — Good news: All three of Tyler Reddick’s Cup road course wins have come in the Next Gen car. … Reddick has finished in the top 10 in 10 of the last 12 road course races. Bad news: Despite finishing seventh at Nashville, Bubba Wallace fell to 51 points below the playoff cutline with Joey Logano winning.
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Michael McDowell placed second at Sonoma in the most recent road course race. … Todd Gilliland has scored eight consecutive top-20 finishes. Bad News: It has been 31 races since the organization last won, which was a victory by McDowell at the Indianapolis road course in August 2023.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: The organization has won both road course races this season. William Byron won at COTA, and Kyle Larson won at Sonoma. … Byron has finished first or second in three of the last four road course races. … Larson has scored a series-high 207 stage points. He’s scored at least 50 more stage points than any other driver in the series except Denny Hamlin. … Chase Elliott has finished in the top 20 in all 19 races this season. The last time a driver had done that after 19 races was Ricky Rudd in 1991. Bad news: Elliott has seven wins on road courses — most among active drivers — but none have come in the Next Gen car. … Alex Bowman holds the final playoff spot. He’s the only driver in a playoff position without any playoff points this year.
Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Christopher Bell has won a series-high nine stages this season. He has won at least one stage in four of the last six races. He also has led 28.9% of the laps run in the last six races. Bad news: Denny Hamlin’s lone road course win came in 2016 at Watkins Glen. … Martin Truex Jr. has one top 10 in the last seven races. He’s led a total of two laps in the last five races. He was passed for the win in both road course races this year. … Ty Gibbs has not had a top 10 in the last five races. He’s led a total of two laps in those races.
JTG Daugherty Racing — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. scored five stage points on the road course at COTA, one of five races he’s scored stage points this season. Bad news: August will mark 10 years since the organization’s lone win on a road course. AJ Allmendinger won at Watkins Glen in 2014.
Kaulig Racing — Good news: Defending race winner Shane van Gisbergen, who won in a Trackhouse car last year, will be in the No. 16 this weekend. … AJ Allmendinger will be in the No. 13. Allmendinger has finished sixth in both Cup road course events this season. … Daniel Hemric is coming off a ninth-place finish last weekend at Nashville. Bad news: It has been 21 races since the team last had a top-five result. That was Allmendinger’s fifth-place result last October at Homestead.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: The team has more top 10s through 19 races this year than it did last year. The team has four top 10s this year. It had three at this point last year. John Hunter Nemechek has three of those top 10s. Erik Jones has the other. Bad news: The organization’s best finish has been outside the top 25 in three of the last five races, including last weekend’s race at Nashville when Nemechek placed 31st.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Austin Hill will drive the No. 33 car for the team this weekend. Bad news: Kyle Busch’s average running position this year is 17.6, the worst in his career through 19 starts in a season. … Austin Dillon has two top 10s in 36 starts on road courses.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Although he was on a different team last year, Justin Haley finished second in last year’s Chicago race. … He comes into this weekend having placed 13th or better in four of the last seven races. He was 13th at Nashville despite having to start at the rear and driving through pit road after taking the green because of an infraction. … Kaz Grala finished 10th in last year’s Xfinity race at Chicago. Bad news: The organization has never had a top 10 on a road course.
RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher has three top-five finishes in the last four races. … He has 12 top-10 finishes in the Next Gen car on road courses, most of all drivers during that span. … Road racer Joey Hand will drive the No. 60, giving the organization three cars for this weekend. … Brad Keselowski’s pit crew had a four-tire pit stop of 9.162 seconds, the third fastest this year, according to Racing Insights. … Bad news: Brad Keselowski has one top-10 finish in the last 20 road course races.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Zane Smith finished a career-high second at Nashville. … Spire has had at least one car finish in the top 20 in each of the last five races, its longest streak of the season. ... Carson Hocevar has scored five consecutive top-20 finishes. ... Corey LaJoie qualified a season-best fifth at COTA this season. Bad news: Sunday’s Cup race at Chicago marks five years to the day since Spire Motorsports won its one and only Cup race, capturing the victory at Daytona with Justin Haley. ... NASCAR penalized Hocevar $50,000 and 25 points for his actions under caution at Nashville.
Stewart-Haas Racing — Good news: Ryan Preece finished a season-best fourth at Nashville. … Chase Briscoe has six top 10s through 19 races this season. He had eight top 10s all of last year. … Noah Gragson was 10th at Nashville, giving him six top 10s this season. … Josh Berry has started in the top 10 in three consecutive races. Bad news: It has been 67 races since the organization last won, which was a victory by Kevin Harvick at Richmond in August 2022.
Team Penske — Good news: The organization has won a race eight consecutive weekends in either NASCAR, IndyCar and IMSA. … The organization is the first in NASCAR this year to have all of its drivers win Cup points races. Joey Logano won at Nashville, Ryan Blaney won at Iowa and Austin Cindric won at World Wide Technology Raceway. Bad news: Team Penske’s last road course win came September 2018 at the Charlotte Roval by Blaney.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Ross Chastain has finished in the top 10 in both road course events this year. He was seventh at COTA and fifth at Sonoma. … Daniel Suarez qualified a season-best seventh at Sonoma in the most recent road course event. ... Three of the organization’s seven Cup wins have come on road courses, including Shane van Gisbergen’s win at Chicago last year. Bad news: The organization has not had a car start in the top 10 in three of the last five races.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Harrison Burton has scored stage points in four races this year. He scored stage points in one race last season. Bad news: Burton has started better than 25th once in the last nine races.