With the return to Chicagoland Speedway also comes the return of NBC Sports to the broadcast schedule…and a face very familiar to all NASCAR fans will be wearing a rookie stripe as a member of the on-air talent team.
LeMastus will be back behind the wheel of the No. 54 Crosley Brands Toyota this weekend with Crew Chief Kevin "Bono" Manion calling the shots
Fontaine on Racing at Chicagoland: “I really took a liking to Chicagoland,” said Fontaine. “I learned a lot there last year in an ARCA car and I’m hopeful that I can continue that curve this weekend in a truck.
Richard Childress Racing's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series history at Chicagoland Speedway ... Richard Childress Racing has two victories at Chicagoland Speedway with Kevin Harvick's back-to-back wins in 2001 and 2002. In 54 starts at the 1.5-mile suburban Chicago tri-oval, Richard Childress Racing teams have a combined 10 top-five, 19 top-10 finishes and one pole award with Jeff Burton in 2006.
Self on Racing at Chicagoland: “It’s different to go to Chicagoland at the end of June instead of mid-September, but maybe that’s a good thing for our Niece Motorsports team,” said Self.
Veteran Sports Car racer Max Tullman (@MaxTullman) will pull double-duty this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway as the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards rookie will also compete in Friday night’s Overton’s 225 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race for Young’s Motorsports.
KAHNE BY THE NUMBERS: In 14 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career starts at Chicagoland, Kasey Kahne has an average start of 13.4 and an average finish of 17.7. He’s completed 3,473 of 3,744 (92.8 percent) career laps and has led for a total of 12 laps. Kahne has earned two top-five and four top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile track located in Joliet, IL.
While Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer took much of the focus on the weekend, other drivers quietly ran well and finished with fantastic results in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series race.
The 10th race of the 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series took place this past weekend at Gateway Motorsports Park. While there were a couple of surprises in the top-10, the same team that has been dominant for most of the season, wound up in victory lane, but this time with a different driver.
Chase Elliott on what makes Chicagoland unique: “The surface, for sure. It hadn’t been paved in a while, one of the older surfaces that we race on. The racetrack is pretty friendly to moving around and lets everybody kind of spread out, which is always fun. It has a good feel to it. It has some bumps and some character, which is nice, and I have always enjoyed racing there.”
Briscoe on Chicago “Chicago is one of my favorite 1.5-mile tracks. It rough, fast, you can move around a lot and provides lots of options. The track surface is wore out so there is lots of sliding around and that’s typically the places I like the most.”
Reed has competed at Chicagoland Speedway six times in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS). In those six starts, Reed’s best finish came in the fall of 2015 with an 11th-place effort, after starting 10th.