Nascar news

• Brad Keselowski Thinks Toyota Has Found NASCAR’s Winning Formula

  04-07-2026 15:51 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  For years, NASCAR’s biggest battles played out on pit road, atop the pit box and behind the wheel.Brad Keselowski believes the sport’s most important competition has moved somewhere else.Speaking Friday at Chicagoland Speedway, the RFK Racing co-owner offered one of the most revealing assessments yet of why Toyota has dominated the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, arguing the manufacturer’s greatest advantage isn’t horsepower or aerodynamics. It’s organizational philo
  
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• Ty Gibbs rises as title challenger: 'We're easily a championship contender'

  04-07-2026 12:07 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  JOLIET, Ill. — Ty Gibbs believes he can win the NASCAR Cup Series championship. And halfway through the 2026 campaign, he’s giving others a reason to believe, too.The fourth-year, second-generation driver enters Chicagoland Speedway fourth in the points standings after 18 of 26 regular-season races, with the 10-race Chase looming in September. Gibbs drove the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to his first career win at Bristol Motor Speedway in March and has largely been a top-five main
  
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• NASCAR Chicagoland predictions 2026, expert picks for Cup Series race

  04-07-2026 12:04 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Chicagoland Speedway for the first time since 2019 for the eero 400 on July 5.18 drivers entered into this weekend's race ran in the last Cup race at Chicagoland in 2019, but the Next Gen car has not run at the track before.Still, it's a 1.5-mile track, and the field will search for grip up and down the grooves.Alex Bowman won the last event in 2019, and he, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin are all former winners.Here are The Tennessean's expert picks for Sunday'
  
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• Chase Elliott Says Seven Years Away Has Changed Everything at Chicagoland

  04-07-2026 04:32 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  Chase Elliott isn’t convinced anyone has a true advantage entering NASCAR’s long-awaited returnFor the first time since 2019, the NASCAR Cup Series is back at Chicagoland Speedway.That means drivers are returning to one of the sport’s most popular intermediate tracks, but according to Chase Elliott, nobody should assume previous success will automatically translate into speed this weekend.Even drivers with years of experience at the 1.5-mile oval are essentially learning the tr
  
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• Riley Herbst Paces NASCAR Cup Practice at Chicagoland Speedway

  04-07-2026 04:21 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  Craig White | Racing America On SIHeading into the weekend, nobody really knew what to expect as the NASCAR Cup Series was set to compete at Chicagoland Speedway for the first time in seven years. After Friday afternoon's practice session around the 1.5-mile speedway in Joliet, IL, one thing seems perfectly clear: 23XI Racing is going to be tough to beat.The team, led by Riley Herbst, the driver of the No. 35 Monster Energy Toyota, swept the top-two spots in single-lap practice speeds, and all f
  
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• Denny Hamlin Finally Believes a NASCAR Championship Is Within Reach

  04-07-2026 04:10 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  For nearly two decades, Denny Hamlin has chased the one accomplishment missing from his Hall of Fame résumé: a NASCAR Cup Series championship.Despite becoming one of the winningest drivers of his generation, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran has repeatedly watched title opportunities disappear because of late cautions, untimely restarts, and the randomness that defined NASCAR’s former winner-take-all Championship 4 format.That experience changed the way he approached every season.
  
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• 5 Things NASCAR Cup Practice at Chicagoland Taught Us About Sunday’s Race

  04-07-2026 03:58 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  NASCAR Cup Series teams finally got their first opportunity to put the Next Gen car on Chicagoland Speedway Friday, ending a seven-year absence from the 1.5-mile oval. While Riley Herbst topped the speed chart with a lap of 30.326 seconds, the practice session offered far more insight than a simple leaderboard.Several teams showed race-winning speed, drivers learned plenty about the aging racing surface, and one organization may have quietly established itself as Sunday’s team to beat.Here
  
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• Chicagoland represents the return the old Atlanta after Cup practice

  04-07-2026 03:07 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  Motorsport photoUpon climbing out of the 23XI Racing No. 45, and despite being amongst the fastest in practice on Friday at Chicagoland Speedway, Tyler Reddick seemed puzzled."In general, pretty happy,” Reddick said in a way that sounded anything but. “Feeling pretty good about where we're at. I guess the only thing I'm holding back on -- just confused about -- I thought we were going to be ripping the top today, but it just took forever to clean up. Hopefully those O'Reilly boys wil
  
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• Kyle Larson looks to break winless drought as NASCAR returns to Chicagoland

  04-07-2026 01:57 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — When it comes to 1.5-mile tracks, Kyle Larson is always confident. With NASCAR returning to Chicagoland Speedway this weekend, there is even more reason for optimism for the Hendrick Motorsports driver.Larson has a successful history on the bumpy asphalt of Chicagoland, a D-shaped oval circuit. He has four top-five finishes in six Cup Series starts at the speedway about 50 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. His 6.17 average finish is tops in track history among driver
  
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• Riley Herbst leads Cup practice in NASCAR's return to Chicagoland

  04-07-2026 01:08 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  Motorsport photoFor the first time since 2019, NASCAR is racing at Chicagoland Speedway. Because of that fact, series officials went with a more traditional race weekend format through a 50-minute practice on Friday.Topping the speed charts was Riley Herbst in the No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota, followed by teammate Bubba Wallace. Herbst lapped the intermediate oval in 30.326 seconds (178.065mph), just 0.023s ahead of Wallace in the No. 23 Toyota.Kyle Larson was one of three Cup drivers who took part
  
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• How Did Kyle Busch Perform at Chicagoland Speedway? A Look Back at His Record

  04-07-2026 00:51 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  Kyle Busch was one of Chicagoland Speedway’s most successful NASCAR Cup Series drivers, winning twice and leading more than 500 laps before the track left the schedule after 2019. Here’s a look back at his record as NASCAR returns this weekend.As the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Chicagoland Speedway for the first time since 2019, many fans are remembering one of the track’s greatest competitors.Since Kyle Busch’s death in May, NASCAR fans have continued searching for stor
  
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• Denny Hamlin is starting to believe a championship is possible

  04-07-2026 00:50 via sports.yahoo.com
  
  Motorsport photoFor much of this decade, Denny Hamlin hasn’t wanted to talk about that elusive NASCAR Cup Series championship, but instead reaching various goals focused on number of victories.  Under the old playoff format, it would either happen or it wouldn’t, and there was extraordinarily little he could do with so much variability. For example, Hamlin dominated the championship race last year under the old Final Four format at Phoenix Raceway but was denied the title due to
  
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