The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 from Chicagoland Speedway will be the 16th NASCAR Sprint Cup race held at Chicagoland Speedway. The event also kick-starts the 10-race Chase to the Sprint Cup Championship.
Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski has been impressive in his last four starts at the 1.5 mile tri-oval. He has won this race twice in the last four tries. Keselowski finished eighth here in 2015.
Kyle Busch has tallied four wins on the season. The defending Sprint Cup champion has won once at Chicagoland Speedway in 2009. He also led the most laps in last year’s affair. Busch drove his #18 M&M’s Toyota to a ninth place finish.
Denny Hamlin is no stranger to victory lane at Chicagoland Speedway. The momentous driver won last year’s race. His team is riding high after coming off a victory at Richmond last week.
Tony Stewart has won more times here than any other racer in the field. The three time winner (2004, 2007, 2011) will be making his last appearance at a speedway that has treated him well. Maybe Stewart can cease with the on-track shenanigans enough to capture his fourth.
Stewart/Hass Racing’s Kevin Harvick has one in Illinois twice (2001, 2002). Harvick and his teammate are the only other multi-race winners at Chicagoland. The freaky fast Chevrolet driver is coming into this race hot and will be a favorite to take the checkered flag on Sunday.
Carl Edwards has never one at Chicagoland Speedway in his storied career. Nevertheless, he did navigate his way to a second place result in last years race. The Joe Gibbs Racing stud has found the Winner’s Circle twice in 2016.
Jimmie Johnson enters the Sunday event heading in the opposite direction as Kevin Harvick. The Hendrick Racing champion has struggled to produce since the middle part of the season. Johnson does have one win this year and but finished outside the top ten in 11th in last years contest.
Matt Kenseth finished fifth last year at Chicagoland Speedway. furthermore, the talented veteran won this race in 2013. The Joe Gibbs Racing juggernaut does well at this track and so does Matty K.
Martin Truex Jr. looks to keep his hot streak alive. The dark horse has led a lot of laps this year. As a result, he claimed a dominating victory at Charlotte Speedway and won again in the Southern 500. The feisty team from Denver, Colorado has as good a chance as anybody to win the race this weekend. He found himself out front for 39 laps in 2015.
Joey Logano absolutely destroyed the field in the first session’s of the Chase in 2015. Logano and his teammate Brad Keselowski bring plenty of speed to the 1.5 mile oval. The Team Penske driver started second here last time out and finished the event with a solid sixth place performance.
The Chip Gnassi speedster Kyle Larson is the belle of the Chase ball. The improvement shown by this youngster over the course of the season is truly amazing. Larson captured his first win of his career at Michigan a few weeks back and has been strong ever since. He finished out the day inside the top ten in last year’s edition (7th).
Rookie’s Chase Elliott and Chris Beuscher both found their way into the playoffs for their new teams. Elliott did it by being consistent throughout the season. Beuscher did it with a little luck and a lot of moxy in a rain-out victory at Pocono Raceway.
Austin Dillon and Jamie McMurray will be competing for a championship when the green flag waves on Sunday. Dillon has had a superb year, hanging inside the top fifteen and making plenty of appearances inside the top ten to boot.
McMurray steadily improved along with his teammate Kyle Larson and out-dueled the drivers behind him to make it here. Dillon started 5th in last years contest but finished dead last. McMurray stayed steady and finished in 16th.
Qualifiers for the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase to the Championship:
1) #18-Kyle Busch, 9th time, 4 wins
2) #2-Brad Keselowski, 5th time in Chase, 4 wins
3) #11-Denny Hamlin, 10th time, 3 wins
4) #4-Kevin Harvick, 10th time, 2 wins
5) #19-Carl Edwards, 9th time, 2 wins
6) #78-Martin Truex Jr., 4th time, 2 wins
7) #20-Matt Kenseth, 12th time, 2 wins
8) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 13th time, 2 wins
9) #22-Joey Logano, 4th time, 1 win
10) #42-Kyle Larson, 1st time, 1 win
11) #14-Stewart, 8th time, 1 win
12) #41-Kurt Busch, 10th time, 1 win
13) #34-Buescher, 1st time, 1 win
14) #24-Elliott, 1st time, 0 wins
15) #3-Dillon, 1st time, 0 wins
16) #1-Jamie McMurray, 2nd time, 0 wins
