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2011 Chicagoland Speedway

Winless no more. Tony Stewart Wins 1st Race of the Chase

Victory Lane Photo By Mark Rotor

The start of the race...

Poor-mouthing Tony Stewart, who four days ago minimized his chances for a third Sprint Cup title, outlasted the field in Monday’s rain-delayed Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Saving fuel during a 50-lap green-flag run to the finish, Stewart, who started 26th, crossed the stripe .941 seconds ahead of hard-charging Kevin Harvick to win his first race of the season and the 40th of his career, tying him with Mark Martin for 16th on the all-time list.

This is the same Stewart who had said at Thursday’s Chase media day in Chicago that there were seven drivers who could win the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup—and he wasn’t one of them.

“Counting Tony Stewart out—that’s pretty funny that he counts himself out,” said Harvick, who took the Chase lead by seven points over second-place Stewart. “He’s won a ton of races to start off the Chase like they did today.

“(He has) the notes and teammates and things to lean on at Hendrick Motorsports and Ryan (Newman) and all the stuff they have to lean on, there’s no way they’re going to be totally out to lunch. So I think that’s yet to be seen. So he ran strong all day and drove from the back to the front and led the race and won the race.

“So he shouldn’t count himself out—that’s pretty funny.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who saved enough fuel to get to the checkered flag, came home third, after other contenders—five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson among them—ran out of gas ahead of him.

Carl Edwards ran fourth, followed by Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch, as drivers in the Chase claimed the top six positions. Johnson finished 10th after NASCAR demoted polesitter Matt Kenseth—also out of gas—to 21st for getting a push from J.J. Yeley through Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap.

NASCAR rules prohibit one car from assisting another on the last lap.

Last year, in the first Chase race at New Hampshire, Stewart gambled on fuel mileage—and lost. He finished 24th in that race, severely damaging his title chances. Stewart said he wasn’t thinking about New Hampshire in the closing laps—just about the interval between his No. 14 Chevrolet and the cars that were chasing him.

“You hate to have to play the fuel-mileage game, but that’s just the way the caution came out,” Stewart said. “We came in and got fuel (on Lap 214 of 267) and (crew chief) Darian (Grubb) said we had to save a lap’s worth of fuel, but we had a whole run to do it.

“I felt like we had saved enough to get us to the end, but we came off Turn 2 after we got the checkered, and the fuel pressure was down to two pounds, and it stayed there until just shortly after we picked up the checkered flag at the flagstand. We didn’t do any wild burnout or anything like that, and we ran out before we ever got on pit road. So we were closer than I wanted to be.”

Given his position entering the Chase—12 points behind Kyle Busch and Harvick—Stewart felt he could take the chance on fuel.

“We didn’t have anything to lose,” he said. “Where we’re at in the Chase right now, we had to press.”

Kenseth took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. on Lap 228, 10 laps after a restart forced by the sixth caution of the race, for debris. Stewart passed Kenseth for the top spot through Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 238, with Kenseth needing to save fuel and not contesting the position.

Though Stewart briefly surrendered the lead to Truex in the closing laps, the No. 14 team wasn’t worried, because Truex couldn’t go the distance and had to pit for fuel. Truex finished 18th.

The first Chase race worked out brilliantly for Earnhardt, who ran out of fuel off Turn 4 on the final lap. Earnhardt was mired in traffic for much of the afternoon but worked his way into the top 10 during the final fuel run—and then let attrition take its course.

“I just knew we were going to get a good finish if we didn’t run out of fuel,” Earnhardt said. “I was happy where we were. I thought we had really improved throughout the day. And, yeah, it felt a lot similar to how we ran earlier in the year where we would … use strategy to improve our finishing position.”

The second race of the Chase is Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Photo Gallery from Monday's Race

Double Duty working just fine For Keselowski

With a full schedule of double-duty, Brad Keselowski, won Saturday’s Dollar General 300 Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in a prelude to his debut Sunday in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Keselowski won his third Nationwide race of the season and the 15th of his career, cruising to a decisive victory over Carl Edwards, whose chances at a victory evaporated when his No. 60 Ford ran out of fuel moments before a scheduled pit stop on Lap 124 of 200.

