Could the Chicago Street Race make for a 10? As in 10 different winners in the last 10 races.
Austin Cindric’s victory at Talladega in late April started the stretch of nine different winners in the last nine races.
Those winners after Cindric have been: Joey Logano (Texas), Kyle Larson (Kansas), Ross Chastain (Coca-Cola 600), Ryan Blaney (Nashville), Denny Hamlin (Michigan), Shane van Gisbergen (Mexico), Chase Briscoe (Pocono) and Chase Elliott (Atlanta).
So, could there be a 10th consecutive different winner this weekend on the streets of Chicago?
Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams heading into Sunday’s race.
23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick has three road course wins in the Next Gen era, tying him with Kyle Larson for the most in the series in that time. … Reddick finished second at Chicago last year. … Reddick has seven top 10s in the last 10 road course races. … Reddick has scored the most points (614) on road courses in the Next Gen era. … Corey Heim returns to the No. 67 car this weekend for his third Cup start of the season. Bad news: Bubba Wallace holds the final playoff spot with eight races left in the regular season. … Wallace is tied with Ryan Blaney for most DNF’s this year with six. … Wallace has three top-10 finishes in 34 Cup road course starts. … Riley Herbst has seven consecutive finishes of 24th or worse.
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Zane Smith has finished seventh in two of the last four races. … Smith scored a season-high five stage points at Atlanta. … Noah Gragson finished eighth at COTA earlier this year for his best road course result. … Todd Gilliland has three top-10 finishes in his last six road course starts. … Gilliland was seventh last year at Chicago. Bad news: Gilliland has placed 22nd or worse in the last five races this season.
Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer finished eighth at Mexico in the most recent Cup road course race. … Custer won the 2023 Chicago Xfinity race. Bad News: Custer ranks 34th in points.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Hendrick Motorsports drivers rank 1-2-3 in the points. … Hendrick Motorsports has won five of the last nine road course races. … William Byron leads the points and is followed by Atlanta winner Chase Elliott (-37 points) and Kyle Larson (-42 points). … Elliott has scored three consecutive top-five finishes this season. … Elliott finished third at Mexico and fourth at COTA in the two road course races this season. … Elliott leads all drivers with 10 top-five finishes on road course races in the Next Gen era. … Alex Bowman is the defending winner of the Chicago Street Race. … Larson won the pole for last year’s Chicago Street Race. … Byron has five top-five finishes, including two wins, in his last nine road course starts. Bad news: Larson has not led a lap in the last five races, his longest drought since going six races without leading a lap in a stretch that included the end of the 2019 season and beginning of the 2020 season. … Byron has finished 27th or worse in three of the last four races.
Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s sixth-place finish at Atlanta tied for his second-best result this season. … Stenhouse finished sixth at Chicago last year. Bad news: Stenhouse has finished 27th or worse in three of the last five races.
Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Denny Hamlin averaged the most points per race in June at 40.3. … Christopher Bell has a win (Circuit of the Americas) and two runner-up finishes (Mexico, Charlotte Roval last year) in the last three road course races. … Ty Gibbs has scored the most points in the two races on the streets of Chicago. … Gibbs has an average finish of 6.0 in two Chicago races, his best among all tracks. … Chase Briscoe has led 134 laps in the last five races (he had led 75 laps in the previous 59 races). Bad news: Hamlin has one top-10 finish in 18 road course starts in the Next Gen era.
Kaulig Racing — Good news: Ty Dillon finished a season-best eighth last weekend at Atlanta. … As the No. 32 seed in the In-Season Challenge, Dillon eliminated No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin and afterward told TNT: “All you Denny fans out there, I just knocked your favorite driver out.” … All three of AJ Allmendinger’s Cup wins have come on road courses. … Will Brown, the reigning Supercars champion, will drive the No. 13 this weekend for his first Cup start of the year. Bad news: Allmendinger has finished no better than 17th in the two streets races in Chicago. … Dillon’s best finish on a road course is 15th at the Charlotte Roval in 2019.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: Erik Jones ranked fourth in the series in points scored in June with 156. … Jones was 27th in points entering June and exited the month 16th in the standings after four top-15 finishes in the last five races, including a fifth-place finish last weekend at Atlanta. … John Hunter Nemechek has four top-10 finishes in the last eight races. … Nemechek was sixth at Mexico in the most recent Cup road course race. … Nemechek finished second at Chicago in the inaugural Xfinity race there in 2023. Bad news: Nemechek has four finishes of 26th or worse in the last six races. … Jones has no top-10 finishes in his last 14 road course starts.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch is one of three drivers to finish in the top 10 in both Chicago Street Races, joining Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell). … Austin Hill is back in the No. 33 car this weekend, making the second of five scheduled Cup starts this season. Bad news: Austin Dillon has two top-10 finishes in 41 Cup road course starts. … Busch is winless in his last 75 Cup starts.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware’s 13th-place finish last weekend at Atlanta was his best of the season. … It was Ware’s best finish since placing 12th at Talladega in last year’s playoff race. Bad news: Ware has never finished better than 24th in 17 Cup road course starts.
RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher scored the most points in June with 183. … Buescher has four consecutive top-10 finishes, tied for his longest streak in Cup. … Buescher’ average finish of 8.8 on road courses in the Next Gen era is the best in the series. … Buescher’s average start of 10.4 is the best of all drivers this season. … Ryan Preece qualified second and won the opening stage in Mexico in the most recent Cup road course event. Bad news: Brad Keselowski has gone 17 races on a road course without a top-10 finish. … Preece is the first driver below the playoff cutline. He’s 23 points out with eight races left in the regular season.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Two of Justin Haley’s five career top-five finishes have come on road courses (second at Chicago Street Race in 2023 and fifth at Charlotte Roval in 2022). … Michael McDowell finished fifth last year at Chicago. … McDowell is one of three drivers (Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch are the other two) to finish in the top 10 in both races on the streets of Chicago. … Carson Hocevar has three top-15 finishes in his last four road course starts. Bad news: McDowell has finished outside the top 20 in seven of the last 11 races this season.
Team Penske — Good news: Austin Cindric has led 251 laps this season, five laps shy of his career-best total in Cup. Bad news: Ryan Blaney has gone 20 consecutive races without a top-five finish on a road course. … Blaney is tied with Bubba Wallace for most DNFs this season with six. … Joey Logano has had five finishes outside the top 15 in the last six races. … Logano has one top-10 finish in his last seven road course races.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Shane van Gisbergen won at Mexico in the most recent road course race and has finished in the top 10 in each of the last four road course races. … He won the inaugural Chicago Street Race in 2023 in his first Cup start. Bad news: Ross Chastain’s 33rd-place finish last weekend at Atlanta was his worse result since the Daytona 500 in February. … It was announced Tuesday that Daniel Suarez will not return to Trackhouse Racing after this season.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry has finished in the top-12 in four of the last seven races. Bad news: Berry finished 36th at Chicago last year. … Berry has not finished better than 22nd in six Cup road course starts.
