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Chicagoland Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Notes

Chase Elliott leads Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. [Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images]

Chase Elliott leads Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Tales of the Turtles 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. [Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images]

 

 

by Paul Gohde

  • Kyle Busch lost his Stage 2 lead to Kevin Harvick when he pitted to check for a loose right-rear wheel. He was given a drive-through penalty for having a crew-member come over the wall too early. The penalty dropped him to 30th place, two laps down.
  • Former USAC and NASCAR star, “Fearless” Fred Lorenzen, was in attendance for Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway. Lorenzen, who hails from Elmhurst, IL, was a star on Chicago short-tracks in the 1950’s before moving south. was a two-time USAC Stock Car champion (1958-59) and won 26 times in NASCAR Cup races from 1959-1972. His most productive NASCAR years saw him race the iconic No. 28 Holman Moody Ford. He has battled health issues in the past few years, but was smiling while in the Media Center.
  • After NASCAR handed out 11 penalties during Saturday’s Xfinity race, three drivers (Martin Truex Jr, Erik Jones and Austin Dillon) were caught with pit road violations in the first 48 laps of Sunday’s Cup race.
  • Kyle Busch has held the lead in 18 of the past 19 races. The only one he failed to lead was the Daytona race in July.
  • Due to cloudy, overcast skies, the track temperature was 30-degrees cooler today than it was on Saturday. The Change caused many crews to reconsider their race set-ups.
  • Six Playoff drivers were one-lap down by Lap 200; not a good omen for the playoffs. Included in that group was early leader Kyle Busch who was finished in 15th-place.
  • Much speculation in the garages regarding the 2018 fate of drivers Matt Kenseth, Danica Patrick, Aric Almirola, Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch as well as the Richard Petty team that has lost its Smithfield sponsorship… Time will tell.
  • Attendance at Sunday’s Cup race appeared to be down quite a bit from 2016. TV shots from above seemed to show quite a few empty seating areas. Some talk of rain may have had an affect on the walk-up numbers. Crowds were reported to also be quite light for the weekend’s ARCA, Truck and Xfinity events on Thursday-Saturday. Next year’s Chicagoland NASCAR weekend will be on the last weekend in June with the Cup series race on July 1st, outside of the Playoff window.
  • Jamie McMurray battled back from an early spin to finish 10th and avoid digging himself a hole for the first round of the Playoffs.

 

 

 

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