A day of firsts for Penske Racing

Today’s victory is Keselowski’s first win at Chicagoland Speedway. He is the first driver to win from a front-row start in 12 Chicagoland races

Penske Racing got its 20th career win, fourth win of 2011 and first win at Chicagoland.

Polesitter Brian Scott came home third, followed by Aric Almirola and Sam Hornish Jr. in a race that saw 10 cars finish on the lead lap. Series points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. held the top spot in the standings with an eighth-place finish.

Keselowski, who qualified sixth for the Cup race before taking the green later in the afternoon, held a 10-second lead over Edwards after a round of green-flag pit stops late in the race and cruised through the final 30 laps.

"It’s a great booster to get a win before going into the Chase," Keselowski said. "It was great execution today. That’s what it takes to win right now. Our Dodges are fast, and today we just executed really well and did what it takes."

Asked what might carry over into Sunday’s Cup race, Keselowski said, "There’s always the confidence—that’s the biggest thing."

Practicing for the Chase

During the early and middle portions of the race, Keselowski and Edwards—the only Chase drivers in the field—took turns dominating.

Keselowski wrested the lead from Scott on Lap 2 and stayed out front—with the exception of one lap under caution—until Edwards passed him in traffic on Lap 90.

"I’m going to take every one of those freakin’ lapped cars and wreck ’em," Keselowski vented, after one of the back markers failed to give him a lane to pass and facilitated Edwards’ move to the lead.

By the time Keselowski made a green-flag pit stop for tires and fuel on Lap 115, Edwards had extended his advantage to three seconds. Edwards waited until Lap 124 to pit—one lap too long, as it turned out.

Another Fuel Issue for Edwards

For Edwards, it was like ground hog day.. This past June Edwards was on track for a sure victory in the STP 300, Then his Ford Mustang ran out of fuel on the backstretch giving the victory to Justin Allgaier.

Edwards ran out of fuel on the way to his pit stall, and by the time the crew completed his service and his engine refired, he was nine seconds behind Keselowski and in fifth place when the cycle of stops was complete.

Charging Carl, too little to late

Edwards began to chip away at Keselowski’s advantage, narrowing the margin to 6.188 seconds by Lap 141. Later in the run, however, Edwards’ charge stalled, and on Lap 155, he was running third behind Keselowski and Scott, 5.635 seconds behind the leader.

"They told me to pit, and I was coming down the back straightaway, and I ran out of fuel," Edwards said. "So it took us a little longer in the pits. The guys did a really good job of keeping it running and got us back out there, and then we had a really long green-flag run (131 laps).

"I think our car was fast enough. I would have really liked the opportunity to go up there and race Brad. We just didn’t get that caution."

For Edwards and Roush, it will be wait until next year. Roush racing is winless at the Chicagoland Speedway. The odds are that Roush racing will end their drought in Chicago long before the Chicago Cubs do.

Keselowski takes a moment with a special fan

Brad Keselowski showed just how fan friendly NASCAR drivers can be on Saturday. After making a second place qualifying run, Brad took several moments to pose with a fan.

One thing can be said of Brad, he has matured and is becoming a great ambassador for NASCAR.

Austin Dillon Brings the #3 to Victory Lane Friday at the Fast 5 225.

Photos By Dan Peters

With a two-tire call on a late-race pit stop, Austin Dillon stole Friday night’s Fast Five 225 Camping World Truck Series race at Chicagoland Speedway from Kevin Harvick, who had dominated the event until the last round of stops.

Dillon won his second race of the season and the fourth of his career. Harvick came home second, almost five seconds back. Nelson Piquet Jr., Parker Kligerman and Kyle Busch completed the top five.

"This is the biggest win of my career, I think," Dillon, 21, said in victory lane. "I ran up there, racing with Kyle and Harvick. Harvick was great all night, but (crew chief Danny) Stockman made the call at the end to put us out on two tires.

"He knows when I get out front it’s like smelling blood for a shark. When we got out there, we could just take off. The team—they kept gaining spots every time we came on pit road. I love coming on pit road when they’re like that. It’s awesome."

