Chicagoland Speedway Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After 26 regular season races to set the 16-driver field, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Chicagoland Speedway for the opening salvo of the playoffs and Sunday’s 17th annual running of the Tales of the Turtles 400. As one of the newer tracks on the circuit, having joined in 2001, the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway finds itself front and center as the playoffs begin. The track, which only hosts the Cup Series once each season, boasts banking of 18 degrees as well as aRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor In an effort to drive new life into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule, NASCAR announced a huge realignment to the 2018 schedule on Tuesday, with several key races undergoing changes for next year’s campaign. The new changes to the 2018 schedule start right off the bat with the Daytona 500 moving back to President’s Day weekend, with the race running on February 18, 2018. Jump ahead to April and Richmond’s spring date, which had been run on Sunday afternoon over the last fewRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After enduring a tumultuous first season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series back in 2014, Martins Motorsports and driver Tommy Joe Martins took an absence from NASCAR’s second tier series over the past two seasons, but on Friday, the team announced that they would be making a return beginning with the April 22nd event at Bristol Motor Speedway. “The timing was right,” team owner Craig Martins said. “We had a tremendous opportunity to make this move, and we took it. A return to Xfinity was aRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer A new entitlement sponsor for the Cup Series, competition enhancements and the return of Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the track are just a few of the major story lines heading into the Daytona 500. Motorsports Tribune spoke with Chicagoland Speedway President Scott Paddock to discuss his thoughts heading into Sunday’s Great American Race. New Entitlement Sponsor In January, Monster Energy became just the third company to serve as the entitlement sponsor in NASCAR premier series history, replacing Sprint. “I think it’s exciting for the industryRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer FOX Sports Media Group and ARCA Racing Series officials announced the broadcast schedule for the 2017 season which once again includes 10 of the races on the 20-race schedule. FOX Sports coverage will kick-off with the season-opener at Daytona in February and conclude with the season finale at Kansas in October. The complete broadcast schedule for FOX Sports: Daytona International Speedway – February 18 Talladega Superspeedway – May 5 Toledo Speedway – May 21 Pocono Raceway – June 9 Michigan International Speedway – June 16Read More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Three months ago, Matt Tifft was sidelined from competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as well as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series by a disc issue in Tifft’s back. During a routine test, it was discovered by Tifft’s doctors that he had a low-grade giloma, a brain tumor. Tifft underwent surgery to remove the non-cancerous tumor. After about two months of rehab, Tifft was finally cleared by his doctors, as well as NASCAR officials to return to NASCAR competition on September 12, 2016. Tifft’sRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service JOLIET, Ill. – You could see it coming from a mile-and-a-half away. On new tires, Martin Truex Jr. rocketed around the outside lane after a restart in overtime at Chicagoland Speedway and pulled away to win Sunday’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400, the opening race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. With the victory—his first at the 1.5-mile track, his third of the season and the sixth of his career—Truex also rocketed into the Chase’s Round of 12. But Truex wasn’t satisfiedRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor After Sunday’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400, the cars of race-winner Martin Truex Jr. and 12th-place finisher Jimmie Johnson failed post-race LIS (laser inspection station). But according to NASCAR, the infraction will not result in the loss of Chase advancement for Truex. The penalty for both drivers should be of the P2 variety, which should result in a minimum of 10 points and a $15,000 fine. With Truex’s Chase advancement not in question, the penalty definitely will hurt Johnson much more. A 10-point deduction wouldRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Entering Sunday’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400, Chicagoland Speedway was one of four tracks that Jimmie Johnson had yet to score a victory at. After Johnson put his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS on top of the speed charts in the first practice, it looked like Johnson was finally going to cross Chicagoland off of his list. With qualifying canceled due to weather, Johnson lined up eighth on the starting grid for the first Chase race of the season. At the drop of the greenRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Tony Stewart is in sole possession of the final transfer spot (12th in the standings) in the Chase Grid after the first race of the playoffs at Chicagoland, but after a disappointing race in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 Stewart was not in an optimistic mood about his championship hopes. After climbing from his No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Chevrolet SS after a 16th place finish, Stewart didn’t mince words about his day. “It wasn’t much fun, but I was proud of Mike (Bugarewicz,Read More