News, Predictions and They Said It
By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
Lexington, Ohio – In 2023 there were a lot of firsts. Shane van Gisbergen, in his first NASCAR start wins the inaugural Chicago Street Race. NASCAR always has road course ringers but van Gisbergen went from the land down under (New Zealand) and showed that he could compete with regular CUP drivers. This year, van Gisbergen is racing in the XFinity Series and moves up for road course races. He is the defending champion in Chicago and could move his career along with another victory or top finish.
News
Chicago, Ill. (July 6, 2024) — NASCAR and ABB, a global leader in electrification and automation, announced today the ABB NASCAR Electrification Innovation Partnership and revealed a new EV prototype at the Chicago Street Race. ABB becomes the first Official Partner of NASCAR Impact, the sanctioning body’s platform driving NASCAR’s mission to strengthen its communities and contribute to a healthier planet, and together will work to advance NASCAR’s strategic sustainability ambitions across electrification. Not sure if NASCAR is going woke but it appears that no moomshiners were hurt in the crafting of this paragraph.
Predictions
With only one race in the history books in Chicago and with a nearly rained out race in 2023, the trends are smaller than usual.
Contenders to win in Chicago
van Gisbergen is a good place to start. Drivers successful at road course racing tend to be on the short list to win or make the top five in road/street course races. This goes for full-time NASCAR drivers, not guys like Boris Said or Jensen Button. van Gisbergen followed up his Chicago Street race win with a 10th place finish at the Indianapolis Road course several weeks later last summer. He has won twice in the Xfinity series including the Sonoma road course. van Gisbergen is worth a fantasy pick as you should have plenty left in the NASCAR.com game.
Chase Elliott is a legit road racer. With four wins and 22 top ten finishes in his road career, Chase is one of NASCAR’s best. He finished third in Chicago and do not be surprised if he takes the checkered flag.
Additionally, Elliott’s teammate Kyle Larson is also a threat to win in Chicago. Larson has won on road courses 5 times in his career and has finished in the top ten 14 times since his debut in 2014. Larson finished fourth in Chicago in 2023. Larson will be there at the finish. Larson would later win the pole for Sunday’s Chicago Street race. Larson’s pole – his fifth this season and 21st all-time in NASCAR’s top division – came at a lap time of 87.836 seconds, at 90.168 mph, in his No. 5 Valvoline Camaro ZL1 to edge out second-place Gibbs by a mere 0.010 second margin. “His quote is below under He said it.”
Austin Cindric is a driver whose profile has gone up in NASCAR road races. Cindric had five straight top ten performance stretching from 2022- to 2023. Four of his last six performances have been 20th or worse. So, he’s streaky. Take a chance on him in Fantasy but he is not a large favorite.
Michael McDowell– is not having a good 2024. So why is he listed as a potential driver to win in Chicago. He finished 7th in the Windy City last year and won two races, including at the Indianapolis Road Course He has seven top ten’s in road course starts including a second at Sonoma this season. McDowell is hit or miss. Sandwiched between his win at Indy and his second place finish at Sonoma are three straight road course finishes at 32 or worse.
Sit this Race Out
Austin Dillon is not a good road racer. In 35 attempts, he has NEVER won a road course race. He has two top- ten finishes in road races and qualifies an average of 22th and finishes just over 20th place in NASCAR road events.
My Prediction
Chase Elliott or Kyle Larson
They Said It- Ryan Blaney
TEAM PENSKE IS NOW THE FIRST CUP TEAM TO HAVE ALL OF ITS DRIVERS LOCKED IN THE PLAYOFFS. IS THAT A BIG CONFIDENCE BOOST FOR THE TEAM? BECAUSE YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR PERFORMANCE ALL SEASON. AND NOW TO BE LOCKED IN LIKE A HEAD OF HENDRICK AND GIBBS, DOES IT MEAN SOMETHING?
“It’s nice to have everybody locked in, me and Austin and Joey. It gives you some confidence and a little bit of relaxation of, OK, we’re all in. So that 22 group, they were kind of all in that bubble. Then they performed last week and ended up winning the race. The 2 car being where they were before they won Gateway, that’s just a huge confidence booster for them and our whole organization. I think we’re honestly getting to where we need to be performance-wise. The last month and a half, I feel like I can just speak for my group personally, I think we’ve been really strong. Maybe our finishes haven’t really shown it with getting kind of tore up or spun out at the end of these things.
Kyle Larson on winning the Pole
It’s your fifth NASCAR Cup Series pole this season. Is there something that you and Cliff (Daniels) do when you setup the car in qualifying trim that just makes you good, week in and week out, when you go out and lay down a fast lap?
“I don’t know.. I think just probably the notebook. I think of now, we’re three years into this Next Gen car, so you hope to get better every time. I’m sure you’re getting every little detail more fine-tuned. Yeah, this year in qualifying – really racing too – has been a strong suit. But qualifying, we’ve been able to execute and get five poles to this point. That’s special. Hopefully we can keep that up and keep our speed up in races, as well.”
Roy J. Akers is a multi-media reporter and covers several sports for www.skyviewsports.net