By Mark Gregory
@Hear_The_Beard
While the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was started Sunday at Joliet’s Chicagoland Speedway, the Chase fields for both the XFINITY Series and the Camping World Truck Series were set over the weekend for the first time.
On Saturday, Erik Jones bested Kyle Larson in the Drive for Safety 300 – his fourth victory, 13th top-5 and 16th top-10 finish of the season. The win was Jones’ second trip to Gatorade Victory Lane at Chicagoland Speedway in three starts. With the win, he extended his lead in points and secured his position in the inaugural Chase for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase in his final season before joining Furniture Row Racing next season as a full time Cup driver.
“It was tough,” Jones said. “I didn’t know if my Hisense Camry was going to have enough time to get back up to the front, but we had a really good restart and got clear to third and then just had to go chase Elliott [Sadler] down. It was a matter of time before we got around him. What an awesome day.”
Sadler finished third, with Daniel Suárez and Justin Allgaier rounding out the top five. Kyle Busch led a total of 154 laps before blowing a tire with 19 laps to go to finish 13th.
The NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase will begin with next weekend’s race at Kentucky Speedway and will feature 12 drivers with two elimination rounds. In the subsequent races, the field will be trimmed to eight and then the Championship 4 who will compete at Homestead.
Jones leads the field with 2012 with Sadler (2006) and Suarez (2003) behind him.
The rest of the field is made up of Ty Dillon, Allgaier, Darrell Wallace Jr., Brendan Gaughan, Brennan Poole, Ryan Sieg, Ryan Reed, Brandon Jones and Blake Koch, all with 2000 points.
A night earlier Kyle Busch held off Daniel Hemric and Cameron Hayley to take the checkered flag in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series American Ethanol e15 225.
Busch has now recorded five wins in six NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at Chicagoland Speedway, the most of any driver in the series. He led 63 of 150 laps to secure his position in Gatorade Victory Lane.
“This has just been a really good place for us and for KBM over the years,” Busch said. “We’ve been really fast here, so it was really nice to come out here and keep that speed going.”
Before he won his own race Saturday, Jones – who won the Camping World Truck Series last year as part of Kyle Busch Motorsports – filled in for Busch in practice.
“I really appreciate Erik Jones being out here (Thursday) and working it in for me and everything that he did,” Busch said.
The first round in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase will feature eight drivers with two elimination rounds that will trim the field to six and then the Championship 4. Similar to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the four drivers advancing to the Championship in Homestead-Miami will have their points reset with the highest finishing of the Championship 4 driving winning it all.
William Byron leads the way with 2015 points, followed by Matt Crafton and John H Nemechek, each with 2006.
Christopher Bell, Johnny Sauter and Ben Kennedy all have 2003 points, while Hemric and Timothy Peters qualified with 2000.
HOT DOG
Chase Briscoe recovered from a minor error on pit road to pick up his fourth win of the ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards at Thurday’s Scott® 150 in Joliet.
Briscoe’s win was paired with his first-ever bite of the iconic Eisenberg foot-long hot dog with all the fixings. The hot dog included the traditional yellow mustard, chopped white onions, sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices, pickled sport peppers and a dash of celery salt.
This new Victory Lane tradition was introduced in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series last season and continued with each race this weekend.
“That’s something that my parents have been trying to do for 21 years now,” said Briscoe of his taste of the Chicago-dog. “The victory certainly helped on that.”
WHAT’S YOUR HANDLE?
NASCAR drivers competing in the 2016 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ will display their personal Twitter handles on their respective car windshields during the first three-race round of #TheChase, NASCAR and Twitter announced today.
In what began with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400 at Chicagoland, Twitter handles including will adorn the windshield headers normally reserved for driver last names.
The activation is part of an aggressive push by NASCAR to use Twitter, Vine and Periscope to elevate The Chase experience for fans during the sport’s most social postseason ever. Earlier today, @NASCAR unveiled a new, racing-themed Twitter emoji, which will help bring #TheChase tweets to life throughout the 10-week postseason.
“Twitter brings the passion and excitement of NASCAR to millions of our fans every single day in very unique and innovative ways,” said NASCAR Managing Director, Social Media, Scott Warfield. “As we embark on The Chase, the platform is helping us make the overall social experience that much richer and more memorable for our fans and followers.”
At Chicagoland and with the rest of the Chase races, @NASCAR will curate Twitter Moments and share Vines and live video via Periscope all capturing the spirit, excitement and behind-the-scenes of this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
“NASCAR truly embraces Twitter as a bridge between fans and the drivers they love,” said Andrew Barge, Sports Partnerships, Twitter. “During this year’s Chase, with Twitter handles on windshields and hashtags on the infield grass, NASCAR demonstrates just how much it genuinely values and encourages that fan engagement.”
After each round of The Chase, NASCAR will tweet action-packed digital films that feature NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers reenacting the on-track highlights and storylines. Part of the sport’s Ready. Set. Chase marketing campaign, the first video in the five-part series can be viewed on NASCAR.com/TheChase.