Dillon moved up two spots in the series standings to second and trimmed 11th-place finisher James Buescher’s lead to three points. Johnny Sauter, who finished sixth, is six points back in third.

Harvick had led 99 laps by the time he came to pit road for his final stop on Lap 129 of 150.

Harvick took four tires, a decision necessitated by a vibration Harvick’s truck picked up during a green-flag run of 42 laps. That decision allowed Busch (who pitted on Lap 130 and took two tires) and Dillon (who came to pit road on Lap 131) to cycle out ahead of Harvick.

As Busch and Harvick battled for the second position, Dillon began to pull away, opening a lead of more than 4.7 seconds over Harvick with seven laps left.

"That definitely dictated a four-tire call," Harvick said of the vibration. "On the caution before (on Lap 84) we didn’t take any tires, so we had about 22 more laps on our tires. When you have a vibration like that, you want to win the race, but in the big picture—and the even bigger picture on Sunday (in the first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race)—we don’t need to blow a tire and have something happen.

"So when it got to the point of shaking bad enough to where I knew something was changing, I just came in and changed four tires. I knew at that point, they (Dillon and Busch) were going to do the opposite, but we had to change four."

Kurt Busch, Chicago’s Adopted Son, Visits Children’s Hospital.

A huge Cubs fan, Kurt Busch was the perfect fit for Chicagoland Speedway’s portion of Chase Media Week. Busch visited Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, coloring books, signing t-shirts and, for one young girl, signing a cast. Busch also went through his own media run, with hits on Showtime’s Inside NASCAR, ESPN’s NASCAR Now and a Dodge teleconference with print outlets.

He will continue his media tour tomorrow with appearances on local affiliates WGN, WLS and a hit on ESPN Radio. During Tuesday’s interviews, Busch focused his attention on the Chase, and not the ongoing feud with Jimmie Johnson that sparked up again at Richmond. Said Busch: "We are on offense moving forward. We are not on defense.

I am not worried about what happened at Richmond, because we have 10 weeks ahead of us to put ourselves in position for this championship."

Mike Wallace's Chevrolet Carries the Special Cowboys and Aliens Paint Scheme at Chicagoland Sppedway

Photos By Dan Peters

How well do you know your track?

In conjunction with celebrating our 10th Anniversary, we've selected 10 photos to represent each year we've been racing!

Go now and view the images of Chicagoland Speedway's history and identify the appropriate year. If you've match the photo with the correct year, you will be entered to win the best seats in the house VIP September Weekend Package.

Don't match all the photos to the years correctly, that's ok, you will be placed into a separate drawing to win tickets to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Race.

Just a friendly reminder, new to this season we have wider bench seating, more restrooms, coolers allowed, single day tickets and much more!

Click here to play!

Good luck to all.

Nationwide Qualifying... 17 cars ran ..Then the Rain ended the session

Kevin Harvick has his eyes on the sky... and for good reason. Moments later a heavy rain cancelled qualifying

It all starts here.. The Chase for the Sprint Cup

Two words describe the upcoming 10 races, in both driving style and championship handicapping: Wide open.

A 26-race regular season that brought us 15 different winners and five first-time victors, now offers up 12 championship contenders. These 12 – the best-of-the-best – will compete over the next 10 races, at 10 different tracks, in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

It all begins this Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, a fitting spot to kick-off NASCAR’s playoff. Chicago, one of the biggest sports towns in the country, knows big events. And this is one of the biggest on a busy NASCAR calendar.

Green flag for Sunday’s Chase-opening GEICO 400 is set for 2 p.m. ET.

Carl Edwards poses with a fan after driver introductions on Sunday

The weekend starts with the Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series racing kicks off the triple-header weekend with Friday night’s Fast Five 225. New points leader James Buescher looks to defend his top spot for the first time.

On Saturday afternoon, the NASCAR Nationwide Series runs the Dollar General 300 Powered by Coca-Cola. Illinois-native Justin Allgaier looks to complete the sweep of his home track.

Mighty Chase Field Gives Championship Wide Open Feel.

Five past champions will vie for the title. So will young guns who assuredly will one day fall under the “champion” umbrella. All are multi-time winners, and each have conquered at least two of the 10 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup tracks.

