Seven Toyotas finish in the Top-Ten before a packed house
By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
Joliet,Ill. —Joliet, Ill. — With NASCAR returning to Chicagoland for the eero400, nearly half of the starting grid has never raced at the track. Some drivers, like Kyle Larson wonder if the top groove will be safe to drive, and others took to driving all over the track from the start of CUP practice. Denny Hamlin is on the pole, the fourth straight non-road race he starts out front.
Denny Hamlin leads the field to green
First Stage – (Lap1-80)
On lap one, Connor Zillisch and Ryan Preece collide between 2/3. Zillisch is done with heavy right front damage. Hamlin leads the field to the restart on lap six and Larson and Chris Buescher move the 11 to third. The field starts with Michael McDowell, who failed inspection three times and had to do a green-flag pass through the pits, getting lapped on 29. Hamlin goes back to the lead on lap 19 with Larson falling to second. Reddick is the big mover, going up seven spots. Toyota advises drivers to stay the low line. Zane Smith brings out the caution on lap 32, going into the wall. Most of the field pits on lap 34.
Moving to lap 53, Cindric cycles to the lead with Joey Logano going by . Heavy action moves Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Christopher as your new lap 57 top-3. Seven Toyotas are in the top-11. William Byron and Larson go by Cindric on lap 69. Byron wins the stage with Larson 2, and Wallace third. Hamlin leads 24 of 80 laps and finishes the stage in 8th.
Stage Two (Laps 81-165)
Byron leads Bubba Wallace and Larson to a lap 89 restart. Bubba goes side by side on lap 91. Bubba goes out front later inthe lap. Larson goes around on turn four, bringing a caution. Larson is towed and goes laps down. Bubba leads Byron and Hamlin to the green flag on lap 99. Bubba continues to lead over Byron by 1.228 on lap 118. Briscoe takes the lead with Hamlin,and Wallace 2-3. Reddick pits on lap 132 and is pulled behind the wall with fluids spilled all over the track. Drivers are either sitting pretty or are trapped a lap down with the Reddick mishap. The race resumes on lap 143 with Chase Briscoe moving to the front with Byron and Chase Elliott 2/3. Byron takes the lead on lap 144. The last laps are controlled by Byron, who earns his first stage win of the year. Broscoe and Hamlin are 2/3.
Final Stage (Laps 166-Finish)
After seven dead laps between the stages, Byron leads the field to green. Toyota’s are 2-5 behind the #24 early in the stage. By lap 188, William Byron in the No. 24 Anduril Chevrolet leads from the top spot. Byron started 10th and has led 68 laps across six times out front. He recorded his best lap of 30.257 seconds at 178.471 mph on lap 90 and has run 32 fastest laps. Byron has maintained an average running position of 3.57 and has completed 140 laps in the top five and 182 laps in the top 10. Bubba Wallace inherits the lead after a lap 217 pitstop by Byron. With the field cycling, multiple leaders emerge before Byron trails Chase Briscoe. Briscoe leads 51 laps in the final Stage to secure the victory
Race Winner- Chase Briscoe
According to a lot of people and Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe was the driver to beat the second half of the 2025 season. He made it to the final four, where he finished fourth. Not at Chicagoland. Briscoe led 51 laps and was the first of seven Toyota machines in the top-10. Holding off Bell in the final laps was the key for the driver of the 19. “Yeah, it was super close. You know, he about won the race in three and four with two or three to go. We kind of caught a lap car. We were going to have to run the top, because lap car was going to the bottom. I kind of ran a little too high, and he almost — I mean, he was so close to getting in my left rear. If he gets in my left rear, he instantly wins the race. But was able to just barely squirt in front of him.”
They Said It
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Anduril –Finished: 4th
You wanted a big points day, so you can check that box. Do you walk away happy with this finish?
“We definitely reached that objective. I’m happy with the finish because we maximized what we could do. A win would have been awesome. We’ve been craving that for a long time and working really hard to get there. We could kind of taste it there with a couple runs to go. We got jumped by the No. 19 (Chase Briscoe, race winner) there on that last green flag pit cycle, but I just didn’t quite have the pace that last run to keep up with him, and then those other guys had fresher tires at the end.
Just thank you to Anduril, Chevrolet and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports for working super-hard. We’ve been grinding a lot. For us on the No. 24 team, that last two ovals we’ve been to, we’ve had a shot to compete and win, so we just have to keep that going.”
Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet –Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage One.
Finished: 37th
“Not the day we should have had in the zone x 7-Eleven Chevrolet. Hate it for everyone who works at RCR, ECR, and CT Spring because they built a good car. We were making gains with the balance. Fired off a little tight but the adjustments on the first stop helped. A few laps after that stop, right past halfway of Stage 1, we got hit from behind under green which ended our day early. We will turn our attention to next week but proud to be a part of this team.”
Fantasy
The noticeable part of the Chicagoland lineup is the absence of Denny Hamlin. Hamlin is on the pole, but this team has one start left with Hamlin, and he will make his final start for us at Richmond in August. Kyle Larson has qualified second and will be on our team. Our entire team of five starters will all be made up of the top ten with only Tyler Reddick sitting on the bench waiting to tag in if one of our starters falters. If you have two or more starts left with Hamlin, start him. He is on a roll, and 1.5 mile tracks are his bread and butter.
Final Results.211 points were pretty good, but not enough to put us above 90-percet, where we have been most of the season.
Best pick,Chase Briscoe – Race winner
Worst pick- Kyle Larson- He hit the wall early and limped home with 12 points.
Tale of the Tape —Final Results
Factoids that may interest only me
Chicagoland was announced as a sellout and the stands were packed with plenty of motorists late due to the heavy rains that ,made alternate plans when infields turned into mosh pits.
In seven years, 19 of the 38 starters are new from the Camping World 2019 Chicagoland start.
The best NASCAR pit crews right now (2026 season) are led by Christopher Bell’s No. 20 JGR team, followed by Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick team and Chris Buescher’s No. 17 RFK team, based on Racing Insights’ official pit‑stop performance rankings.
What’s Next
Roy J. Akers covers NASCAR for www.skyviewsports.net and is the host of High Banked Fury the podcast. Subscibe to both, they are free and out Skyview Sports YouTube Channel has plenty of coverage and YouTube shorts.
