There wasn’t any shortage of headlines heading into today’s eero 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. First and foremost, there was the splash of patriotism on red, white, and blue liveries throughout the field as the United States of America celebrated its 250th birthday on Saturday. Second, it was NASCAR’s triumphant return to Chicagoland Speedway, a track they hadn’t raced on since the 2019 season as 2020’s planned running was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Third, it was the second race of NASCAR on TNT’s In-Season challenge. Last week in Sonoma, the big upset was Tyler Reddick being bested by No. 32 seed Alex Bowman. The rest to advance was pretty expected. Would there be any upsets today? Some key matchups included a battle amongst teammates. In the Hendrick camp, it was Byron vs. Larson. And, for the Toyotas and JGR, it was Ty Gibbs vs. Chase Briscoe. So, we knew we’d be keeping an eye on those battles all night long.
But, of course, there was also the topic of the race win. With road courses out of the way for the season, fans would assume that SVG would go back to running quietly inside the top 20 or 30 as Denny Hamlin, among other Toyotas, regained their dominance. But as this race developed, one thing became clear. While, yes, Denny Hamlin and all three of his JGR teammates, and his 23XI cohort, were fast and amongst the ones to beat, there were some rivals from the Chevrolet camp as William Byron and Kyle Larson also showed some serious speed. Unfortunately for Larson, he had an issue early on that took him out of contention. But Byron, who had been somewhat of an afterthought this season, was looking to make a statement and win his first race of the 2026 campaign.
In this race, William Byron led more laps than he had led all year, again asserting that, yes, he’s still one of the top dogs at Hendrick Motorsports. After a cycle of green flag pit stops in the final stretch of the race, Briscoe managed to get around Byron for the race lead, stretching his lead out to just over a second. Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and Alex Bowman followed through to round out the top 5, all of them having stellar nights.
Taking 20 laps to go, Briscoe continued to lead, holding his one second lead over Byron. Things started to get interesting when, after taking 10 laps to go, Briscoe started to reach the tail end of the field. By then, Byron had been passed by Christopher Bell who was quickly reeling in race leader Chase Briscoe. Taking 2-to-go and Bell was there right on the bumper of the 19 of Briscoe. In turns 1 and 2, Bell went to the bottom, but the momentum of Briscoe up high let him stretch out his lead just a little bit. One to go! Again, Briscoe was better in 1 and 2 and in 3 and 4, Bell drove it in hard and slipped up the track, killing his momentum. He couldn’t get there. Chase Briscoe wins head-to-head over his JGR teammate Christopher Bell as Denny Hamlin finished 3rd.
This marks the 6th win of Chase Briscoe’s NASCAR Cup Series win.
Sarting on the pole for today’s return to Chicagoland was Denny Hamlin, who, after some struggles on the road courses of San Diego and Sonoma, was picking up where he left off following three straight wins on the previous three ovals. He led the field to the green flag but before they could complete the first lap, the caution flew as Connor Zilisch and Ryan Preece spun, causing significant damage to both cars.
The race resumed and it was clear, at least in the earliest stages of the race, that Hamlin was going to have some serious competition in the form of Kyle Larson, who passed Hamlin for the race lead. The race went green for another handful of laps before yet another caution flew on Lap 32. This came after Zane Smith drove into the back of Hocevar, causing both of them to drift up the track and make contact with the wall.
The race restarted with Larson in the lead. As the run stretched forward, Hamlin was passed by Larson’s teammate William Byron for 2nd. Larson and Byron were going head-to-head in the In-Season Challenge. The caution flew for the third time when Austin Hill backed into the wall hard, virtually ending his race. Hill had been struggling all weekend and started in the back of the field. Upon replay, it was clear that Shane van Gisbergen got into the back of the No. 33, triggering the incident.
During the break for caution, the leaders opted to take four fresh tires while a number of drivers opted to take only two. Among them were Austin Cindric, who took over the race lead and held it for a number of laps before being passed by William Byron. Byron’s teammate and In-Season Challenge rival was through to second as Austin Cindric just tried to hold on for stage points.
William Byron went on to win the stage over Kyle Larson. Wallace finished third and Cindric managed to hang on in 4th on aged tires.
The following drivers earned stage points in Stage 1: William Byron (10), Kyle Larson (9), Bubba Wallace (8), Austin Cindric (7), Chase Briscoe (6), Chris Buescher (5), Riely Herbst (4), Denny Hamlin (3), Ty Gibbs (2), and Tyler Reddick (1).
The race restarted with William Byron leading over Bubba Wallace. Wallace looked inside Byron in 3 and 4 and cleared the No. 24 for the race lead. The caution flew yet again on Lap 93 when Kyle Larson spun and got stuck in the grass. He had to be towed out and then his car struggled to refire. He did eventually get going but lost two laps in the process.
The race went green again with Wallace leading over Byron. This time, it’s no contest. Bubba Wallace extended his race lead to nearly two seconds. Shortly thereafter, Byron lost second to the battling Toyotas of Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin. The two JGR Toyotas passed Wallace on either side simultaneously. After a while, Briscoe cleared Hamlin for the race lead. He continued to lead through the start of green flag pit stops.
In the middle of the pit cycle, the caution came out for the 6th time tonight as Tyler Reddick suffered a mechanical issue and spayed oil on the racing surface in turns 3 and 4. He went to the garage and was done for the day. Under yellow, Ryan Blaney led over Christopher Bell and Todd Gilliland.
William Byron assumed the race lead after pit stops. He led the field to the green over the JGR trio of Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, and Ty Gibbs. Byron went on to sweep the stages despite a late surge to the front by Briscoe and Hamlin.
Earning points in Stage 2 were: William Byron (10), Chase Briscoe (9), Denny Hamlin (8), Ty Gibbs (7), Ryan Blaney (6), Christopher Bell (5), Chase Elliott (4), Alex Bowman (3), Austin Cindric (2), and John Hunter Nemechek (1).
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