A rundown of the 12 drivers looking to reach the pinnacle of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing…

Kyle Busch: The top seed with 2,012 points (he owns the tiebreaker over Kevin Harvick via his two runner-ups vs. Harvick’s zero), Busch has six career wins at the upcoming 10 tracks. He scored the third-most points in the Race to the Chase – the 10 races preceding the Chase.

Kevin Harvick: Boasts momentum with his Richmond win, and Chase know-how thanks to his near-championship Chase last season. Has eight wins and a Driver Rating of 86.6 at the next 10 tracks.

Jeff Gordon: Has 31 wins at the next 10 tracks, more than any other driver. His Driver Rating of 97.7 at the next 10 ranks second, and he scored 392 points over the last 10 races, more than any other driver.

Matt Kenseth: A champion in 2003, Kenseth has seven wins and a Driver Rating of 91.9 at the next 10 tracks.

Carl Edwards: A whiz at intermediate tracks, so figure on a solid showing (five tracks in the Chase are 1.5 miles in length). He has seven wins at the upcoming 10 tracks.

Jimmie Johnson: Won the deal five consecutive times. Need we say more? Yes, and we do below.

Kurt Busch: Won the first ever Chase in 2004. It was also the closest (eight points), a nod to his championship mettle. He has eight wins at the remaining 10 tracks.

Ryan Newman: Newman has sneaky momentum. Scored six top 10s in the Race to the Chase. Newman also has 10 wins at the upcoming 10 tracks, which ranks tied for fourth-most among Chase drivers.

Tony Stewart: Only driver to win the championship in both the Chase era (2005) and pre-Chase era (2002). Stewart has 16 wins over the next 10 tracks, and a third-best Driver Rating of 97.7.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: The reigning eight-time Most Popular Driver had only one top 10 in the Race to the Chase. But his 10 wins over the next 10 tracks rank tied for fourth among Chase drivers.

Brad Keselowski: Scored the second-most points in the Race to the Chase (362), and scored six top 10s in the last seven races.

Denny Hamlin: Was last year’s championship runner-up, and held the lead going into the season finale at Homestead. Rolls into the Chase with three consecutive top 10s.

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NASCAR Nationwide Series at Chicagoland Speedway

September, 2011

Kevin Conway in the No. 87 Toyota owned by 1992 series champion Joe Nemechek is running a special paint scheme this weekend at Chicago. In an effort to assist the Joliet Police Department in the unsolved hit and run homicide case of Melissa Lech, the team will be displaying photos of Melissa plus JPD contact info on the hood of the No. 87 Toyota.

Michael Annett, a former ice hockey defenseman, previously called Chicago home during his junior year of high school. Annett led Team Illinois to the 2002 Calgary Mac’s AAA Hockey Tournament championship. Annett has three starts at Chicago, posting one top 10 finish. … Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will be attending the NASCAR Car Wash opening in Romeoville, Ill. on Thurs., Sept. 15th.

June 4, 2011

Allgaier wins at Chicagoland Speedway, runs out of gas coming to the checkered flag

Local favorite Justin Allgaier led only one lap, the final one and snatched victory from Roush driver Carl Edwards. Roush racing is still looking for a victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet

Edwards Pit Strategy fails.

Crew chief Mike Beam made a gamble for fuel only on the last pit stop. It nearly worked.

I thought I'd saved about a lap of fuel," Edwards said. "With five or six laps to go, Justin really started coming, so I laid it down."

And he ran out just before the entrance to Turn 3 on the 200th and final lap. Allgaier was wide-eyed at the sight.

"Coming off Turn 2, I didn't know if I'd have the time to catch him," Allgaier said. "Then he started wiggling, and I got a big grin."

Allgaier drew even, and as he did, his engine went silent. It was a coast to the finish, and Allgaier would win it. He led only the final lap, and only about seven-tenths of a mile of it.

"We were on power another 100 feet, and that was the difference," Allgaier said.

Nationwide Practice & Photos from Chicagoland Speedway Friday June 3, 2011

Danica Patrick Returns To NASCAR